For many people, work is no longer a choice. People draw on their earnings to uphold basic survival needs, live comfortably, pursue recreational activities and in general, afford characteristics of the modern lifestyle (Cosma & Gilceava, 2014; Javid & Chapa, 2014; Pasztor & Valent, 2016; Yao, Parker, Arrowsmith, & Carr, 2017; Yousaf, Latif, Aslam, & Saddiqui, 2014). Although the importance of pay cannot be overstated, the idea that employees merely seek money from what they do is not necessarily true. Whilst financial rewards may be used to satisfy the basic needs of employees as well as attract and retain top talent (Alhmoud & Rjoub, 2019; Osibanjo, Adeniji, Falola, & Heirsmac, 2014; Terera & Ngirande, 2014), research has concluded that alone, it is not a sustainable motivational solution to driving their finest performance (Kulchmanov & Kaliannan, 2014; Mundhra & Jacob, 2011) or overall, satisfaction with their jobs (Akafo & Boateng, 2015; Huang, 2016; Ollar & Uwakwe, 2020). In fact, financial rewards are only ‘part of the parcel’ in one’s working life and not enough for organisations to harness long-term employee motivation and enthusiasm (Kathombe, Kipchumba, & Kirui, 2018; Mokhniuk, 2016; Mundhra & Jacob, 2011; Singh, 2016).

The ability of an organisation to ensure employee satisfaction as well as optimal levels of quality performance largely depends on a mix of motivational factors (Roos & Van Eeden, 2008; Snelgar, Shelton, & Giesser, 2017). Whilst extrinsic motivation is driven by performing something purely for the attainment of an external reward, intrinsic motivation refers to engaging in a task or activity because it is inherently fulfilling (Legault, 2016). Extrinsic rewards include financial incentives inclusive of pay, benefits and bonuses (Mahaney & Lederer, 2006; Mansaray-Pearce, Bangura, & Kanu, 2019; Noor & Gichinga, 2016). They can also be non-financial such as learning and development (L&D) opportunities, organisational culture, communication and work-life balance (Armstrong, 2014). On the opposite end of the spectrum, intrinsic rewards, derived from one’s experience of work, are psychological in nature and provide employees a sense of ‘inner’ pleasure (Gartner & Bellamy, 2010; Jacobs, Renard, & Snelgar, 2014; Obicci, 2015). Such rewards can include meaningful work, job challenge and work enjoyment (Renard & Snelgar, 2016).

Rewarding employees in the correct way makes them feel valued and engaged towards their work (Victor & Hoole, 2017). Motivated employees are more likely to produce high quality work (Amabile, 1993; Sabir, 2017). Research has also suggested that highly driven employees tend to perform better (Chaudhary & Sharma, 2012), have improved well-being (Benedetti, Diefendorff, Gabriel, & Chandler, 2015), enhanced morale (Ogedegbe & Bashiru, 2014) and good working relationships with their colleagues (Rožman, Treven, & Čančer, 2017). Therefore, inadequately providing rewards may hamper positive behavioural outcomes, risking the ability of an organisation to function efficiently and competitively. In fact, demotivated employees may exert poor quality efforts in addition to displaying poor commitment towards their organisation (Amabile, 1993). Such attributes may prove detrimental, especially for organisations whose success relies heavily on the use of human capital. It is, therefore, unsurprising that managers and researchers invest a significant amount of time exploring ‘key ingredients’ to cultivate a highly driven, strong performing and happy workforce.

Given the above, the inadequate provision of rewards may lead to unfavourable employee behaviour. As a result, not only will employees have sub-par levels of motivation and be less satisfied, but organisations may experience an upsurge of talent resigning in pursuit of employment opportunities which offer them more desirable rewards. Therefore, it is pertinent to determine what employees ultimately want from their jobs.

