The current climate of rapidly evolving organizations poses many challenges for today’s companies. In the field of human resources, one of those challenges is clearly the ability to retain talent. A key factor in this is emotional salary.
In an increasingly competitive environment to attract the best talent, companies are developing real Change Management strategies. Studies conducted by PMM Ciex Innovation University www.pmmciex.com suggest that it will be very difficult to retain the most competent employees in global organizations.
Faced with this challenge, organizations are pooling their ingenuity to strengthen employee engagement and minimize the brain drain of high-value talent. In fact, other studies we have conducted, analyzing the human situation in various organizations worldwide, have revealed that engagement is one of the keys to employee retention. While the vast majority of people work for money, that doesn’t mean financial compensation is all they gain.
You also gain numerous emotional elements that can be positive or negative depending on your work experience—in other words, you receive an emotional salary.
Emotional salary encompasses all those components that help you grow professionally, but also personally through your work. “New generations of workers, with millennials as the most paradigmatic example, are no longer satisfied with financial salary alone. They also need to be rewarded with another type of compensation that helps them balance professional and family life; and those organizations that have positioned themselves at the forefront of talent management and care for their human capital, by offering their employees an emotional salary, are the companies preferred by new generations and have become the ‘best places to work.'”
According to studies conducted by international consulting firms, happy workers dedicate 65% more energy to performing their daily tasks. The most valued workplace aspects by respondents were a good work environment, flexible hours, and having a good boss—while having a good salary (always the first item on the list until now) has fallen to fourth place. Based on this data, it’s no surprise that more and more companies are realizing that a happy worker is more efficient.
According to a study of 821 professionals by PMM CIEx www.pmmciex.com, April 2021, who were asked: What emotional aspects would you include in employee compensation? The response shows that most organizations, according to the perception of the surveyed professionals, yielded these opinions:
- Time off: 28%
- Training opportunities: 34%
- Personal growth: 25%
- Project participation: 13%
Time off
Flexible hours are the second most valued aspect by workers.
Training opportunities
Training plans are another of the most demanded factors by employees. Having development plans in companies for specific positions or profiles is essential, as it allows them to envision a longer-term future. And, without a doubt, the training option as an incentive is highly valued by new generations, who are very accustomed to using digital tools and have a very proactive disposition to learn new disciplines in a constantly changing environment.
Personal growth
Knowing that, even if you start from the bottom, you have the possibility of advancing to positions of greater responsibility gives employees an extra dose of motivation because they see their future opportunities as a reward. Feeling comfortable at work or knowing that promotion opportunities exist can increase productivity.
Project participation
A collaborative work environment that fosters teamwork and corporate culture makes workers feel comfortable every day.
These aspects, evaluated by both our organization and other consulting firms, show that emotional salary can increase productivity by up to 30%, improve engagement levels with the business, and increase job satisfaction levels. According to our experience, we must also add other benefits: emotional salaries can reduce the number of workdays lost due to not meeting goals by up to 60% and minimize workplace absenteeism by half.
Talented people are highly valuable. They have creative minds that can help the company move forward and achieve goals that previously seemed unattainable. They fall into the category of “ideal candidates” and, once they are part of the team, it would be a mistake to let them go.
A good salary is not enough to retain talented people. If another business appears and offers them more flexible hours, on-site childcare, a cafeteria, and a break room, they would likely resign and decide to start working there.
All employees need an emotional salary to feel that their work is meaningful and to have opportunities for professional development. When employees are motivated in this way, they will want to work hard to achieve their goals. A successful workplace is one in which both the company and the workers win.
“My job as a business consultant and researcher is to make the entire company team good enough to be successors”
