Current state evaluation of total reward communication in a case organization

Abstract

Total reward communication is in an important role for increasing employees’ understanding and satisfaction about their total reward programs. The impact of reward communication has also been linked to job satisfaction and employee engagement. However, communication about reward programs has become more challenging to organizations because reward programs tend to be more complex than before. The constant flow of information has also complicated the process of communicating about total rewards. This study discusses the importance of reward communication and different ways of implementing it. Previous research for total reward communication is scarce. Because of that, in addition to literature concerning only reward communication, literature of organizational communication and total rewards were utilized in this study. This research was conducted as an assignment for a case organization. The purpose of the research was to examine and evaluate the current state of the case organization’s reward communication and give suggestions for improving the communication. This research was conducted as an action research, because it seeks to improve an organization’s current situation and it encourages participation in an organization. The current state of the reward communication was studied with a reward survey that was sent to the case organizations permanent employees in Finland and in Sweden. In addition six interviews with the case organization’s HR department were made. First the current state of reward communication in the organization was evaluated based on the interviews and the reward survey. After that suggestions for improving the communication were made for the case organization. As a conclusion it was noticed that reward communication cannot be implemented as ”one-size fits all”. Organizations should base their reward communication goals on their reward programs’ objectives. Organizations should also survey their employees regularly in order to find out the ways their employees would like to receive information about total rewards. In the case study remarkable differences between Finnish and Swedish employees’ reward communication preferences were noticed. Therefore, the research cannot be generalized to the other countries that the case organization operates in. Further research in the case organization should be made in order to find out if there are differences between the other countries as well.