In addition to the above, few studies have qualitatively explored reward preferences. This means that it is unknown whether employees still perceive and understand reward practices based on traditional classifications and theoretical frameworks. The new world of work has brought many changes affecting almost every aspect of work and will, undoubtedly, also affect what workers value in the workplace (Scott, McMullen, & Larson, 2017; Willis Towers Watson, 2018). Furthermore, the study of intrinsic-psychological rewards is lacking and remains greatly underexplored within literature (Nujjoo & Meyer, 2012; Renard & Snelgar, 2016). The study of such rewards may assist managers and behavioural practitioners in understanding how jobs should be (re)designed to improve satisfaction levels and provide employees with more inherent meaning (Renard & Snelgar, 2016).

This study sought to gather rich insights through in-depth interviews from South African workers. Purposive and convenience sampling was used to select and recruit participants. The sample criteria were to have at least 1 year of working experience to ensure that they had sufficient experience in receiving rewards. Participants were required to be able to express themselves in the English language. These strategies were chosen to ensure sufficient representation of the general South African working population as well as to enhance external validity.

Representation of the final sample is depicted (Table 1). The sample consisted of 47 participants who were predominantly male (57%) and had a mean age of 34.85 years. Participants had at least 1 year of working experience. The majority of the sample had between 1 and 5 years of working experience (34%). With regard to race distribution, the sample comprised primarily of black participants (53%) followed by white participants (34%). Participants mostly spoke English (38%) followed by isiXhosa (17%). In terms of educational qualifications, the majority of participants had tertiary level qualifications consisting of diplomas or certificates, bachelor’s degrees and honours degrees (19%) whilst the remaining sample had a grade 11 or lower level of education (17%). The majority of the sample was employed in the legal industry followed by the building and construction industry (see Table 3).

The setting of the study was profit-driven organisations in the Johannesburg area of the Gauteng region. Profit-driven organisations were selected as the study aimed to identify rewards which employees are attracted to from a financial, non-financial and psychological perspective. The focus group sessions were carried out at the offices of participants because of convenience. Focus groups 5 and 6 took place off-site at a private residence. The setting did not seem to hinder participants in sharing their views.

Data were collected through conducting focus groups. Each focus group consisted of at least three participants and ranged between 1 h and 2 h. To elicit meaningful responses and ensure validity of the data, questions were aligned with appropriate theory (Renard & Snelgar, 2016). To ensure context, structure and adequate regulation of the sessions, open-ended and semi-structured questions were presented in an interview guide. Examples of questions were ‘what aspects of your job/manager/organisation make you happy at work?’ and ‘what aspects of your job/manager/organisation motivate you to give your utmost best?’.

Focus group sessions were audio-recorded via an electronic device. The purpose of these recordings was to ensure that the researcher did not miss out on any useful information. Hand-written notes were further taken which included content discussed and participatory interactions. Audio-recordings were gathered for verbatim transcription within a week of hosting the sessions.

Permission to conduct research was granted and approved by the relevant institution’s research committee. The researcher explained ethical issues and potential risks associated with participants. This included outlining (1) the purpose and nature of the study, (2) willingness and voluntary participation, (3) opportunity to withdraw at any time, (4) choice to refuse to answer questions without consequence, (5) opportunity to ask questions surrounding involvement, (6) understanding that data collected will be used for research purposes only, (7) no offerings in exchange for participation, (8) the use of audio-recordings, (9) confidentiality, anonymity and disguising of personal identification and (10) the provision of the research teams contact details should any queries arise in the future. Thereafter, written informed consent and request for audio-recordings were required from participants.

The strategies used to ensure trustworthiness of data in this study are outlined (Table 2).

To analyse the data, a deductive and social constructionist thematic analysis was employed. A thematic analysis was used to assess and explore definitive trends, themes and patterns in the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This method was used to understand the meaning and significance that employees assigned to workplace rewards. This allowed the researcher to further explore which types of rewards underpin the broader categories of rewards. The widely used phases devised by Braun and Clarke (2006) were implemented. In phase one, the researcher began by becoming familiar with the data. This entailed actively reading through the transcribed data and listening to the voice recorded data again to ensure accuracy in transcriptions.

