If you take out the economic aspect, why do people work? This question, which guided the research of Mexican Marisa Elizundia, human resources specialist and consultant and creator of the Emotional Salary Barometer, seems to have become more relevant to employees and collaborators around the world due to the pandemic.

According to Elizundia, lockdowns and remote working have made people more aware of how much time they spend on their work each day.

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Getting up every day, getting ready to go out, spending an eternal and tedious time in traffic jams, working eight, ten or more hours in the company, with all its apartments, and coming home with barely the time and the breath to end the day waiting for a new day: “We had all of this so integrated into life, so automated, that we did not realize that most of the time we spent awake, a third of life, was devoted to this . Working remotely made us realize that we were missing the opportunity to spend more time at home, to eat meals with family, to be able to finish the day and go for walks, sunbathe, and we let’s give it all up just in exchange for a salary,” says the expert.

He adds that this is the reason why workers now expect more from their jobs and their companies. And while getting a better salary is an important base, it’s not always a raise they’re looking for. In fact, they want things that go beyond salary.

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They are looking for an emotional salary: reasons to feel satisfied with their work, with their company. And aspects such as flexible hours are part of it; to feel recognized, listened to, valued and respected; have programs to improve their well-being and grow, for which training and career plans are essential.

Mexican Nancy Martínez, CEO and founder of Live 13.5°, the first organizational happiness consultancy in Latin America and creator of the International Happiness Ranking of Heroin Companies, points out that this feeling is no longer so foreign to many businesses.

“Among the changes brought about by the pandemic in terms of labor relations, there is not only the increased importance that employers and business leaders place on the well-being and happiness of workers; also, the fact that employees have taken responsibility and now want a change from what they were experiencing before the covid”, says the expert.

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Martínez adds that older workers with more experience tend to be more accepting of the pre-pandemic model. The youngest, no. “These guys now come to job interviews and ask about how they’re going to work, if they’re going to have flexibility (face-to-face, hybrid, remote), how the company is going to take care of them and what it offers them to have a quality of life, and it is from there that they decide. We are entering a trend where companies no longer choose their employees, it is the employees who choose the companies”, says Nancy.

Even so, many of them have a lot of work to do in this regard. It is worth saying, for example, that according to an online survey carried out last year by the British firm AON among 1,648 companies in 41 countries, 82% of them recognize that the well-being of workers is important and priority; in fact, 87% have at least one initiative in this direction. But only 55% have a defined strategy, and barely 24% fully integrate well-being into their business strategy.

And this even if, according to the authors of the survey, it is fully demonstrated that “focusing on improving individual and organizational well-being performance has a direct impact on improving business results”.

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“Organizations that improve their employee wellness offerings by 3% see a 1% increase in customer satisfaction and retention; and if that improvement is 4%, they see a 1% increase in net business income and a 1% decrease in voluntary employee turnover,” the authors note.

But what signs can tell companies that they are not doing the job well in terms of well-being and emotional pay?

Nancy Martínez recommends observing the emotionality of workers. It is not a good sign that they are becoming more parsimonious, that they do not participate in convocations, that they have negative attitudes, that they refuse to answer when asked, that a bad organizational climate is perceived and that frequent resignations are presented. “Ultimately, you have to make this diagnosis and try to establish the causes to start acting,” she says.

And the leaders?

Both experts agree on the determining role that managers and bosses have in the well-being of workers. “A leader who only tells the employee what to do, and puts pressure on him but does not accompany him and does not recognize him, is an absent leader who, for the same reason, generates uncertainty. in this worker, who is not sure if he is doing things well and does not know if he is contributing to his work. Such situations, which generate unease, not only cause people to look for another job, but also spread rumors in the company. In short, there is not only a brain drain, but also an impact on the organizational culture,” explains Nancy Martínez.

And he insists: “People, today more than ever, want to have good bosses, leaders from whom they can learn and whom they can admire”.

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In this regard, Marisa Elizundia points out that the pandemic has ended up putting leadership to the test, and that having migrated to remote work has not diminished the importance of bosses and leaders, although at the contrary: “This scenario put them to the test and ended up magnifying their faults and their qualities. Bosses who, for example, did not motivate and who were not interested in the personal and human aspect of their collaborators were perceived as much more absent and disinterested in a stage where they were expected to assume more strongly their leadership.

The expert argues, for this reason, that the role of leader is undergoing a transformation as a result of the pandemic. And it is not for nothing: the “return to normality” will not really be so much, since the bosses will be confronted with work groups that will operate under hybrid regimes; also, to fully virtual teams and collaborators who have acquired different work dynamics when working remotely.

ten factors

Throughout her work with companies and as a consultant, Marisa Elizundia has always been beset by the question of why people work, beyond all economic aspects.

He noticed, for example, that some people who did their best at their jobs were not always the highest paid, and he also saw well-paid workers who did their best at their jobs. “In short, there was something beyond the salary that motivated them to do their job better or not,” he says.

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For years he has asked this question in different scenarios and business groups. After analyzing all the information and decanting it, he came up with a list of ten factors that measure the emotional pay of workers. These are:

Autonomy: refers to people’s perception that they can manage their own projects and their professional and personal lives.

membership: it is about being recognized, appreciated and valued by the group to which one belongs.

Creativity: it is a question of being able to affix an imprint, to leave a mark on everything that is done; even in the most serious or routine jobs, it is possible to do so.

Direction: refers to the possibility of being able to visualize a career path, a career path.

Enjoyment: These are everyday moments when people have fun at work. Those moments, missed by many in the pandemic, have been replaced by more work.

Inspiration: It is the possibility of being inspired by others (and of inspiring others) through the things that are seen, done and perceived in the workplace.

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master’s degree: constant work allows the development of skills and abilities that lead people to acquire mastery of their craft. The satisfaction of doing something well and getting better and better is priceless.

Personal development: it is the opportunity in the workplace to develop the strengths that make people better human beings, such as humility, honesty, forgiveness, gratitude, self-control and discipline.

Professional development: the opportunity to develop professional skills and competencies through business-generated spaces, such as mentoring, training and challenges.

Goal: to feel that the work that is done has a direction and a goal, which at the same time is aligned with that of the company.

Elizundia points out that each worker is able to establish whether their workspace fulfills them in terms of emotional pay: “One option is to assess whether these factors are realized; the other via our barometer, which allows interested parties to carry out this analysis online”.

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Finally, Nancy Martínez calls on workers to look at themselves, instead of just judging companies: “It is practical for someone to ask, for example, if I am as collaborative, assertive and proactive as the company expects it and needs it. Do I have the right attitude, do I add value, have I been proactive, have I made an effort to stand out in order to be considered? Perhaps after answering these questions objectively, he realizes that he, himself, can contribute a great deal to building his emotional paycheck.

Personal risks that affect businesses

The “2021 AON Global Wellbeing Report” also revealed, based on the survey, that while health and wellbeing initiatives are well established across companies, with 80% agreeing that they are beneficial to their organizations, they do not generate a resilient workforce; in fact, the study indicates that only 30% of employees surveyed are resilient.

Resilience at work means that people can better adapt to adverse situations, manage stress and stay motivated, which enables companies to better manage change.

The survey indicates that the top wellbeing risks affecting business results are emotional wellbeing issues caused by stress (67%), burnout (46%) and anxiety (37%). %).

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