It is important for the management to keep the employees motivated for the overall well being of the organization. Global organizations have difficulties in motivating and developing reward systems.
Apart from the regular pay, other financial rewards can be given. Nonfinancial rewards like career advancement or training are also comely. The approach to these rewarding systems will show whether the company is standardized, localized or globalised.
In a standardized approach, the management at headquarters makes all the policies regarding the rewarding system in all host countries. The limitation here is that not all the values of the employees will be incorporated and there might be concern on whether the values of the organization have priority over national values.
The second system, the localized, is more liberal the HR personnel have the responsibility to come up with the systems. This, however, means they might not consider company values as such but concentrate on local ones. There might be cases of inconsistencies throughout the organization.
The globalised system takes care of both the values of the organization and those of the hosts’.
When creating a reward system, one must consider the achievement of organizational and individual goals. Second, the system must make sense to the staff. Here aspects of culture and the legal implications are considered. The other aspect is the rewarding of expatriates and assignees. This might create friction in the organization if not well tackled. The management will have to be practical in deciding what passes for hardship or distances that qualify for the assignments depending on the criteria they will choose for rewarding.
Financial rewards are straightforward and only require the management to determine what different amounts mean in different countries. The nonfinancial rewards need more consideration since cultures might be exact opposites in values. Some of the suggestions put forward include job rotation, allowing employees to own their assignments in deciding directions, creating opportunities for development programs, providing educational resources and holding ceremonies.
These rewards go a long way in building the employees competencies as much as they show appreciation, especially if tailored to their needs.