The second phase entailed generating initial codes. A manual process was adopted whereby the researcher acknowledged codes through identifying aspects within the data which appeared interesting and useful. These initial codes were identified to establish meaningful categories which aligned to the research questions (Fielden, Sillence, & Little, 2011).

The third phase encompassed searching for themes. Previously, identified codes were sorted into broader themes by taking relationships amongst codes, themes and subthemes into consideration. The researcher further refined the data by sorting and placing line-by-line detail under the differing themes. Because of the extensive nature of transcriptions, the search for themes was repeated for second and third time.

The fourth phase included the revision of themes where themes were revised for collection, refinement and/or deletion. Drawing on the recommendations provided by Maguire and Delahunt (2017), this entailed reviewing themes and subthemes to check whether (1) data supported themes (2) themes made sense (3) there was too much, or too little detail included within a theme (4) there were prominent overlaps amongst themes and (5) there were themes which can be separated. This step entailed deleting themes which did not produce coherent patterns in accordance with the broader dataset.

In the final phase, themes were defined and termed. This involved identifying and articulating what each theme broadly meant whilst explicating similar features amongst subthemes. Thereafter, each theme was given a name. The thematic analysis process ended off with highlighting transcribed and coherent examples which exemplifies each theme.

An objective approach was adopted in analysing and writing up the research results. Themes and subthemes based on the objective of each research question were developed and used to report the results of the study. This was substantiated by concepts identified in the literature. Verbatim accounts of participant views were provided and any identifying information was hidden by means of referring to focus group sessions (e.g. S1, S2…S6) and participants (e.g. Participant A, B, C).

Ethical clearance was obtained from the research committee of University of Johannesburg, reference number: IPPM-2017-162 (D).

Demographic information pertaining to interviewees included in each session was depicted (Table 3).

The themes and subthemes are presented (Table 4).

The purpose this study was to explore how South African employees feel rewarded at work and to develop a model depicting how rewards can be categorised. In accordance with research question 1, De Gieter et al. (2006) identified three main reward categories consisting of financial, non-financial and psychological rewards, aligning directly with the findings of this study. This confirms that the rewards concept is a multidimensional construct. Despite conflicting views as to which category is most essential (Arnolds & Venter, 2007; Erbaşı & Arat, 2012), employees can be rewarded directly and/or indirectly through the provision of financial and non-financial rewards (Victor & Hoole, 2017; Yousaf et al., 2014) as well as intrinsically through the design of their tasks (Meyer & Kirsten, 2012; Renard & Snelgar, 2016; Thomas, 2009).

With regard to research question 2, participants frequently alluded to feeling rewarded by pay and benefits. Taken together, total remuneration has been identified in prior literature as a subcategory of a rewards strategy (Armstrong, 2010, 2014; Armstrong & Brown, 2006; WorldatWork, 2007) and is essentially, the first step in rewarding employee behaviour (Jiang, Xiao, Qi, & Xiao, 2009). Pay and other forms of remuneration not only serve as workplace motivators (Maslow, 1943; McGuinness, 2009) but can be used to satisfy lower order or existence needs (Alderfer, 1972; Maslow, 1943). Lower order needs are pertinent for survival, thus explaining why employees are almost always attracted to these basic types of rewards first (e.g. Alderfer, 1972; Herzberg et al., 1959; Maslow, 1943). In addition, pay particularly stood out as the most important element of total remuneration amongst participants. Concurring with other studies, pay is the main reason for working (Kathombe et al., 2018) and is a strong motivating factor in the workplace (Kulchmanov & Kaliannan, 2014; Rynes et al., 2004).

