Employee Relations - Reward and Motivation 1 Contents

HR - Employee Relations –
Reward and Motivation

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Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1
PART A.................................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the Nike’s current reward and engagement strategy.......................................................2
PART B.................................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1.............................................................................................................................................4
Employee engagement is essential in achieving business success.................................................4
Task 2.................................................................................................................................................6
How reward management can enhance employee engagement..................................................6
Task 3.................................................................................................................................................7
Recommendations.........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCING...................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION
Today’s workforce is under high pressure to perform better. Organisations are trying to make
strategies that would help them in motivating their employees. All the companies are using
different kinds of strategies for motivating their employees. Rewards and employee

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engagement are two of the major tools that are used by the firms so as to motivate their
employees (Green, 2018). For the companies that are operational at the multinational levels,
it is widely accepted and highly used strategy by the companies. It is also essential for
improving the productivity of the organisation. This is because a motivated employee is
always able to perform in a better manner. Nike Inc. is a America based multinational
company that deals in the business of development, designing, sales and marketing,
manufacturing of apparels, services, accessories and footwear. It is one of the Fortune 500
companies with more than 74,400 employees working under its brand name. This report
analyses the engagement and reward strategies of Nike while identifying the job resources
and job demand within the firm. In the second part of the assignment, the way in which
employee engagement is a key component of achieving success in business has been
discussed. It also evaluates the reward’s management contribution in enhancing the employee
engagement. In the last section, recommendation about the way in which employee
engagement can be improved.
PART A
Analysis of the Nike’s current reward and engagement strategy
Nike has been highly focused towards the improvement of performance from the side of the
employees. This can be achieved by the organisation when they motivate their employees.
Company believes in valued, skilled and workforce that are engaged. This helps in their
sustainability and long term growth. They understand that when the employees are given
proper compensation, overtime allowances and are valued then a fundamental shift can be
achieved in their performance (Gurchiek, 2018). Nike’s management understands that due to
increased sophistication through innovation and modernisation in the manufacturing process,
the role employees at the factories are changing. In the process of employee engagement,
they understand the importance of improving the skills and capabilities. For achieving a
sustainable manufacturing model, they are promoting cooperation at the workplace. In order
to increase workers engagement, company is utilising, pragmatic, measurable and evidence
based practices so that workers engagement remains on the higher side. They also believe
that at the places where workers are valued, a positive contribution is achieved from them. As
a part of the reward and engagement strategies, they conduct a survey where they evaluate the
experience of their employees while working within the factories. In the engagement and
Wellbeing Survey, they highlight the areas where workers already feel that they are engaged

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and are supported. It also assists in finding opportunities for managing their factory
operations where employee engagement is on the higher side (Glavas, 2012). Company is
focused towards building engagement capabilities. This is done by the firm by investing in
the strategic human resource management, lean management framework, management-
worker communication, improving the culture of safety as well as using a valued-worker
focused view for any implementation of program. They are also taking the help of other
similar minded firms that helps them in creating and distributing programs and tools that
creates worker’s wellbeing.
Along with this company also has an excellent reward and benefit structure where they have
applied many kinds of benefit and reward programs. This company offers competitive total
compensation that includes benefits as such that gives them an opportunity to stay healthy,
make sure that their worker’s families remains well at the same time they also work for
creating a positive environment for working. Since this company works at global levels
where every geographical location is different from others hence a different program has
been run by the company (De Vreede, et al. 2013). This is in terms of health coverage, time
off, retirement savings, fitness club membership etc. Total benefits from the package depends
on the position, experience within the firm and the location in which they are working. Some
of the benefits that are provided by the firm include:
 Life and accident insurance
 Retirement savings plan with a contribution from the firm
 Health Insurance
 Disability insurance
 Paid holidays and vacations
 Product Discount
 Employee stock purchase plan where 15% discount is given (Anitha, 2014).
 Paid sabbaticals
 Transportation allowances
 On-site fitness centre discounts
 Tuition assistance
They provide different types of bonuses to their employees on the basis of the basis of their
performance. They have Nike’s Total Rewards program, through which they strive to meet
the diverse requirements of their workers, provide competitive pay and benefits, deliver

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differentiated products and services at the same time provides a cultural support where
employees feel that they are empowered (Cornwell, Howard-Grenville and Hampel, 2018).
Providing cultural support helps an organisation to mix with the work environment at the
local place. This is having a positive impact on the ways in which employees behave at the
workplace.
Job demand within the organisation is very high as the company is providing different kinds
of incentives and take care of the fitness. Company has been able to provide a safe and
sustainable environment for their employees. They have used different types of technological
advancements so as to improve the ways in which their employees work. Their training and
development program is in the way that they can achieve their business success (People
matters, 2018). Except few of the challenging issues that organisation reported, the
environment of the organisation has been such that job demand remained on the higher side.
Nike itself acted as a brand name where employees want to work. Nike ensures that their
employees have healthy work-life balance and hence they do not feel stressed. Work load has
also been managed. Inclusion of employee’s health in the reward strategies has helped the
organisation in improving their job demand. It is essential for any company to mark its
positive engagement and reduce the negative burnouts.
At the same time job resources is also on the higher side as the company is applying all the
measures that reduces the operational cost of the company in maintaining their human
resource. For stimulating the personal growth within the firm, company is giving promotions
to their people at regular basis. This improves the chances that employees gets focused on
their performance levels and hence inducing a habit of learning and development in their
activities. Performance feedbacks are also provided to the employees in different departments
so that they may not feel challenges in their job performance (Bedarkar and Pandita, 2014).
Their work structure model helps the employees to not feel stressed about the challenges that
they are facing in the external environment. The level of employee engagement that
organisations provide acts as a measure reason for job demand and job resources. They have
made long term plans for improvement in the job resources and job demand. This is because
it will help organisation in improving their relation with the employees. This is necessary in
the modern day HRM as working in a team always benefit an organisation in achieving the
goals and objectives easily. Their sustainable approach towards employee development has
helped the organisation in creating a faith in the minds of people and hence more and more
people are opting to join the company in the coming future (Purpose.nike, 2019).

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PART B
TASK 1
Employee engagement is essential in achieving business success
Higher motivation is the major factor that leads any organisation to improve the employee
performance. For achieving success in the business, higher employee performance is a must
requirement (Ogbonnaya, Daniels and Nielsen, 2017). This can be achieved with the help of
employee engagement programs. Nike also recognises this and keeps employee engagement
as their priority. Employees have become one of the best indicators through which employee
satisfaction at the workplace can be achieved. When companies promote employee
engagement then employees also work enthusiastically about their given projects and
complete the task in a given time. For achieving success, it is essential for a company to
retain its experienced staffs. This is necessary for managing valuable talents at the workplace
as disengaged staffs are more likely to leave the company. Employee’s productivity also
remains on the higher side as people feel motivated and they are highly focused towards their
work. They invest most of their time towards organisational goals (Brook, 2017). This is
highly necessary in the case of maintaining safety at the workplace. This is because
employees work with more attention. It is also seen that employee engagement builds a sense
of confidence in the workers which promotes them to work in the direction of achieving
business objectives. This is also necessary for achieving higher quality work in the
operational process which is very much crucial in the modern day. As Quality matters the
most for the employees of Nike hence it has become crucial for them to ensure that their
employees work with higher commitment. This also ensures that less numbers of mistakes is
done from the side of the employees which is very much crucial for doing the task
appropriately and hence achieving higher amount of profits. This is a crucial metric in the
success of the firm. People want employees that are valuable and work according to the plans
made by the company. For achieving success it is essential that employees work in the
direction of the goals and objectives made by the company.
In the modern day business, achieving success is not easy and success depends on the quality
of decisions made by the company. This can be easily done when large numbers of minds
gets together to solve any problem. Higher employee engagement also helps an organisation

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to tackle in the situations related to strategic management. For instance when company’s
performance is not going well, then company requires an additional effort to be done by their
employees (Macey, et al. 2011). This additional effort helps a firm to improve its status and
face the challenges in their business process more appropriately. In order to achieve long
term goals, employee engagement is very much essential otherwise in the meanwhile they
may deviate from their paths.
Employee engagement also promotes employees to improve their own skills. This is because
they feel that when they will be highly skilled then there will be chance that they will be
involved in different processes. Employee engagement always promotes self-learning and
development especially in terms of leadership development. With leadership development, a
company is able to have staffs that are capable of leading the company in the changing
business scenario (Albrecht, et al. 2015). This also helps a firm to resolve the issues that are
confronting their business at the departmental level and hence ensuring that all tasks get
completed on time. This is necessary for achieving success in the market especially when any
firm is facing challenges at the basic levels.
Employee engagement is also helpful in the management of change. Since Nike needs to
change their business model and the operations in an appropriate manner whenever there is
change in the external and internal environment forces to. In such situation, involvement of
staffs especially the ones that are experienced in the Nike is very much crucial. Teamwork
which is an essential requirement in the modern day business can be improved with the help
of employee engagement as it helps in maintaining better relationship with colleagues. It
gives platform to the employees to have a say about the innovative ideas they have. This is
very much effective in the innovation process being done in any firm and hence employees
are ready to go an extra mile for achieving the business objectives (Ellis, 2017). Employee
engagement also improves the sustainability chances of the company as diverse ideas come
into the company and people from different cultures helps in creating a better work culture.
For the companies like Nike, this is very much essential as it helps in reducing the conflicts
that may arise between management and employees.
For the companies of the scale of Nike that are operational in multiple countries, it is crucial
to include all the staffs at the global levels while ensuring that proper involvement of all the
staffs can be ensured. This can be done with the help of better technology and communication
infrastructure at the workplace (Swank, 2018).

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Task 2
How reward management can enhance employee engagement
As in the above section it can be seen that employee engagement is not only necessary for
achieving the success in the market but it is also crucial for achieving business goals on time
and more efficiently. Rewards are one best ways through which employee engagement can be
ensured (Reilly, 2018). For proper distribution of rewards so that it may reach to each and
every individual, it is crucial that reward management is done in a proper manner. There are
various ways in which reward management can be ensured and the role of leadership and
upper level management becomes more crucial. Reward management helps an organisation to
improve their performance. This is crucial for the improvement of the situation related to
employee engagement as rewards motivates employees to work together. When employees
get acknowledgement from the side of management in the form of rewards, it is seen that
employees also work in favour of the company (Mone and London, 2018). They also give
their 100% in their work so as to achieve the given targets. This helps an organisation in
achieving the goals and objectives they have made for themselves. A better collaboration is
achieved from the side of the employees at all the organisational levels. Due to reward
management, every employee feels that they are being supported in their work. More and
more people try to give something extra in their work so as to achieve the business goals that
company has set for himself.
Reward management also allows an organisation to make sure that they have better relation
with the employees and in making employee engagement better healthy employee relations is
necessary (Xu and Cooper Thomas, 2011). Proper reward management also improves the
motivational levels of the team and hence they achieve team goals efficiently. Reward
management also helps an organisation in improving the model through which employees
come and share their ideas. When company feels that any idea is worth taking even at the
ground level they adopt it and reward the employees who played a major role in it. This
promotes employees to come forward and act according to the demands of the company
(Moseley, 2018). This is essential in the case where company has implemented any specific
strategy within the organisation. For example if a company wants to invest in the new
projects, they will have to ensure that all of their employees work as a team and support
organisation in the areas where they are lagging. But this will happen when they believe that
they are going to get rewards for their over the line efforts.

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Reward management in the areas such as incentives could help the firms in improving the
ways in which their employee engage in different operations. Higher rewards also forces
staffs to have fear of their poor performance, they always gives time in improving their skills.
These skills help them in indulging in new areas which benefits the company (Markos and
Sridevi, 2010). People get motivated towards multiple job roles which help Nike in reducing
the number of staffs while ensuring the productivity remains on the higher side.
Task 3
Recommendations
Nike has a very good reward plan that ensures high employee engagement but there are
certain things that they need to work on. First thing that a company needs to improve is their
culture. Company needs to make collective goals and must bring team culture within each
and every operation. Nike should conduct inter-cultural events that help employees in making
a better bond with each other (Scott, McMullen and Royal, 2010). This is because leadership
skills get developed in any team and they also get the chance to share their ideas. Both these
things are necessary for improving the employee engagement. Secondly, let the employees
work freely as this is necessary for their selection of job roles. It is often seen that employees
look for some other kind of job roles, providing them with so will help the firm in managing
employee engagement. This also includes assessment of the job satisfaction and their
aspirations within the organisation. This will help organisation to understand the type of job
role they need to design so as to improve the employee engagement. Employees should also
be given tools that help in doing their work more efficiently and easily.
Third things that company needs to do is that senior management should give regular
feedbacks and leaders must give recognition to the employees that are putting extra efforts.
This motivates employees to come up with their ideas and share it with their leaders. Fourth
thing that company needs to improve is to give priority to the experience in the promotions
(Stevenson, 2018). This is necessary for building trust in the minds of people so that they can
ensure higher employee retention. Experience employee always gives priority to employee
engagement. For improving the situations of employee engagement, company must bring
long term plans that ensure that more autonomy will be given the employees in the coming
years.
Over-time allowances and other kind of incentives should also be included in the reward
management plan other than the health and safety. More participation in the strategic decision

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making will ensure that company has a high employee engagement. High employee
engagement can also be improved by increasing the pay of the employees that are handling
multiple roles (Albrech, 2011). Additional support from the side of the leadership in the time
of poor employee performance will ensure high employee engagement.
Conclusion
From the above based report, it can be concluded that Nike has taken several steps to ensure
high employee engagement at their workplace. For achieving success, employee engagement
has become very much essential as it promotes staffs to work more for achieving the
collective goals of the company. Reward management have acted as one of the best tools for
improving the employee engagement as they feel that their extra work can let them earn
more. It is recommended that Nike provides a platform where employees can give their ideas
as it improves employee’s participation in decision making.

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