Compensation and benefits: American experience. The best ways to motivate employees without increasing their salaries Compensation and benefits

Upon closer examination, it turns out that the socialist principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his work”, from the point of view of the ideology of entrepreneurship, is much closer to the Western developed democracies of the post-industrial world than to the society emerging on the ruins of the post-Soviet world. At the same time, domestic business, which still lives and operates primarily on the principles of “wild capitalism,” is beginning to show the first signs of assimilation of civilized norms of relations between employer and employee.
The emerging trend in large Ukrainian companies to introduce compensation packages built on transparent, understandable and acceptable principles for employees is evidence that in the minds of the domestic business elite, the concept of “professional and loyal employee” is gradually acquiring real value, expressed, among other things, in material equivalent.

Compensation package

Each employee must contribute to the development of the company and increase the employer’s profits. Naturally, he is due a certain reward for this. The compensation package is a unified system of remuneration for work performed.

And yet why compensation package? Let's look at this concept in more detail.

So, we are talking about compensation insofar as a person (in a legal society - an autonomous person endowed with natural rights) alienates in favor of the employer his own time, health, intellectual potential and, finally, knowledge and skills, the acquisition of which, by the way, has already been previously certain funds have been invested. At the same time, special emphasis is placed on the fact that compensation is combined into a package, that is, we are talking about a comprehensive remuneration system.

Our ears are still more familiar with the phrase wage system, although it must be admitted that the concept of a compensation package more accurately reflects the fact that the modern compensation system does not always fully consist of the actual monetary reward, and also includes package of social benefits (or benefits). At the same time, HR specialists need to get rid of the common misconception about the compensation package as a social package. As we see in the diagram, in the overall structure of the compensation package, social benefits are one of the directions of the company's compensation policy, along with various forms of monetary remuneration.

Company compensation policy

Although certain basic principles and norms of both monetary remuneration and social benefits for employees are laid down in the legislative norms of each state, it must still be recognized that the development and implementation of a compensation system is 90% the prerogative of each company as an independent business entity. At the same time, in a market economy, the compensation system is not just a passive mechanism for maintaining the necessary living conditions of employees, but, on the contrary, an effective tool for attracting and retaining professional personnel in the organization, as well as motivating labor productivity and professional growth of personnel.

Respectively, it is advisable to talk not about a static compensation system, but about compensation management based on the company’s developed compensation policy. Moreover, for each company, depending on its size, field of activity, market niche, financial potential and other market factors, the compensation policy can be completely different, however, remaining effective and competitive.

In the specialized literature, as a rule, six fundamental areas are identified, taking into account which the company’s compensation policy is developed.

1. Attracting competent employees to the company. In the context of growing competition between employers for attracting human resources, it is important to build a competitive compensation system, primarily in relation to that category of employees whose work is related to the basic cycles of the company’s activities.
2. Retention of employees in the company. If the level of compensation in a company does not correspond to the norms prevailing in this market segment, the organization risks losing employees, who are the most valuable resource in subsequent profits, especially since significant funds have already been invested in finding, training and motivating employees.
3. Stimulating productive activity. The compensation system should stimulate the employee’s activity primarily in the area of ​​activity and in the quality where the company expects the maximum return from him. Labor productivity, diligence and professional growth, initiative and creativity - these and other competencies can be the object of a targeted incentive policy through special rewards.
4. Optimization of personnel costs. A balanced and balanced compensation policy allows you to optimize personnel costs with a skillful combination of monetary forms of remuneration and the use of benefits.
5. Functionality and administrative efficiency. The compensation system should be transparent and understandable to the workforce and not cause ambiguity in the relationships between individual employees or different groups of employees. At the same time, the system must be functional, that is, relatively simple to administer.
6. Compliance with legislation. Corporate compensation policy should not conflict with the country's labor laws. Otherwise, the company risks getting bogged down in litigation with both individual employees and industry unions.

From the above it follows, that the company’s compensation policy, by its general structure and individual components, should be focused on the maximum level of remuneration for highly qualified and highly effective work activities.

At the same time, it is impossible to build an optimal compensation system without in-depth knowledge of the relevant offers on the labor market. And although monetary compensation is, of course, a fundamental factor in a company's compensation policy, we would like to specifically address the consideration of the social package as an important, but still underutilized tool of corporate compensation policy.

Social package

As already mentioned, along with financial remuneration (fixed and non-fixed), there is a parallel form of indirect material compensation to employees in the form of social benefits (or benefits), combined into the so-called the company's social package, which can become an effective instrument of corporate compensation policy only with targeted work on its development and implementation.