In support of the findings for research question 3, literature has argued that social rewards (such as interpersonal relationships with co-workers and supervisors) are extrinsic in nature (Katz & Van Maanen, 1977; Mottaz, 1985). Sound, constructive and positive interpersonal relationships are deemed to improve worker motivation and satisfaction (Baloyi, Van Waveren, & Chan, 2014; Basford & Offermann, 2012; Perry & Porter, 1982). Social exchange theory particularly supports that when employees have good relations with their supervisors, they are more likely to feel appreciated and in turn, exert more effort (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986). Such relations also enable the employee to feel part of the organisation (Ariani, 2015).

As supported by Armstrong and Stephens (2005), L&D opportunities underlie a relational and non-financial rewards dimension. The provision of L&D opportunities is a significant motivator (e.g. Herzberg et al., 1959; McGuinness, 2009; Porter & Lawler, 1968; Ryan & Deci, 2000) and source of job satisfaction (Herzberg et al., 1959; Porter & Lawler, 1968; Singh & Jain, 2013; Spector, 1997). This finding implies that employees who are provided with practical work experience and developmental opportunities have a greater chance to improve their knowledge base, competencies and skillset, thus, allowing them to progress into higher job roles and essentially, grow within the organisation.

Participants highlighted the importance of organisational culture. Aligning with prior research, Armstrong (2014) explicated that organisational culture forms part of a relational and non-financial rewards dimension. Respective findings by Yusof, Munap, Badrillah, Ab Hamid and Khir (2017) as well as Belias and Koustelios (2014) indicated that organisational culture may influence employee motivation and job satisfaction. A plausible explanation for this may be that employees want to feel part of a culture where organisations endorse a high degree of teamwork, trust, encouragement or generally, a focus on people (Rasool, Kiyani, Aslam, Akram, & Rajput, 2012). By feeling supported or ‘part of the family’, employees may have a more positive attitude towards their company and work. Once employees adopt a positive attitude, they become more enthused to agree with decisions from managers, expect encouraging results and be more successful and motivated in their tasks (Yousaf et al., 2014).

With regard to communication, participants emphasised the significance of smooth liaisons. Communication as a reward is recognised in prior literature (Armstrong, 2014) and is fundamental in motivating and satisfying employees (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2006). It has previously been found that open and regular communication from managers greatly improves employee morale (Sirota, Mischkind, & Meltzer, 2006). Effective communication helps organisational members coordinate activities, achieve goals and make decisions (Mutuku & Mathooko, 2014). According to Mutuku and Mathooko (2014), communication further allows for the distribution of information needed by employees to successfully perform tasks and strengthen relations as well as provide them with direction.

Recognition has been acknowledged as rewarding to employees (Alderfer, 1972; Armstrong, 2014; Herzberg, 1966; Lai, 2011; Maslow, 1943; McGuinness, 2009; Porter & Lawler, 1968; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Recognition creates awareness amongst employees that their work efforts are valued and appreciated (Nyakundi, Karanja, Charles, & Bisobori, 2012). According to Herzberg (1966), recognition helps to build strong levels of motivation amongst employees. A plausible explanation of this is that employees feel valued when managers provide them with appreciation of their work efforts (Hart, 2011). Formally, this can include an organised effort to reward employees for years of service (Amoatemaa & Kyeremeh, 2016) or informally, through words of thanks (Silverman, 2004).

A sentiment shared amongst participants was that the working environment is considered as rewarding. When job resources and working conditions are adequate, job satisfaction can be enhanced (Yeh, 2014). Participants, particularly, alluded to the importance of an organised working space. Research has supported that the look and feel of office layout and the design of one’s workspace are key factors in job satisfaction (El-Zeiny, 2012; Shareef, Husien, & Omer, 2018).

