In a labor market in which the expectations and interests of workers around a job have radically changed, thinking that the salary is enough to retain staff is a mistake. It is in this context that emotional salary becomes relevant, although its benefits can go beyond helping people stay in an organization.
The emotional salary is the set of monetary and non-monetary elements that a company offers its workers. That is, it ranges from a fair income to benefits above the benefits established by the Federal Labor Law (LFT), a good work environment, active listening processes, positive leadership, among other factors.
“It is the set of policies, benefits, actions that the organization does so that employees feel satisfied in their work and can better carry out their activities. That set of benefits that causes this feeling of well-being and loyalty in a group of collaborators it is what we call emotional salary and what it does is that the work is meaningful ”, explains Rosalinda Ballesteros, director of the Institute of Happiness Sciences of the Tecmilenio University.
According to Hays’ “2021 Salary and Trend Analysis” the top three reasons people would leave a job are lack of growth opportunities, pay, and organizational climate.
Among other reports that show that income is not the only element valued, a LinkedIn report shows that since the Covid-19 pandemic the Mexicans prioritize a good conciliation between work and personal life, excellent pay and benefits, job security, having colleagues and an inspiring culture, having open and effective leadership, professional challenges and flexible working conditions.
Although workers perceive work differently and have stopped seeing it solely as a source of income, but as a space where they have an experience, Rosalinda Ballesteros affirms that emotional salary does not replace salary.
“It goes together with an adequate monetary remuneration, the emotional salary is not a substitute for an adequate monetary remuneration and legal rules”, he emphasizes.
In this, Cecilia Mansilla, specialist in Professional Development at Udemy, agrees, the emotional salary is a complement to the economic perception and that is why it serves as a retention element.
“The reality is that if the economic salary does not exceed the emotional one, the latter loses its reason for being. So that this does not happen, we must first consider that the first is competitive enough so that the material needs are satisfactorily covered and even exceed them. Once this is done, the emotional salary needs to be planned based on a comprehensive strategy ”, explains the specialist.
In addition to helping in the retention of talent, Rosalinda Ballesteros assures that it favors having a high sustained productivity. “When there is a adequate emotional salary, productivity is ascending and sustained and we can challenge people to do new projects, to commit to the company ”.
How is it composed?
Alejandro Ureña, co-founder of Evolutive, believes that the basis of the emotional salary is understand that the worker is a person you need more than a salary.
“Those things that money cannot buy. It is not enough to say: we already paid you and therefore you belong to us. There are certain compensations that are not monetary that must be considered, but the fundamental step is to consider that people have an emotional part, an affective need, a family and psychological need, and if the company wants to obtain the best performance of the person, as a company we must give it the best we can ”, says the specialist in Wellness Culture.
Cecilia Mansilla thinks that a good emotional salary is the one that affects the sense of purpose, professional development, personal-emotional development and physical well-being.
Flexibility, grocery vouchers, training, supportive work environment, diversity, active listening, major health insurance, purposeful work, birthday celebrations, mental health care, business cards. Rewards, recognition, autonomy in the position are just some examples of elements that make up this offer of value to the employee complementary to the salary.
Rosalinda Ballesteros points out that there is no single recipe for designing an emotional salary because this must be integrated based on the interests and needs of the collaborators and must be reviewed frequently and adapted to changes.
“If I am in an industry where people work in shifts and it is necessary for people to be physically present, I will not be able to offer telecommuting, but I can make a structure to understand the variables of value for employees and offer flexibility”, exemplifies the director from the Institute of Happiness Sciences.
In this sense, Alejandro Ureña indicates that the construction of an emotional salary starts from ask collaborators their needs. “There are things that are not going to be in our hands as a company, but there are others that can be simple to develop and only need the intentionality of the leaders.”
Although this package of non-monetary benefits may vary in each company, the co-founder of the organizational transformation agency Evolutive, the emotional salary should cater for professional and personal growth, training, social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, pleasant work experience, value in work, receive the right tools, work flexibility and a good connection with leaders.
Investing is in mindset
From Rosalinda Ballesteros’s perspective, investing in an emotional salary is more aligned with an change in leadership styles and in further promoting collaboration.
“That is an investment in time and in conviction because sometimes we have learned from copying previous leadership styles that in the long term do not have a proven result, on the contrary, they lead us to high staff turnover or employee burnout” .
Alejandro Ureña agrees that the investment in this non-monetary package is largely linked to actions that have no additional cost for companies, but they do require changing the mindset and organizational culture.
“There should be no justification that within the compensation package and the offer of value to candidates there should be no reason not to include a good employee experience that adds to the emotional salary,” he says.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx