We put you in a situation: Imagine for a moment that you are offered two job offers at the same time, with the difference that one of them has a higher salary. Initially, we would all go for the offer with the highest salary. But what if the lower-paying job allowed you to work from home, or have more days off, or have hours that allowed you to spend more time with your family?
These types of variables that are so important when making a decision are considered part of the emotional salary. It should be noted that the emotional salary can never replace the monetary salary, which must be fair and according to the work that is done.
Emotional salary, what is it?
In short, the emotional salary is those non-financial benefits or incentives that make the employee feel more comfortable in their workplace.
Their effort and work can be rewarded in different ways, in this case not financial, which will help your employee feel more valued and work with greater motivation. For many people, these actions may become more important than the economic benefits in certain situations.
“According to a study prepared jointly by the Opener Institute for People and the prestigious Wall Street Journal, happy employees are 36% more motivated and 31% more efficient. "
In Spain, according to Randstad, at least 45,7% of the working population is not satisfied, and 18,5% of all active workers are looking for a new job. That is why, as a company, you must find a way to motivate your employees, and how to encourage their work for the best performance of the company.
According to several studies, these are the most important criteria when choosing a company:
- Work environment
- Flexible conditions
- Type of remuneration
- Family conciliation
- Job security
What benefits does the emotional salary have for workers and for the company?
The consideration economic what an employee receives for his work salary, is the most common element of extrinsic motivation (type of motivation caused by external factors that encourage the employee to perform their task). All fair wages are the basis of the work motivation of any employee, and therefore, of their commitment with the company.
Once the monetary part is covered, the employee looks for the part of the emotional salary. The one capable of making life much easier and feliz to the employee. Among its benefits are: being able to reconcile personal and work life, feeling more motivated, enjoying free time, avoiding stress, learning, maintaining a positive attitude, being more efficient, and much more.
Benefits for the company
These are some of the benefits for the company of the emotional salary:
- Greater motivation on the part of its employees that translates into greater efficiency of the same.
- Increased
- Greater labor involvement
- Improve the company image
- Reduce absenteeism
- Increased long-term relationships
What could we consider as emotional salary?
Anything that can improve the life of an employee without being an economic incentive is considered emotional salary.
These are some of the examples of emotional salary:
- Telecommuting
- Trainings
- Flexible schedules
- Good communication
- Flexible remuneration
- Day care centers
- Medical services
- Recognition
- Feedback
- Leisure areas in the office
For example, the international corporation dedicated to the manufacture and retail sale of furniture IKEA, has free coffee for its employees, discounts of up to 15% in its restaurants, health insurance, pension plan, savings plan, and internal services, room games and rest. Another example is that of the German supermarket chain LIDL, which has specific programs on healthy eating, stress management, ergonomics and the promotion of physical activity.
La gamification, as we have discussed in previous articles, is another way of publicly recognizing the effort and work of employees. Thanks to this technique, both the commitment, performance and motivation of employees are highly increased.
En GumsUp, we are specialists in en loyalty platforms and commercial motivation systems. Thanks to strategies such as the gamification, you will reinforce personal motivation and improve group dynamics.
Our platform enhances positive social interactions among the team, creating systems of recognition and support among employees.
It must be taken into account that not all employees have the same needs, nor do they value the different benefits of this type of actions in the same way, so it is important to know that there will be some that work for everyone, and others that must be perform in a personalized way.
How can emotional salary and salary transparency be related?
It could be said that salary transparency is a measure that every company is beginning to adopt, in which it is guaranteed that an employee will be paid in the same way, whoever they are and whatever their gender. This measure is trying to end, among many things, with the gender gap, and to be able to guarantee an equal work space.
Therefore, emotional salary and salary transparency are closely linked, since being able to work in a company, which seeks to guarantee a fair and transparent environment for all, is just as important as being in a company whose values and philosophy are consistent with yours.
”Customers don't come first. The first thing is the employees. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers”
Richard Branson
