Chinese employees are rewarded for good performance at a significantly lower rate than American employees. Only small numbers of employees are singled out for good performance. Chinese workers are motivated less by intangible rewards, such as praise and recognition, and more by tangible rewards. These include increases in salary and opportunity for professional growth and advancement. Increase in pay may motivate employees but asking for a raise is viewed quite differently in the Chinese business culture. Employees tend to shy away from such direct behavior, especially since many of those who ask for a raise are then asked to resign. Also, China is a collectivist culture, so groups are responsible for success and failures. Thus, if a raise is given, it is usually given to the entire group.

A recent trend has been towards bonus-related pay instead of seniority-based pay. In the past, seniority systems were used for appointing supervisors but this practice has declined in recent times. With this changing work atmosphere, many Chinese workers are finding it difficult to accept the notion of being older than their supervisors (Weldon & Vanhonacker, 1999).

A similar trend occurring in many of China’s organizations is the declining tradition of lifetime employment. Trends are leading towards fixed-term contracts for a specified amount of time. Thus, lifetime job security is losing strength as a motivational factor for Chinese employees (Gregory & Wales, 1996).