Total Rewards and Work Engagement in Critical Care Nursing: A Cross-Sectional Analysis From Lebanon

Commitment to work is important for nurses as well as employers. With the recent downward spiral of global rates of engagement, organizations must adapt a well-developed reward system in order to attract, retain and keep nurses motivated.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of total reward system on work engagement among critical care areas in Lebanon, and to assess the type of rewards preferred by these nurses, which would attract, retain and motivate them.

A cross-sectional design with convenience and purposive sampling was used, targeting nurses working in critical care areas in one private hospital in Lebanon. Using Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the total rewards preferences questionnaire.

Low work engagement scores were prevalent among the critical care nurses, while the nurses scored highest on the level of dedication. Financial rewards appeared to play a role in attracting, retaining and motivating nurses; however, the results showed no significant correlation between rewards and work engagement, which substantiates the nurse's dedication to their profession in spite of low rewards.

In order to achieve well-developed reward system, hospitals must include both financial and non-financial rewards in their schema so that work engagement improves and nurses be more motivated, attracted and retained, thus hospitals will decrease their expense on critical care nurses and on the long run hospitals, benefits will increase.