Investigating Pay, Pension, and Rewards for Employee Satisfaction

This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of pay, pension, and reward systems in improving employee satisfaction within the UK healthcare industry, with a specific focus on the National Health Service (NHS). The research explores the significance of these systems, the benefits of satisfied employees, and the factors influencing them. The study utilizes a qualitative research approach, relying on secondary data sources like journals and articles to analyze the impact of pay, pension, and rewards on employee motivation, performance, and retention. It examines the concept of these systems within the UK healthcare context, aiming to determine their role in boosting employee satisfaction and identifying the advantages of a satisfied workforce. The dissertation includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, discussion, and conclusion, with recommendations for further research.

MSc International Management
IMA7006 Dissertation
Dissertation Title
(To investigate the effectiveness of pay,
pension and rewards system in improving
employee’s satisfaction towards their job
within UK healthcare industry)
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Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Acknowledgement 4
Chapter 1: Introduction 5-9
1.1 Background to research topic 5-6
1.2 Background to research organisation 6
1.3 Research rationale 7
1.4 Research questions 7
1.5 Research aims and objectives 8
Chapter 2: Literature review 10-21
2.1 Introduction of literature review 10
2.2 Main body with heading and sub-headings 10-20
2.3 Conclusion of literature review 21
Chapter 3: Methodology 22-26
3.1 Research philosophy 22
3.2 Research approach 23
3.3 Research strategy 24
3.4 Research methodology 24-25
3.5 Research instruments/tools 25
3.6 Sampling 26
3.6 Ethical implications 26
Chapter 4: Discussion 27-34
Chapter 5: Conclusion, recommendations and implications for
further research 35-39
5.1 Conclusion 35-37
5.2 Recommendations 37-39
5.3 Implications for further research 39
References 40-45
Word Count 46
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Abstract
Purpose: In the current study information about impact of pay, pension and rewards
on employee’s performance is carried out. It has also included all those factors which directly
influence the performance and satisfaction of employees in an organisation.
Methodology: The current study has used research methods which assist in the
accumulation and analysis of information. It has used secondary research methods for
assembling in-depth data systematically. Some of the secondary sources are: newspapers,
journals, articles, publications, magazines and so on.
Findings: The main findings of the current study is that rewards, pay and pension are
very important for increasing the satisfaction and performance of employees. It has also
carried out that employees are more inclined towards getting several types of rewards so that
can get motivation to work towards fulfilment of their objectives.
Key word: Pay, pension, rewards etc.
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Acknowledgement
I would like express gratitude to my professor for providing me such a wonderful
opportunity to carry out the investigation of pay, pension and reward system to improve
employee satisfaction. With their support and proper guideline, I am able to conduct the
investigation in effective manner. They found me capable and provide me all the necessary
facilities so that I can execute my research in best way.
Apart from that, I would also like to thanks my family members and friends to encourage me
for executing the investigation in sound way.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background to research topic
In the recent time, employees are the biggest assets for the organisation. They are
those people which helps in company's growth and success. It is very vital for the company
to lay their focus on employee and satisfy them in large manner. The productivity and
performance of the employee large depends upon the level of satisfaction they have towards
their job. To enhance the satisfaction level organisation should shift their focus on adopting
various types of pay and reward system in their company (Berliana, Siregar and Gustian,
2018). With the change in the way of working company are adopting the system on pay,
pension and reward within their organisation so that they can retain their employee. It also
helps them to acquires talented employee within the organisation and improve the
performance in better manner. In the current era reward system is one of the best
management tool which aids in increasing the employee satisfaction. It also helps in raising
the expectation of the workforce as pay and pension motivate the staff in large way (Kitsios,
and Kamariotou, 2021).
Pay refers as the tool where employee received extra incentive as per their
performance. Pension means a retirement fund which a workforce received after they leave
the company. In last reward is a monetary and non-monetary benefit that employees received
apart from their compensation and salary. These all help the organisation in effective manner
as they directly impact the job satisfaction of the employees. The current report will be
covering the role that is played by pay, pension and reward system in an organisation. There
are various benefits that can be received by a company some of them are high employee
motivation, higher company values, increased productivity and performance and many more.
One of the vital role that reward system plays is satisfying the employee and increasing the
retention rate within the organisation (Rai, Ghosh, and Dutta, 2019).
