What is that of the Emotional Salary? In these moments, those days come to my memory when many said that stress came from the fantasy world, however, after a significant number of investigations, today it is considered an important variable in the symptomatology of many physical and mental illnesses.
Well, let me tell you, an expert in the misnamed Human Resources today known as Human Management, the time will come when the Emotional Salary will be part of the annual package of every Knowledge worker. It is a debt, a responsibility that cannot be ignored, necessarily and obligatorily must be part of the Total Compensation of every Knowledge worker.
Now, the term "Compensation" comes from the verb to compensate and this, in turn, from the Latin word "compensāre", a term that unfortunately for many companies, of certain dimensions, and even corporations, is handled as a synonym for "money".
Establishing a link between labor "costs" and productivity, compensation has been used as an incentive tool, monetary, to motivate staff; Yes, the great authors and authorities on the subject, along with the great businessmen, have not realized that they have encouraged and strengthened the “mercenaries of knowledge”.
In 2010, MSc. Alexandra Tabash Méndez, in her excellent work "Organizational Culture Factors influencing the job satisfaction of the administrative staff of the Brunca Regional Headquarters, Pérez Zeledón National University Campus" tells us:
«Every person, from birth and through his stages of human development, acquires abilities and skills not only for a properly physical reason. Rather, in addition to this, the human being generally goes through each stage of his life motivated and / or stimulated by those around him. And it is that every person, regardless of their age, likes to be recognized for their efforts, their dedication, their progress through rewards ranging from a congratulatory word, an applause, a verbal or written recognition to gifts or promotions and salary increases, among others, when you are immersed in the workforce. "
And he continues telling us: “Every worker always attends his job with the illusion of being especially recognized by his leaders and colleagues, since they carry with them a need for achievement and pride in their work. Some even risk taking challenges to feel that they are putting their skills and knowledge into practice, as well as giving their best effort. Thus, the leaders of the organizations must be very aware of the effects that different types of recognition or incentives can cause in their employees. When talking about recognitions, rewards, awards or whatever you want to call them, you generally think of them in terms of money, that is, salary incentives, which does not always mean that this resource is the best or most optimal to apply as a system reward.Another type of incentive can be to provide employees with the necessary conditions for the development of a project of personal interest, flexibility of schedule, a vacation plan, scholarships for higher studies, and even, why not ?, until an afternoon off. "
In tune with Alexandra, "There are as many ways to 'reward' a person as there are people, since generally what motivates one is not the same as what motivates the other." And so, in 2006, Summers in her work "Quality Management" (Editorial apprenticesana, Mexico) tells us: "Reward systems must recognize achievements. Employee efforts need to be rewarded to the extent that they allow the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. As direct recipients of benefits, employees must play an active role in creating or modifying the rewards system. ”
According to Valeria Bedodo Espinoza and Carla Giglio Gallardo in their degree thesis to apply for the title of Psychologist «Work motivation and compensations: a research of theoretical orientation» in 2006 at the University of Chile, referring to Villanueva and González tell us:
"Compensation refers, then, to the gratification that employees receive in exchange for their work, which make up all the forms of payment or rewards that are given to them and which contributes to their satisfaction, thus helping the organization to obtain, maintain and retain a productive workforce. The concept of compensation includes all kinds of rewards, both extrinsic and intrinsic, that consider both monetary and non-monetary elements, which are received by the employee as a result of his work in the organization. Extrinsic rewards refer to base salary or wages, incentives or bonuses, and benefits distributed directly by the organization. Intrinsic rewards refer to internal rewards of the individual, derived from his involvement in certain activities or tasks, such as:job satisfaction, commitment, autonomy, opportunities for growth and learning. »
Valeria and Carla in their degree thesis, referring to Villanueva and González, mention the term "total compensation" and do not say that it is made up of three main elements: base remuneration, incentives and benefits.
Elements of Total Compensation
Base remuneration
Base remuneration refers to the base salary or wage, also called fixed income. It could be defined as the remuneration or regular payment that a person receives for her services when she is employed by a company, which establishes a structure and system of equitable payment to employees, depending on their positions, the market, long-term performance and. competencies.
Although the salary or wage is not the sole interest of the worker, nevertheless, unfortunately, it constitutes one of the oldest ways of stimulating their cooperation and contribution. Be careful, since it is a double-edged sword, if it is not well managed, it could easily become one of the elements that most hinder this cooperation and contribution. Hence the importance of the Administration of wages and salaries, on it depends, for the most part: the attitude, cooperation, contribution and fluid interrelations of the staff and with them, the departmental and managerial interrelations of the organization.
Good, but let's see what the experts in the field tell us:
Sánchez Barriga: »It is the phase of the Human Resources Administration that uses defined principles and techniques to ensure that the total remuneration received by the worker is reasonable and appropriate to the importance of the position, efficiency, and the personal needs of the worker. and to the possibilities of the company. "
Idalberto Chiavenato: »It is the set of norms and procedures that try to establish or maintain fair and equitable salary structures in the organization.»
Strauss and Sayles: »It is a systematic procedure to establish a remuneration structure. »
Andrew F. Sikula: »Salary and Wage Management is about developing a fair pay scale that is generous enough to ensure that employees continue to work with the company and are motivated to do a good job so they don't create problems for the organization.. "
Now, by means of the evaluation and valuation of positions (based on the importance or relative value of these in the organization), the base remuneration is established that is nothing more than the platform of total compensation. The evaluation of positions determines their relative value, considering, for example, the key competences and guaranteeing internal equity. On the other hand, the valuation of charges determines their price in the market, thus guaranteeing external competitiveness.