Why is it advisable for a company to create and promote a benefit system? Let us give several arguments.

First, social benefits can provide a real improvement in the living conditions of employees, often at little expense to the company.

Secondly, through benefits, a company can promote certain corporate values ​​among employees. For example, by reimbursing the cost of gym or swimming pool memberships, you can encourage a healthy lifestyle.

Thirdly, social benefits have an additional factor of beneficial psychological influence on employees, since they emphasize the value and importance of a particular employee for the organization, thereby increasing his self-esteem, and therefore loyalty to the company based on the identification of the company’s goals and his own.

Fourthly, a developed package of social benefits contributes to the formation of a favorable image of the company (PR impact) both for external observers and within the company itself.

Against the backdrop of an intensifying struggle between large companies (leaders in their market segments) to attract highly qualified workers, there are tendencies to increase the overall share of social benefits in companies' compensation packages (in some companies - up to 50% of total remuneration) and expand the range of benefits used. Thus, according to the famous Moscow organizational consultant Alexander Sosnovy, the main trend in the development of compensation packages for organizations is a relative increase in social benefits and payments in the general remuneration system. The developed social policy of the enterprise indicates that the strategic goals of the organization include not only maximizing business profits, but also the social security of the employee and the development of his personality. And, as experience shows, such organizations turn out to be the most effective and market successful.

IN Appendix 1 We tried to summarize the list of benefits that are found with varying frequency in the social packages of Ukrainian and Russian companies that publicly declare their compensation policy.

Annex 1

At the same time, despite the wide range of benefits used in the formation of the social component of the compensation package, de facto, a list of the most common benefits began to be formed. IN Appendix 2 a list of benefits that are most often used in Russian companies is provided. Statistics regarding the composition of the most popular benefits among employers and the most successful forms of personnel incentives were obtained as a result of a study conducted in St. Petersburg.

Appendix 2

As we see, about one third of the benefits known in the practice of social incentives for employees are more or less actively used.

What is this connected with? Three reasons can be reasonably identified.

Firstly, providing social benefits is quite a costly endeavor. Therefore, it often turns out that it is cheaper and easier for a company to follow the path of monetary remuneration for employees or to offer services produced by the company itself as benefits (banks offer deposits, insurance companies offer insurance, etc.).

Secondly, in the subconscious of both Russians and our compatriots, the memory of the Soviet system of social benefits against the background of the chronic lack of money of the average citizen is still alive. Therefore, the vast majority of middle-aged and older workers are skeptical and distrustful of any form of remuneration other than monetary.

Thirdly, different mental values ​​are triggered in different socio-cultural environments.

That is why it is inappropriate to resort to the spontaneous use of benefits when building a company’s compensation policy. The use of social benefits requires both a thoughtful strategy in selecting specific benefits and flexible tactics for their use.

Effective benefit management

So, When it comes to the concept of forming a social package, the main thing is to take into account the mentality of our compatriots. After all, social benefits can serve as a real incentive to attract and retain employees only if they correspond to their mental values, that is, they are “converted” among social values ​​along with financial rewards.

Since in mental terms we are historically closer to Russians than to the peoples of Western countries, the experience of Russian business is most interesting and valuable to us. So, Russian and foreign companies formulate social packages for employees differently. Foreigners working in Russia place emphasis on caring for the health of their staff, and companies with Russian capital prefer to provide loans to their employees and pay for transport fares.

The study was conducted in 69 companies. 19 types of benefits provided to employees were analyzed. It turned out that expenses for most items (for example, payment for mobile phones, sick leave in excess of the standard, training, etc.) for foreign and Russian companies are approximately equal. However, some approaches are radically different. In particular, 84% of foreign companies and 47% of Russian ones pay for meals. Foreigners also confidently lead in subsidies for sports - 20% versus 6% for Russians and in life insurance - 42%, while among the Russian companies participating in the study, there was not a single one that would insure the life of employees.

In turn, Russians are ahead of foreigners in providing interest-free loans - 47% of companies with Russian capital and 24% with foreign capital. In addition, 47% of Russian companies provide discounts on goods or services of their own production. This is accepted to a lesser extent among foreign companies - 22% of study participants.

If you look closely at the results of the study, you will notice that all the points on which foreign companies are leading can be attributed to investing in health - this includes payment for sports activities and life insurance. Even food, in principle, falls into this category. But for Russians, health, in her opinion, has never been a significant value.

