Beyond Financial Compensation: The Emotional Salary

It’s undeniable that there are many factors contributing to the moment of choosing a job or feeling comfortable with the one you have. Beyond financial compensation, there are other key elements essential for creating emotional bonds that translate into benefits for both, companies and workers.

Emotional salary consists of tangible or intangible elements that tend to positively impact the worker’s quality of life and are not reflected in their paycheck.

Why consider emotional salary? Because it has proven to have a significant impact on productivity and efficiency levels as well as on the proactivity and commitment of the staff, ensuring that company’s goals are achieved promptly and more pleasantly. If there’s one thing we should have learned from the pandemic, it’s that the health and well-being of our staff are crucial for every business. I conclude this idea by indicating that, according to the World Health Organization, more than 12 million workdays are lost each year due to depression and anxiety.

Offering a good salary along with great incentives is key to retaining talent and attracting new hires that align with the company’s values.

The emotional salary has characteristics that make it very valuable:

• It arises with a people-centered focus: born from a genuine interest in improving the workers’ lives, who are at the heart of the strategy, as human beings.
• It revolves around the workers’ needs: it is designed for the group of workers at hand, not abstractly.
• It is consistent with the company’s mission: it must be linked with the objectives, methods, and culture of the company.
• It forms meaningful bonds: if the company positively influences the workers’ lives, they feel protected and promotes loyalty.
• It gives purpose to the worker: this encourages interest, drives them to set goals, and be proactive.

Let’s discuss some examples that could be implemented in your company to benefit from its virtues:

• Personal and professional development: Continuous training to learn and/or strengthen skills and abilities.
• Work-life/personal life balance: Offering days off for personal matters, health issues, flexible schedules, remote work, more vacations, etc.
• Valuing their opinion: An open-door policy for them to express what they like, what they don’t like, or what they would like to do within the context of work.
• Childcare: Collaborating with daycare services or being able to bring the little ones to work.
• Pet-friendly environment: Creating spaces or activities where pets are included.
• Psychological assistance: A professional expert can help staff deal with stress, depression, anxiety, among others.
• Social responsibility: Participation in volunteering or social action plans can make workers feel self-fulfilled, useful, and proactive.

In conclusion, while salary is indispensable, nowadays it is not enough to guarantee well-being and retention, especially of the new generations at work.

Let’s get creative!

Marcela Acosta V.
mav@quatro.legal
Founding Partner
Quatro Legal