Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Many different definitions of human resources as a field of practice exist but few would disagree with the fact that a company’s remuneration practices play a crucially important role in the development and management of a productive workforce. Being such a crucial part of the employment relationship, a company’s remuneration strategy has the potential power to influence many factors contributing to employee well-being and operational success. The focus of this project has been an investigation of the current remuneration practices within Route Management (Pty) Ltd and the effect it has on employees, with specific reference to monthly paid employees at the Cape Town plant. The possibility of the current remuneration practices having a negative impact on employee satisfaction and crucial functions like skills retention have been scrutinised, and even where such concerns are not justified, the aim is to inform top management of the benefits that their current approach towards remuneration has to offer. In order to study the effect of the current remuneration practices deployed at Route Management, the research focused on employee satisfaction as a possible indicator of the impact these practices may have on employees. Employee satisfaction is a very wide construct, has many different components and has been studied widely in the literature. This complex construct along with some issues surrounding remuneration form the basis of the literature review presented in the report. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and with the size and physical location of the population in mind, a delivery and collection method was chosen to administer the questionnaires. This kind of questionnaire provided the respondents with the opportunity to complete the questions without any assistance from the researcher, ensuring that the researcher’s contribution was kept to an absolute minimum, and in doing so avoiding bias during the questionnaire data collection phase. Weights were assigned to questions in order to obtain a total employee satisfaction indicator score for each respondent, as well as two sub-indicator scores, namely a general employee satisfaction indicator and a remuneration satisfaction indicator for each respondent. Results showed that by far the majority of respondents are either satisfied or very satisfied with regards to their employment situation at Route Management with only 15 percent of respondents indicating that they are unsatisfied with remuneration practices at the company. All employees were found to be satisfied according to their general employee satisfaction and their total satisfaction indicator scores. The final analysis studied the relationship between remuneration satisfaction and general satisfaction. The results found that the company’s remuneration practices do not impact negatively on general employee satisfaction and with an average total satisfaction score of 72 percent, and 40 percent of all respondents found to be very satisfied, the company can be confident to work with a productive and motivated team at their Cape Town plant. Results showed that remuneration satisfaction does have some degree of positive impact on the level of general satisfaction which employees experience. Consequently, Route Management’s board of directors should consider these results as a positive indicator for their future decisions regarding remuneration practices, but should also consider the advantages of gaining more information from this type of research. It is therefore advised that this or similar studies should be rolled out and applied to the entire organisation.

Increasing competition within the freight transportation market in South Africa has intensified the need for rail industries to identify ways in which to enhance their competitiveness within this market. One of the most important challenges for organisations’ operating in this market is to deliver goods on time, while meeting the needs of customers, at the lowest possible cost. If such organisations are to remain competitive, it may be required of them to shift their focus to their employees. Research has shown that employees render organisations’ with sustainable competitive advantage, more specifically, it has shown that engaged employees surpass disengaged employees. The distinguishing factor for organisations’ in the search of competitive advantage would therefore be an engaged workforce. The primary research objective of this study was to investigate contribution of reward systems to enhanced employee engagement within Transnet Engineering (TE) in Swartkops, Port Elizabeth. A theoretical overview was conducted to evaluate different definitions, engagement theories and factors of reward systems which contribute to enhanced employee engagement. An empirical study was conducted by means of a survey with a questionnaire as data collecting tool. The purpose of the structured questionnaire was to validate the findings obtained from the theoretical overview and to assess employees’ perceptions of reward systems and engagement. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the literature and empirical study. These recommendations will assist the organisation in understanding how reward systems can be used to enhance employee engagement, so that a competitive advantage can be achieved within the freight transportation market.

To be competitive, organisations need to ensure that all their resources are functioning at optimal level. The most important of these resources being its employees. This is because their commitment can guarantee the attainment of organisational goals. Commitment can be attained by an organisation through the payment of internally and externally competitive remuneration and reward packages, that communicate the value of the employees to the organisation. Remuneration and reward strategies are a critical tool for organisations, as they can motivate, attract and retain high performing employees. The theories of motivation, such as, the equity theory, state that employees compare their compensation with that of others and that if they perceive inequity, can be de-motivated or leave an organisation. Therefore, it is imperative for an organisation to ensure that its remuneration and reward strategy is aligned with its business strategy, to ensure clear communication of goals. In order to prevent labour turnover and to ensure commitment and retention, the employer needs to offer total rewards, which include base pay, benefits, variable performance pay, recognition and an enabling work environment. These can be effective as they meet all employee needs as in Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs and ensure the satisfaction of the organisation‟s need for goal attainment. To gain more insight, an empirical study was conducted at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The results of the survey indicated that the NMMU‟s remuneration and reward strategy contained certain elements of the total rewards strategy. These are variable pay in the form of a service bonus and benefits plus based pay. This strategy seems to be ineffective to motivate and retain employees due to lack of clear communication and recognition. To motivate and retain its employees, the NMMU should improve its communication and engage employees and unions in defining remuneration and reward strategies through collaboration.

The goal of this research was to determine, in a South African context, whether there is any correlation between chief executive officer compensation and the performance of the company. For the purposes of the research , the compensation of chief executive officers was broken down into three components: salary, bonus and "other" remuneration, while company performance was measured on return on equity, return on assets and earnings per share figures. Studies on this topic have been carried out in other countries, most notably in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. It appears that no research of a similar nature has been carried out in South Africa. Data in respect of the forty largest listed companies in South Africa were collected over a period of five years. The econometric models used for the research were based on models identified in the literature study. The data were then analysed for evidence of a correlation between chief executive officer compensation and the performance of the company. The results of this study indicate that there is no linear relationship between chief executive officer compensation and company performance variables. The econometric models did, however, show correlations between certain variables, taking into account the other predictor variables in the model. Evidence of correlations between age and experience and compensation was also found , which may present potential avenues of research to scholars in the future.