In support of this point of view, we can refer to our own experience. During the year, psychologist-consultants of the Sigma Center, which works with domestic companies, actively used the “Structure of Work Motivation” test in the professional selection and certification of personnel (a brief summary of the STM test is given in Appendix 3), developed by the Humanitarian Technologies Agency at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. M. Lomonosov.

Appendix 3

The practice of using the STM test confirms that the vast majority of applicants and working personnel consider the “PRESERVATION OF HEALTH” factor as secondary or ignore it altogether. The results obtained may indicate, on the one hand, the neglect of our compatriots for their health, and on the other, the desire of workers to demonstrate to a potential employer their willingness to work for him “without sparing their belly.” In this sense, it should be noted that as long as workers and employers themselves treat personnel as “cannon fodder” and not as a bearer of competencies that can enrich both the employer and the employee himself, the domestic labor market will develop extremely slowly.

Thus, the ineffectiveness of many benefits common in the West when introduced in domestic companies is due precisely to the fact that at the mental level they are not considered by employees as a real value. Therefore, it seems to us that a completely natural reaction to management’s offer to insure health on preferential terms or go to the gym for free is the answer: “It would be better if they gave it in cash...”.

At the same time It is also wrong to completely adapt to the prevailing worldview of workers. It will inevitably transform, but slowly in global value aspects, and rapidly in minor particulars. It is important to keep up with these changes and transformations.. For example, if several years ago such benefits as the provision of corporate mobile communications or unlimited Internet access were considered a significant incentive for a specialist of any level, now in most cases they are considered as standard benefits provided by large companies. If we talk about such a form of social benefits as loans, then, obviously, they will be in demand as long as the banking system in the country is weak and bank loans are practically inaccessible to the middle class. However, such a benefit is of little value to foreign companies, since the middle class has real access to cheap bank loans.

The problem of benefit management has recently acquired another important aspect. As the imagination of managers generates more and more new types of benefits to attract and retain specialists, employees are increasingly thinking about taking part in the formation of their personal social package.

According to a UK study, out of 1,000 people surveyed, more than two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they wanted benefits that suited their lifestyle.

Naturally, social, age and gender differences cannot but have a direct impact on the preferences of specific workers regarding the choice of certain social benefits. Thus, for 71% of employees aged 20–30 years, corporate discounts to gyms are of priority, which, in turn, are of interest to only 36% of employees over 30 years old. However, more than 67% of employees over 50 years of age believe that health insurance is most important to them.

The same studies showed that with Seven out of ten workers would prefer to work for a company that gives them the right to choose their benefits. Such figures are a strong argument in favor of the most flexible formation of social packages. However, the cost of solving this problem is quite high, which does not allow employers to meet the wishes of employees everywhere. But still The number of flexible benefits to meet the growing needs of employees will increase rapidly over the next two years. This is evidenced by many statistics confirming that about 84% of top managers of large Western companies said that they plan to introduce some number of special benefits for employees in the next two years.

It is obvious that as the practice of introducing social packages spreads, domestic companies will also face similar problems. Therefore, it is advisable to initially build a compensation system taking this nuance into account.

In conclusion, it is necessary to mention another major problem related to the company’s compensation policy - monitoring the effectiveness of the compensation system. When it comes to the effectiveness of social benefits, it is necessary to remember that benefits must last for some time before the employee realizes their real value. In other words, in the monitoring process it is necessary to take into account that the real return from the use of social benefits in terms of staff motivation is prolonged over time.

Article provided to our portal
editorial staff of the magazine

The HeadHunter North-West research service conducted a federal survey to find out what kind of compensation package employees want to receive and what employers actually provide. More than 3,000 respondents from 82 regions of the country and 25 professional fields took part in the study.

63% of respondents noted that their company provides a compensation package. The majority of employers who provide a compensation package to their employees most often offer payment for mobile communications (43%), voluntary health insurance (42%) and organize corporate events (38%). The top five most frequently provided options by companies are dentistry and meal plans.

