Age-related differences in reward preferences

Abstract

Most of the European countries are facing a severe shortage of employees, due partly to the ageing of the workforce. Although the average age of the workforce will rise considerably in the next 10 years, the older workforce will have an effect on the way in which organisations will be led and employees motivated in the future. Nevertheless, only few studies have examined age-related differences in individual reward preferences or work motivation. This study investigated reward preferences of 628 Finnish nurses of different ages. The results showed that both financial and non-financial rewarding elements were highly appreciated and clearly identified by the nurses. Age-related differences were found among respondents' financial reward preferences. Research-based knowledge on nurses' age-related reward preferences helps managers and policy makers to develop more suitable rewarding systems for health care, which in turn has potential to encourage employees to work longer.

Keywords:

• age differences
• public health care
• rewarding
• reward preferences
• work motivation

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Academy of Finland for funding the preparation of this manuscript (decision number 104525). The author is indebted to Professor Esko Leskinen for his help with the statistical analysis and to Dr. Tarja Tikkanen for her insightful comments.