What can organizations do to keep rewards individualized enough to meet various employee needs (needs theory) while trying to ensure that everyone feels that all the different rewards are fair (equity theory)

The best way to go about this is to design and operate and rewards system that recognizes individual needs as summarized and proposed by David McClelland.

The theory of equity on the other hand speaks to the perception of how input is compensated for in relation to those of others. Human beings (workers) will come with varying degrees of skills and input.

So to customize rewards in such a way that it recognizes unique contributions in an equitable way, one must first decide what key skills will be required for each job and which jobs are required to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

Explanation:

The Needs Theory by David Mclelland summarizes individual needs into three. They are:

A balanced reward system will have financial and non-financial benefits. some of the non-financial benefits will be tailored to have the above components.

- Achievement: An example of this is - Opportunity for higher assignments

- Affiliation: The need to belong to a strong Employer brand

- Power: This answers the question about whether or not one will become more influential as they progress with the company

The equity theory will guide the business owner in ensuring that all selected metrics of input are classed and priced accordingly.

The usual form of input include but are not limited to:

Equity sometimes is difficult to achieve due to issues with capacity on the part of the company. Best practice, however, is to recognize equity first from the perspective of standard industry practice, then match or exceed such offering by a combination of Financial and Non-Financial rewards that are based on the strength of the organization.

Another strategy is for organizations to adapt it's reward systems to  Achievement Based Compensation. This type of compensation instead of focusing on the inputs listed above focuses on results.

In this case, expected results and capacity to deliver and subsequent rewards on same are discussed and agreed upon.

Minimum requirements are also defined ahead of time. Under this kind of structure, equity is achieved, and individual needs are recognized.

Cheers

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