DO REWARDS MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES?
By Heera Singh Source: http://www.heera. com.my INTRODUCTION The underlying philosophy behind most motivation schemes in Malaysian organisations, is that employees must be offered rewards, in order to motivate them to be more ‘productive’. In fact most Malaysian organisations have some form of incentive program built into their compensation and benefits scheme. But the question asked is, “Do incentives and rewards work?” Do incentives make people more efficient and effective? Do incentives like paid holidays motivate employees? My view is that it does, but only for short term periods. It produces temporary compliance. Rewards do not create an enduring commitment to work but temporarily, change our short term behaviour. It is ineffective when it comes to producing lasting change in attitudes or behaviours. As long as there is an incentive, the productivity will improve. Take away the incentives, and the productivity also wanes. So the question asked is, “why are organisations still offe
