Application to public sector of rewards and incentives

The Public Sector as an area of employment differs considerably from its Private Sector counterparts. Some of these differences appear to work in favour of the Public Sector, others against. The Public Sector has long been regarded by the community as an inefficient manager of its resources, including one of its most valuable - its personnel. Many factors, both internal and external, have contributed to a need for change. Since the Public Sector will have to continue enhancing the productivity of its existing resources, this Research Project set out to determine how this might be facilitated in personnel management. The project reviewed the evolving literature regarding motivation and the application of Rewards and Incentives, especially their applicability to the Public Sector. Since much of the data upon which these findings are based is sourced from outside Australia, it was proposed to undertake a limited survey of elements of the Australian Public Sector to determine the relevance of the theory. This survey took the form of a questionnaire which was forwarded to all Public Service Boards and representative Public Sector Unions throughout Australia. To provide a basis for comparison, some Private Sector organisations with some structural similarity to the Public Sector and corresponding unions were also canvassed. ……