Non-Material Rewards To Employees: Expectations And Preferences Of Generation Y

Compensation management relies on material and non-material rewards to encourage employees to effectively achieve organizational goals. In this respect, the remuneration strategy should be adapted to the preferences and expectations of individual employee segments. This paper presents an exploration of the expectations and preferences of Generation Y towards non-material rewards. In the theoretical part, the concepts of Generation Y and non-material rewards are elaborated, while in the empirical part, using the previously verified questionnaire, the preferences of Generation Y have been identified on a sample of students of the civil engineering faculties in Croatia. The research results revealed that students preferred opportunities to advance to a higher hierarchical position, interestingness of the job as well as the job security. With regard to personal development and work environment, they prefer working with a quality mentor. Most students think that it is desirable to stay in the same job position between 2 and 5 years. Such attitudes are in line with the results of the research conducted at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, which suggests that they can be considered as general preferences of Generation Y in Croatia.