Incentives
Depend on long or short term performance, goals, results and cost reduction, incentives correspond to the variable component of total compensation, since they are directly associated with performance or productivity, that is, there is a direct relationship between what the employee does (their results) and the incentives they get. The incentive depends on the results and is not guaranteed.
If these are properly designed, they will indicate what the organization is looking for, and therefore, the workers will adjust their performance to that expectation, in this way, the relationship between the organization's goals, motivation and performance, united through incentives, make up the variables of the equation that will allow the strategic alignment of the Human Management management.
Benefits
The benefits are commonly understood as the non-monetary component of the total compensation, such as: vacations, life and health insurance, agreements, retirement plan, among others. These elements depend mainly on the type of organization, the type of position and the hierarchical level.
Functions of Total Compensation
The Psychologist and Researcher of the School of Psychology of the Adolfo Ibáñez University, Santiago, Chile, Ignacio Fernández Reyes, in his work "The management of compensation as a value possibility", referring to Flannery, Hofrichter and Platten, tells us that all compensation It must fulfill four functions: strategic alignment, internal equity, external competitiveness, and performance management.
Strategic alignment
Remuneration and benefits are a privileged means to directly associate the goals and values of an organization with the motivation and performance of workers. If the compensations are well designed and indicate what an organization is looking for, employees will adjust their performance to its expectations, to the extent that their work, consistent with the organization's goals, is rewarded (not necessarily in monetary form).
Internal equity
What is equitable is that the same set of variables and the same units of measurement are used to weigh the relative importance of all the positions. Two people in equal positions must necessarily receive the same remuneration for the position.
External competitiveness
It is standard practice for companies to compare themselves to the market to test their relative positioning. This practice is positive, to the extent that it is understood that remuneration must satisfy not only the criterion of external competitiveness, but at the same time must ensure internal equity.
Performance management
Conceiving the performance of people as the most relevant asset to be managed by management shows that the role of compensation is to direct the performance of people to what the company expects. This attributes an individual and particular character to the compensations, since they must consider the type of work of the person, the expected results of their position and how to reward them for the demonstrated achievements, both in terms of remuneration and non-monetary rewards.
For advice only, I consider it relevant to reflect, study and understand Compensation, along with its motivational effects on people, as a background to work performance aligned with organizational goals, the well-being of the family and with it, the well-being of the community and worker satisfaction. This is a topic that deserves respect and cannot be treated lightly and in a sporty way. In fact, the relevance of studying this topic presents various dimensions that merit analysis and hours of study. In the first place, issues related to motivation are relevant to virtually all areas of contemporary psychology, including physiology, social psychology, occupational psychology, personality, learning, cognition, education,clinical psychology and the psychology of health, power and empowerment, without forgetting the ethical responsibility of the company to grant the emotional salary (emotional balance, physical and psychological well-being, in short, quality of life) to people who they work in it. Second and no less important, there is the correct Administrative management of the case, the correct definition of positions and functions, the correct definition of the organizational structure aligned with Strategic Planning, the psychological climate, the organizational climate, the formation of teams, conflict management, culture, management, leadership, communication, organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.without forgetting the ethical responsibility of the company to grant the emotional salary (emotional balance, physical and psychological well-being, in short, quality of life) to the people who work in it. Second and no less important, there is the correct Administrative management of the case, the correct definition of positions and functions, the correct definition of the organizational structure aligned with Strategic Planning, the psychological climate, the organizational climate, the formation of teams, conflict management, culture, management, leadership, communication, organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.without forgetting the ethical responsibility of the company to grant the emotional salary (emotional balance, physical and psychological well-being, in short, quality of life) to the people who work in it. Second and no less important, there is the correct Administrative management of the case, the correct definition of positions and functions, the correct definition of the organizational structure aligned with Strategic Planning, the psychological climate, the organizational climate, the formation of teams, conflict management, culture, management, leadership, communication, organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.Second and no less important, there is the correct Administrative management of the case, the correct definition of positions and functions, the correct definition of the organizational structure aligned with Strategic Planning, the psychological climate, the organizational climate, the formation of teams, conflict management, culture, management, leadership, communication, organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.Second and no less important, there is the correct Administrative management of the case, the correct definition of positions and functions, the correct definition of the organizational structure aligned with Strategic Planning, the psychological climate, the organizational climate, the formation of teams, conflict management, culture, management, leadership, communication, organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.organizational and personal interrelationships, training, motivation.
In conclusion: The correct compensation does not consist in paying more, but humanely, equitably and integrally better.
Footnotes
- Villanueva A. and González E. (2005). Compensation Management I. Participant's Manual. Santiago, Chile Dessler G. (1996). Staff Administration. Prentice - Hispanic American Hall. Mexico. Quoted in; Rodriguez Valencia Joaquín (1993). Modern Personnel Management 1. Edit. ECASA, 2nd Edition, Mexico, Chiavenato Idalberto (1994). Human resources management. Edit. McGrawHill, 2nd Edition, Mexico. Quoted in; Rodriguez Valencia Joaquín (1993). Modern Personnel Management 1. Edit. ECASA, 2nd Edition, Mexico, Sikula Andrew F. (1989). Human resources management. Edit. Limusa, México.Flannery T., Hofrichter D. and Platten P. (1997). People, performance and pay: dynamic compensation for the new business environment. Paidós Publishing House. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
