Rewards ensure that employees can form strong, meaningful bonds with the organization they are working in. It plays an important role when it comes to motivation and creating engagement. Intrinsic rewards are intangible rewards that employees achieve at their workplace, also called internal rewards. These rewards are achieved when completing tasks and responsibilities efficiently and successfully. Employee engagement is a concept related to human resources and generally represents employees’ dedication to their job. Lately, researchers came up with the findings that employee engagement also represents employees’ enthusiasm for their job. This research aims to investigate how important intrinsic rewards are and how it affects employee engagement in the food industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires and survey methods. It was analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Research reached 210 employees using the convenience sampling method. Positive and significant relationship exists between intrinsic rewards and employee engagement, which proves that autonomy is an essential ingredient in the engagement of employees. Universal application in each business field, with the focus on Human Resource Management, applicable to creating reward packages and enhancing employee engagement. The findings of this research will be beneficial for future related research and organizational managers when formulating a quality reward package based on employees’ preferences. This research creates new directions for further research in the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee engagement because the concept of engagement is still relatively young, and there are no previously done researches on a similar topic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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