Rewards Management to Retain Staff in the Higher Education Sector

In today's competitive world, employee retention has become a serious challenge for organizations, and the higher education sector is no different. This is where reward management has a major role to play. Reward management, a discipline under human resource management, involves formulation and implementation of strategies and policies that work towards the objective to reward people fairly, equitably and consistently as per the value they add to the organization.

Before we discuss the role of reward management in employee retention across the higher education sector, it is important to know a few things about reward management.

The objectives of reward management

Nowadays, people usually don’t stick to a job for more than 3-4 years. However, every time the company hires a new employee, it spends a significant amount of money to recruit and train that individual. So, when an employee leaves the organization, all those investments (which could have been spent elsewhere) go to waste. Reward management allows the organization to keep the employees happy, engaged and loyal.

Besides employee retention, there are several other objectives of reward management, including:

Attracting new employees
Avoiding the expenses of recruiting and training new employees
Promoting loyalty and honesty
Creating a healthy work environment
Encouraging positive behaviors among the staff
Strengthening the company's reputation
Pushing employees to seek advancements through dedication

In this blog, however, we are only going to discuss employee retention through reward management.

How does reward management facilitate employee retention?

It is quite evident that the base salary is not enough to boost an employee’s moral or to make him/her work for the company for the rest of his/her career. A base salary only encourages an employee to fulfill his basic responsibilities which are just enough to keep his/her job. If the company wants to motivate their staff to perform better and stay with the organization for longer, some rewards are to be given away to the employees from time to time.

Rewards can be offered in the form of an opportunity to earn additional pay, perks, and recognition. While some employees respond to additional pay, some look forward to the recognition part. Some people are happy just by earning a few perks. In the case of the higher education sector, all three means can be effective in retaining the staff, be it people in the administration or the faculty.

Monetary rewards:

Monetary rewards such as overtime pay, bonuses, profit sharing, sales commission, etc. can be a great motivator for the employees. Since the basic pay at the high education sector is not always satisfactory, offering the staff overtime pay and bonuses along with their basic pay can earn the institution their loyalty.

The public education institutions that are funded by the government don't have the liberty to take such decisions regarding additional pay. However, in the private and non-government education institutions, this form of rewards management won’t be too difficult to implement.

Additional perks:

Rewarding the employees with several benefits can also help in retaining them. Try rewarding a valuable employee with an attractive health benefits package. This has proved to be an effective retention strategy in today’s corporate world. Allowing the employees to choose the plan that works best for their families can make a huge difference in the employees’ attitude towards the company.

Health coverage plan can also be a great retention strategy in the higher education sector. And unlike making a change in the fee structure, this can be implemented in the public education sector without a lot of hassle. Private and non-government education sector can even introduce other benefits as well. Institute-paid car or subsidized housing can be quite effective as a part of an institute’s retention strategy.

Recognition:

Some people feel encouraged by additional pay and benefits, while some crave for recognition. It is the job of the human resource management team to evaluate and see which employee seeks what to strategize their rewards management decisions. If an employee doesn't feel appreciated in the organization, acknowledging their value with some token of appreciation can help to motivate them.

There are a lot of people who are happy to work with a lower salary if they feel they are appreciated by the organization. In the higher education sector, recognition works better at employee retention than any other form of rewards mentioned above. It does not take much for the management to acknowledge the contribution of a valuable employee, be it a public institution or a non-government/ private institution.

It is never too easy for the management to find the right solution to the increasing challenge of motivating employees and encouraging them to continue their career in the company. However, with a proper reward management strategy, there can be a successful improvement in staff retention.

The Dissertation Help

Specialist dissertation services to help you achieve more!

Free Topics

Do you want dissertation topics?

Writer of The Month

Arnold Bradberry

Last dissertations passed with distinction

Hire Me Now

Dissertation
Proposal

Order a premium dissertation proposal and score your desired grades.

Editing &
Proofreading

Make your dissertation error-free.

Article
Publication

Get your article published in an internationally renowned journal.

Need expert assistance on a reward management topic? Myassignmenthelp.com has the perfect solution for you

You might find it difficult to draft an assignment on reward management if your knowledge of the discipline is limited. However, you can always rely on the experts at Myassignmenthelp.com for the much-needed assignment writing support on any human resource management topic.

Myassignmenthelp.com is the leading academic assignment provider on the internet that is serving in this industry for almost a decade. In fact, the company has helped thousands of students over the years to achieve their academic goals with confidence. Interestingly, the company has nearly 5000 academic experts, who write excellent papers when it comes to HR management.

Here are a few features of the service provider that separates them from others.