Hospitality workers’ reward and recognition

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate hotel workers’ preferences among the following pairs: intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and non-material and material factors. Design/methodology/approach The study used the quantitative method and a descriptive design to draw inferences about employees’ preferences for items intended as reward and recognition. Convenience sampling was used in selecting the respondents using a survey questionnaire as the research instrument. Findings This study has shown that hospitality employees differ in their preference for some material and non-material items signifying reward and recognition (RR). Management should take these differences into account when devising such incentives. The heterogeneous workforce structure in the United Arab Emirates may complicate the design of an RR system. Practitioners in the hospitality industry may note with interest that achieving employee performance and satisfaction is a complex exercise. The satisfaction that employees derive can be strengthened by focusing on Herzberg’s motivators while employee dissatisfaction could be prevented by addressing hygiene factors. Human resource personnel can achieve a measure of success while developing and administering a compensation program that stimulates effort related to work, tasks or accomplishment of goals. While motivated employees are expected to perform better, employee productivity according to certain research is related to the level of meeting ones’ needs. It is, therefore, important for organizations in the hospitality industry to consider the design of a well-balanced but flexible reward-recognition system that serves motivating employees toward the achievement of organizational goals and meet their own needs. Originality/value The writers included demographic information and employment characteristics as part of their study. They included 10 factors, such as language, ethnicity, age, years in company and department among others.