ABSTRACT

The chapter, approaching reward management from an economist’s perspective, raises the question of how different types of work are valued, based on what employers are prepared to pay for them. The backcloth to the assessment is an economy undergoing a period of considerable uncertainty, concerns about the social divisions arising from the large gap evidenced between those at the top and other levels, and an ongoing ‘productivity puzzle’. The conclusion offered is that, with Brexit-related economic uncertainties, in approaching reward and how it is managed UK employers would be wise to think carefully about what they – and their accountants – see as making their organizations attractive to work in, comparing and contrasting these views with those of diverse workforce members at all levels. And, generalizing from this single economy view, how the processes of determining what an employer is prepared to pay and, fairly, to distribute rewards from employment can support this more enlightened orientation to reward management and the economy.