Participants noted the significance of performance feedback as a reward. As per Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) job characteristics theory, feedback is identified as an antecedent of both employee motivation and satisfaction. Knowledge of outcomes is derived from receiving job feedback. When employees are aware of how effective they are or progressing in their jobs, they will have more knowledge pertaining to how their performance impacts outcomes and in turn, what they need to do (and if so) to boost productivity. Performance feedback has been supported by the work of Baskar and Prakash Rajkumar (2015) as a reward to motivate employee behaviour. In line with this, Marthouret and Sigvardsson (2016) found that positive performance feedback serves as a reward which allows employees to feel good about themselves and their work performance.

The final extrinsic non-financial reward that participates felt rewarding was a work-life balance (developed as the subtheme work-home flexibility). Research suggests that the adequate balance of time spent at work and in one’s personal life is significantly rewarding (Armstrong, 2014; WorldatWork, 2010). Solanki (2013) found that work-home flexibility leads to greater levels of job satisfaction and motivation. This provides employees with the freedom and discretion in deciding when, where and how to work (Atkinson & Hall, 2011). It allows employees to maintain their work-life balance (Prowse & Prowse, 2015) and contributes towards employee happiness (Kiran & Khurram, 2018).

In accordance with research question 4, the first intrinsic-psychological work-related aspect which participants found rewarding was autonomy. This type of reward is supported in Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) job characteristics model. When autonomy is present, the critical psychological state, responsibility, will arise and in turn, boost motivation and job satisfaction. When employees are entrusted with autonomy, they experience a state of felt responsibility. To elicit this state, employees will feel that their job delivers substantial freedom, the opportunity to feel independent and have the choice in scheduling when to carry out work as well as the procedures to do so. In further support of these findings, a sense of responsibility has been found to be significantly rewarding (e.g. Alderfer, 1972; Dugguh & Ayaga, 2014; Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Herzberg et al., 1959; Mahaney & Lederer, 2006; Maslow, 1943; McClelland & Winter, 1969; Mottaz, 1985; Opperman, 2016; Porter & Lawler, 1968; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Syptak, Marsland, & Ulmer, 1999).

Meaningful work has been extensively researched and concluded to be rewarding to employees in the workplace (e.g. Jacobs et al., 2014; McGuinness, 2009; Obicci, 2015; Opperman, 2016; Park, Park, & Peterson, 2010; Renard & Snelgar, 2016; Smith et al., 2015; Thomas, 2009). In this study, participants provided accounts of how task significance and task identity served as being internally rewarding. Concurring with Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) job characteristics model, meaningful work is experienced when task significance and task identity are felt by employees. When workers experience their work to be meaningful, motivation and satisfaction can be enhanced.

Felt competence by feeling capable in carrying out work was recognised as a reward. Feeling competent in performing work has been identified as an intrinsic motivator and reward (e.g. Deci & Ryan, 1985; Renard & Snelgar, 2016; Thomas, 2009; Vallerand & Reid, 1984). When individuals are able to effectively carry out work, they feel more able to successfully complete their tasks. Basic psychological need satisfaction in SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000) further supports this view. Satisfying the need for competence is a psychological and cognitive mechanism for enhancing one’s motivation as well as satisfaction within a particular environment. According to Ryan and Deci (2000), not only does motivation drive certain behaviours but allows individuals to acquire a sense of fulfilment, which is associated with an internally rewarding experience (Painter, 2011).

Task enjoyment (e.g. Jacobs et al., 2014; Renard & Snelgar, 2016; Westover & Taylor, 2010) and challenging work (e.g. Jacobs et al., 2014; Hafiza et al., 2011; Opperman, 2016; Renard & Snelgar, 2016; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Sarwar & Abugre, 2013), as reward concepts, have been extensively supported in literature. These themes are supported by SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000) which holds that intrinsically motivated individuals will engage in a task because it is internally satisfying. According to Ryan and Deci (2000), intrinsic motivation is driven by tasks which are fun, interesting or challenging. What is more, whilst the enjoyment of work fuels a passionate involvement with tasks (Buelens & Poelmans, 2004), individuals who seek challenging work are more inclined to be self-determined (Deci, 1971). Furthermore, challenging work is supported in the two-factor theory, which serves as a motivator. When persons feel challenged in their work, they feel more motivated and report higher levels of satisfaction (Herzberg, 1966). Dartey-Baah and Amoako (2011) found that employees were motivated by and more attracted to jobs which were more challenging.