In the present age, many organisations are using theses concept within the workplace
so that they can reduce the turnover and improve their performance. As by satisfying the
employee market image and reputation of the company in large and better manner. In the
health sector increasing the satisfaction level of the employee is very necessary as it helps in
retaining the employee as well improve their productivity. This is because the time and
efforts which are put by the healthcare workers is more and it is very vital to satisfy them so
that they can put best. So the current research report will be focusing on the role of pay,
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pension and reward on employee satisfaction of the employees in healthcare sector (Greene,
2018).
Pay, pension and reward system plays an important role within an organisation as it
helps in enhancing the morale and motivation level of staff due to which they give productive
results. It also helps in improving the satisfaction level of employees that helps in boosting
their engagement level. When staff complete their task in better manner, it is the
responsibility of the managers to pay and reward them on the basis of their performance and
efficiency which helps in developing positive attitude among them towards their work and
organisation. Therefore, reward, pay and pension are the tools which are used by the
company in order to foster the culture, values and behaviour employees require. By offering
reward, pay and pension, company can attain the business goals and objectives in better
manner. These system is important for the employees as it helps them to perform good work,
feel motivated and valued which increases the success rate and productivity of business.
There are various benefits of offering reward, pay and compensation to its employees such as
it shows appreciation, creates positive workplace, improve productivity, encourage friendly
competition, boost employee retention and also increase motivation level of staff. Moreover,
it is important for organisation to boost the satisfaction level of staff so that they can sustain
in business for long run and also contribute their better output in accomplishing the target. By
offering, pension and rewards benefits to its employees, company can attract and retain
talented staff within workplace and also boost the productivity and efficiency of employees
so that they can give better outcomes. It is being identified that a well paid staff is highly
motivated so organisation that reward high performing staff with raises will help in inspiring
other staff to keep working at high level.
1.2 Background to research organisation
To identify the role of pay, pension and reward system the chosen healthcare
organisation is NHS. NHS stands for national health service which is a public healthcare
service suited in England. It is among the one of the best four national services provider
system in United Kingdom. The system was founded in the year 1948 under the jurisdiction
of England. After the Brazilian Sistema Unico it is the second largest healthcare player in
overall world. The gaol of the organisation is to improve the standard of living in the
community and for this they are also providing free treatment to those people who cannot
afford treatments. The NHS in England was governed and controlled under the governance of
UK with the assistance of department of health and social care. For this they require skilled
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and talented employee within their organisation. Thus, the national health service as a
company is chosen so that it can analysed the role of reward system in increasing the
satisfaction of employee.
1.3 Research rationale
The major rational for executing the investigation is to gain in depth knowledge on
the effectiveness of employee satisfaction in an organisation. This research helps in identified
the value of pay, pension and reward system for the organisation as well as for workforce. In
addition to that the present investigation also aids in gaining detailed insight on the concept
of reward system for the company (Yap Peng Lok and et. Al, 2019). The current
investigation also highlights the role of pay, pension and reward system in improving the
satisfaction of the workforce. It would also identify the advantage of satisfied workforce
within a health care industry.
Apart from that the present investigation is also of great interest for me as through
this dual objective will be fulfilled that are personal and professional objective. In the respect
to the personal objective, the existing investigation helps in completing the overall
dissertation in structural format and in more scientific manner. This is because various
research skill would be gained while carrying out the investigation which are communication
skill, data gathering skill, problem solving skill and many more (Hur, 2018). On the other
side, in respect to professional objective, the investigation will help the researcher in
developing professional career in sound manner. This is because various pay, pension and
reward scheme will be learned and this could be applied by the investigator in their
organisation when they will be working as a human resource manager. Thus, the present
investigation is quite vital as it helps in attaining the dual perspective in effective way.
1.4 Research question (s)
The question which is covered in the current investigation are as follow:
 What is the concept of pay, pension, and rewards system in context with UK
healthcare industry?
 What is the role of pay, pension, and rewards system in boosting satisfaction level
among employees of NHS?
 What are the benefits of satisfied employees in NHS?
1.5 Research aims and objectives
Aim
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“To investigate the effectiveness of pay, pension, and rewards system in improving
employee’s satisfaction towards their job within UK healthcare industry”. A study on NHS
Research Objectives
 To develop understanding regarding the pay, pension, and rewards system in context
with UK healthcare industry
 To determine the role of pay, pension, and rewards system in boosting satisfaction
level among employees of NHS in the UK
 To examine the benefits of satisfied employees in NHS UK
1.6 Significance of the study
The key significance of the current investigation is to determine the concept of pay,
pension and reward system. The research aids in determining the role of reward system in
increasing the satisfaction level of the employee. It also helps in analysing the benefit that
organisation will gained after increasing the amount of employee satisfaction. This study will
also cover the factors which will affect the pay, pensions and reward system strategy that
organisation uses for their staff. Through this research an evidence will be gathered about
the importance of reward system in an organisation (Fauser and et. Al, 2021).
