How to set up successful multicultural human resource management programmes remains a contentious issue. This study examined variables that influenced job satisfaction in the workforce of a multinational company operating in Mozambique. It took a mixed methods approach and analysed case study data using a combination of content, thematic, descriptive and statistical techniques. The results indicate that the level of job satisfaction of these employees was comparable to that of employees in former Soviet Bloc countries; however, it varied significantly across levels of employee. The results also demonstrate that, to be more successful, 'foreign' management practices should be adapted to the local culture and, further, that humanism in the African workplace can positively mediate a traditional instrumentalist rewards system.