Given all of the above, it is evident that employees seek a variety of rewards. Whilst extrinsic rewards can be controlled by members of an organisation, intrinsic-psychological rewards are derived directly from one’s work. Based on the aforementioned, a rewards model which outlines a holistic approach to rewarding employee behaviour was suggested (Figure 1).

The results of this study reveal a few practical implications for behavioural practitioners in future practice. A holistic philosophy to rewarding employees is imperative to boost work motivation and job satisfaction. Organisations should reward employees using different types of rewards. When drawing on extrinsic financial rewards, managers should note that base pay is considered a key workplace reward. This means that companies need to ensure that employees regularly get paid for the work that they do. Managers should consider offering other financial rewards such as bonuses and benefits to their employees. When implementing non-financial rewards, there are two imperative façades that managers need to consider: extrinsic non-financial rewards and intrinsic-psychological rewards. In accordance with the extrinsic non-financial rewards, managers should support, promote and encourage good relationships between employees and their supervisors as well as with their colleagues. The provision of L&D opportunities, performance feedback and work-life balance should further be nurtured and endorsed. Organisations should ensure that they regularly communicate their core values to employees whilst maintaining transparency to sustain a good organisational culture. Managers should furthermore ensure that employees are able to freely interact with people and information in the workplace. When communication channels are well established within an organisation, interactions and the transfer of information will be uninterrupted and encompass a smooth process. Another way in which managers can ensure that employees feel rewarded is by ensuring that the physical working environment is equipped with adequate resources and good working conditions. It is further evident that managers should acknowledge the efforts of employees informally through conversation (i.e. ‘well done’) or formally through various types of awards.

With regard to intrinsic-psychological rewards, it was found that employees feel rewarded by the way in which their work tasks are designed. Managers should put their trust in employees to exert autonomy and allow them to execute work tasks according to their liking. To aid in heightening task significance, managers should ensure that employees frequently interact with their co-workers, supervisors and those outside the organisation (such as clients and customers) to gain feedback as to how their work impacts others within and outside the organisation (Grant, 2008). To increase one’s task identity, managers should broaden and enlarge jobs so that employees are able to see the whole product or identifiable outcome of their work (Lunenburg, 2011). When task significance and identity are heightened, employees should experience their work to be more meaningful.

Another way in which managers could aid the ability of employees to experience their work as intrinsically rewarding is by aiding their felt competence. To boost confidence in their abilities, managers should further support employees’ need for autonomy (Baard, Deci, & Ryan, 2004). This should involve actively entrusting them with freedom and choice as well as allowing them to take initiative in their work (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994). In line with making jobs more enjoyable, challenging or interesting, it has been suggested to raise manager expectations and, in this way, stretch an employee (Berlew & Hall, 1966). This means that managers could focus on increasing their expectations of work by encouraging employees to ‘go the extra mile’ or by being more creative or innovative (Kanter, 1988).

It was not possible to capture the entirety of participants views pertaining to rewards which they desire. This may be attributed to the data collection phase where focus group sessions were restricted to a maximum of 2 h. Thus, probing and exploring additional insights proved challenging. Future researchers should carry out a similar study to confirm the results of this study in addition to identifying additional rewards which underlie the different rewards categories as acknowledged in this study. It is further recommended that a larger sample size be acquired in addition to recruiting participants from other industries and sectors. This study has revealed how employees feel rewarded in the workplace and suggested a new rewards model. Future qualitative studies along this path should identify how perceptions across the different generational cohorts differ. In addition, it is recommended that future qualitative studies explore the relationship between such reward preferences and other behavioural variables such as long-term work satisfaction, commitment and job performance.