Another significance of the research is that the current investigation is beneficially for
organisation, researchers and managers. The current investigation is important for the
researcher as it helps them to acquire fundamental understanding about the topic. This
knowledge will help them to carry out the further research in sound manner. For human
resource manager this investigation is beneficial as it helps in them to know the strategy
which they can use to provide effective par, pension and reward to their workforce. In last,
for the organisation the current investigation is beneficial as it assists them to know the
importance of employee satisfaction in increasing the performance and productivity.
1.7 Outline of the methodology
In the current investigation, the researcher focused on choosing qualitative research
methods in order to collect the information for the chosen topic. Qualitative piece of
information is selected by the researcher as it identify the concept and framework of the
current topic. Researcher has focuses on choosing secondary sources for gathering and
accumulating the data related to the chosen topic. There are different scholarly sources used
by the investigator for obtaining the relevant data related to the study such as articles, books,
journals, publication, newspapers and so on. Thus, qualitative information helps in gathering
in-depth information related to the proposed study. While using qualitative research methods,
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researcher focuses on using interpretivism philosophy, inductive approach, case study
strategy, descriptive research design, qualitative research choice, thematic analysis and many
others. Therefore, these methods help in collecting reliable and accurate information related
to the proposed study due to which aim and objectives can be met in better manner.
1.8 Structure of the report
The current investigation consists of various chapter which are discussed below.
Basically there are five chapters in the dissertation which helps in completing the research in
effective way. The outline of the current dissertation is:
Introduction: The first chapter in the research methodology is introduction chapter.
This is the most important part of the dissertation because the overall investigation depends
upon the introduction. Various elements are included in this part which are background of the
research, problem statement, research rational, aims and objective, research question and
significance of the study (Bussin, 2018).
Literature review: The second chapter in the research is literature review. This
chapter contain the secondary information about the topic. Using this part researcher collect
past published data about the chosen topic so that deeper knowledge about the topic can be
gained. This section addresses the research question in valuable manner.
Research methodology: The next vital chapter in the research is the methodology
section which pays a very important role in overall investigation. This is chapter which is
used by the investigator to know the type of data need to be gathered and analysed. This also
helps in using the right data for the investigation. This part includes various research
approach, research philosophy, research strategy, research choice, data collection method and
data analysis (Deepa and Baral, 2021)
Data analysis and finding: The next chapter after the research methodology is data
analysis and finding chapter. This chapter inspect the data so that useful information from the
facts can be figured out. This is the chapter which represent the research outcome in valuable
manner.
Conclusion and recommendation: The last chapter in the research is the conclusion
and recommendation chapter. The conclusion show the short summary of the overall
investigation and recommendation is the section which provide some suggestion to overcome
from the problems which is identified in the investigation.
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Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction of literature review
A good literature review is that which showcase and understand the particular topic in
effective way. Literature review in the dissertation discussed about the past data about the
topic. This section helps the researcher to acquire detailed understanding about the specific
topic so that further investigation can be completed in sound full manner. The data which is
used in this section is second hand information which is gathered using various secondary
source. Some of the sources are website, magazine, books, articles and many more. One of
the main advantage of literature review is that it enumerates, summarize and evaluate the past
data. It is the review of comprehensive summary that analysis by the previous research for
the specific topic. The literature review is the scholarly articles surveys, journals, books and
other sources on the specific topic of research. Literature review helps to analysis,
summarise, describe, objectively evaluate the previous research (Paschou, and et.al., 2020).
there are many advantage of literature reviews such as it is focuses and clarify the research
problem, provide knowledge about the research area, improving the research methodology
and contextualise the findings of the research. The concept of literature review is to
description of the publications, giving the overall summary of the main points of publication,
discussion of the gaps within research, and evaluate the publication's contribution. It is helps
to identify the gaps in knowledge. It is helps to describe the importance of the current
research (Acerbi, and Taisch, 2020). The main purpose of the literature review is to
publication of the topic by scholars and researcher in order to previous research.
