For the second year, WorldatWork will fund grants for research projects related to compensation, employee benefits, work-life balance, recognition and career development in order to further knowledge on the best ways to reward and incentivize employees.

For 2008, WorldatWork is offering funding opportunities in both the spring and fall, for a total of $100,000. Qualified individuals include academics, non-profit and for-profit consultants, and researchers. Interested parties should submit a Letter of Intent outlining the research idea by February 21, 2008.

"We are pleased to make the second in what will become a biannual series of grants to build the growing body of research in total rewards," said Ryan Johnson, CCP, director of information development for WorldatWork, in a press release announcing the grants.. "We expect these research projects to result in practical information for talent leaders."

The research projects that were rewarded grants included one from Texas A&M University titled "The Relative Influence of Reward Strategies on the Attraction, Motivation, and Retention of Talented and Effective Employees." As explained by WorldatWork, the project "hypothesizes that benefits and compensation will be particularly important for employee attraction, while recognition and development opportunities will be particularly important for employee motivation and retention, and work-life will be important for all three: attraction, motivation and retention."

The University of Missouri--St. Louis also received a grant for its project tilted "Organizational Culture and Reward Practices" which will "examine how an organization's compensation and rewards programs are affected by both employer and employee values."

For further details, go to www.worldatwork.org/researchgrants.