REWARDING AS A TOOL IN IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Case: The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kansaneläkelaitos)

Rewarding is a tool to motivate and commit both employees and managers. The Social Insurance Institution of Finland is a significant institution and is a large employer. The primary task is to pay a wide variety of benefits for those entitled to them but also within a particular time. Therefore, it is essential that employees are motivated and skilled when processing applications and managers when leading their teams. Employees are more productive, motivated and satisfied, which in turn increases well-being. This also benefits the employer by reducing employee turnover rate and recruitment cost and engages employees long term. The study aimed to find out how to improve performance through rewarding with means to do it. The supporting research questions were what the main criteria are when choosing how to reward an employee, what are the possible options on how to engage/motivate employees more efficiently and what rewarding system are used elsewhere but could be applied to The Social Insurance Institution of Finland and why. The research used a case study method with quantitative and qualitative methods used in data acquisition. The available material from barometers from 2017 and 2018 was supplemented with a questionnaire providing more detailed information to the research questions. Currently, the rewarding system and the applicable rewarding and payroll guide is seen inefficient, does not serve its purpose and does not motivate. The research showed how both managers’ and employees’ experience towards the current rewarding, what the most significant problem points are and suggest improvements and solutions to these problems. The study can be considered a success as it was able to provide tangible solutions for the issues pointed out and answering the research questions. It also proved important information from the field to the management to take into consideration when reviewing the payroll as well as rewarding after the end of its validity period