2.2 Main body with heading and sub-headings
2.2.1 What is the concept of pay, pension, and rewards system in context with UK
healthcare industry?
Concept of pay:
As per the view of Saether (2019), pay is the amount which is being offered by the
company to the employee for rendering services within the organisation. It is the type of
compensation which is received by the employee on monthly basis for the work they are
doing in an organisation. There are three elements which are covered in pay that are pay
level, pay structure and pay form. These all together helps the company to decide the amount
which they will actually pay to their staff. Pay level refers to the position of the company to
pay salary to their employees compared to the rivalry firm in the market. Pay structure is
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defined as the framework in which the company set various pay level for the different kinds
of jobs within an organisation (Guppy and Vincent, 2021). In last, pay form is the method
through which organisation reward their staff for the efforts they put for doing the work in
effective manner. These all helps the company to satisfy their employee for the job they are
doing. This is that amount which the company need to pay on regular basis for the service
they are performing in a period of time.
According to the view of McGregor and Davies (2019), there are two types of par
which are fixed pay and variable pay. The fixed pay is a contractual compensation which
employee received regularly. There is not variation in the amount according to the job or
work of the employee. Some of the ways through which fixed pay are being paid are salary,
allowance, house rent allowance and many more. On the other hand, variable pay is the
amount which keeps on fluctuating as per the performance and productivity of the employee
towards their work. The ways through which variable pay are being received are as bonus,
incentives, commission etc.
There are certain benefits which can be received by the company if they pay the
amount to their employee as per their expectation and type of work they are doing. Some of
the merits of pay are:
Increased productivity: Companies who are paying fair salary and wages or
allowance to their employee will have high productivity. This is because workforce will work
in sound manner because they know that they are paid as per the work they are doing.
Employees show more efforts and energy towards their work and this will help the
organisation in better way (Paoline III and et. al, 2018).
Improved retention: Another benefit which is received by the organisation by
implementing fair pay policy will see high retention rate in their organisation. Because
workforce know that they are being valued and are being payed rational. This will develop
the sense of belongings among employee and the retention rate will enhance. High retention
rate on the other hand also provide benefit to the organisation as the time and expenses which
is incurred to hire new employee will reduce (Menon and et. al, 2021).
Concept of pension:
As per the view of Olinski and Szamrowski (2022), Pension fund is also known as the
retirement amount of the employee. Pension is an amount which employee received after
they leave the job. It is a kind of saving scheme in which the organisation kept some portion
of salary with them. This money then received by the employee after they retire from the
service. The main reason for this scheme is that to generate a steady flow of income for the
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employee after completion of the years of service. An accumulated capital is being paid to
the employee at the end of their career. In recent time most of the company is providing the
pension scheme to their employee. In an organisation there are two types of workplace
pension which are as:
Defined benefit: This type of pension is also known as final salary in which the
benefit which is received by the employee is based on the earning and the numbers of years
they are serving the company. The amount of pension depends upon the above two factors
(Harder Fischer and Baskerville, 2018).
Defined contribution: The another name for this is money purchase pension. In this
the government of the nation has decided the level of amount which is to be by the employee
from the salary they are receiving. The amount which is contributed by the employee is then
invested and managed in the pension fund of the employee.
There are some other types of pension fund scheme which is also used by the
employee themselves which are personal pension, National pension scheme, Public provident
fund and many more (Cestari and et. al, 2018). It is necessary for the organisation to use
pension scheme in the company because it helps them in increasing the performance of the
employee. Pension scheme provide benefit to both the employee and organisation. For
employee certain benefit of pension are:
Raise the living standard: Pension amount helps the employee to maintain the same
standard of living after they retired from the job. This helps them to get a steady flow of
money after the ending of service time.
Act as an investment: For some employee pension also act as an investment
opportunity. They use this amount to invest in somewhere and then secure their life (Schultz
and et. al, 2019).
Apart from that for organisation some of the advantage company receive are:
Increased employee satisfaction: The foremost advantage that company received by
implementing the pension scheme in their organisation is enhanced employee satisfaction.
Employee feel satisfied by their job as they know that company is securing their future in
better manner. This will have satisfied them and employee works for the company in
effective and efficient manner (Chapman and White, 2019).
Attract talents: Next benefit which company gets is attracting talents within the
organisation. This will help the business to have new blood in their company and gain
advantage out of them. Having the talents within the company also aids the organisation to
gain competitive edge from their rivalry in sound and better manner.
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