In the structure of personnel costs, payments for compensation packages can amount to significant amounts. It is all the more important to understand how relevant the costs are and truly meet the wishes of employees. Based on the results of the employee survey, we see slightly different priorities for benefits - the top 10 included not only voluntary health insurance and mobile communications, but also payment for fitness, nutrition, training, flexible hours and the opportunity to earn additional days for vacation or periodically work remotely. Corporate holidays, despite the fact that the time and financial costs of organizing them are often quite large, were not included in the top 10 wishes of employees at all. For example, in the IT/Telecom sector, only a third of respondents expressed a desire to include corporate holidays in the compensation package, but every second employer offers them. Respondents noted the largest gap between reality and the wishes of employees in the following options: “payment/reimbursement of fitness costs” (14% receive such an option in the compensation package, 48% would like to receive it), learning a foreign language (14% receive, 43% would like ), VHI for family members, corporate kindergarten, compensation for education costs, rental housing. This confirms the trend that more and more people want to find a balance between work and personal life, as well as the interest of employees in assistance from the employer to take care of the health of the whole family, compensation for training and housing. Another interesting point. According to a HeadHunter survey, most specialists would prefer to independently choose the benefits that suit them, rather than receive a fixed, “out-of-the-box” package. This format is also more beneficial for the employer, because allows you to redistribute the budget in a targeted manner. For employees who have moved from other regions, the issue of providing a service apartment is more relevant than paying for a fitness club or corporate events. For those whose activities involve communicating with people or public speaking, the ability to reimburse the costs of beauty salon services is important. According to the survey results, only 14% of employers are currently willing to provide an optional compensation package.

The greatest unity of opinion between employees and employers is observed in the terms after which new employees must be provided with a compensation package. The majority of respondents (54%) consider it correct to receive it after completing a probationary period, while 44% of survey participants noted that this is exactly what is customary in their companies.

The tradition of stimulating employees to work efficiently by providing them with various bonuses and compensation originates in foreign corporate culture. In the USA and EU, the size of the so-called benefits, which are becoming increasingly extraordinary, can reach 40% of the salary. Russian companies more often use more traditional methods of motivation - they pay for health insurance, reimburse expenses for food, recreation, and sports. Inspectors are always ready to give their vision of benefits for employees in the inspection report in a way that is acceptable to the budget. We find out how to avoid additional charges for personal income tax and income tax.

Benefits for employees: tax consequences for personal income tax

Let's analyze benefits for co-workers from the point of view of tax consequences for personal income tax.

Based on the principles enshrined in Art. 41 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, income is generated if:

a) the employee receives economic benefit in cash or in kind;

b) such benefits can be assessed.

This means that for an object of taxation to arise, expenses must first of all be beneficial to the employee, and not to the employer. In this case, income must be individualized, that is, assessed in relation to a specific person, and not to the entire team. This approach is reflected in judicial practice and clarifications of regulatory authorities.

For example, earlier, when employees received free meals in a buffet format, the tax authorities insisted that the benefit could be individualized, and the employee would receive income in kind (Article 211 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). But the courts did not agree with this and did not recognize the emergence of a taxable object. Since it is impossible to identify individuals who received income in the form of free food, and also to establish the cost and quantity of food consumed, it is impossible to determine the income of each employee who would be taxed.

This position was formulated back in 2000 in the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-Western District dated July 31, 2000 No. A56-4253/00, and subsequently it was consistently used in law enforcement practice. The Ministry of Finance of Russia also supported her, answering questions about corporate events and the consumption of products that were publicly available in the employer’s kitchen (letters dated April 15, 2008 No. 03-04-06-01/86, dated January 30, 2013 No. 03-04 -06/6-29, dated 03/06/2013 No. 03-04-06/6715).

In 2015, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation published a review of the practice of courts considering cases related to the application of Ch. 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (approved by the Presidium of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on October 21, 2015). It also states (clause 5) that it is necessary to distinguish between cases when the employee’s benefit:

• can be assessed and taxed (for example, each employee receives a membership to the pool, gym and sauna);
• cannot be individualized (for example, at a festive event there is no differentiation of benefits for each employee).

Thus, if an employer arranges sports activities or other events for employees, it is important to understand whether their benefit is personalized.

Example 1

The employer pays a fixed amount for the services of the sports center, regardless of the number of days of attendance. It is not specified which specific workers attend the center. This means that the object of personal income tax does not arise (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Ural District dated October 26, 2010 No. F09-8909/10-SZ).

If a company compensates a specific employee for the cost of a gym membership or lunch expenses, the person will have income in cash, from which personal income tax must be calculated and withheld.

Risks: income tax

Most of the disputes with tax authorities arise over the possibility of accounting for various bonuses and compensation to employees as part of income tax expenses.

As is known, for tax purposes, income can be reduced by the organization’s expenses that were actually incurred, documented and, what is important in this situation, economically justified, and their assessment is expressed in monetary form. Can expenses for “benefits” for employees be considered as such?

In accordance with paragraph 25 of Art. 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, labor costs include, among other things, expenses in favor of the employee provided for by an employment and (or) collective agreement, although their list is not exhaustive.

According to the terms of the labor (collective) agreement, the employer is obliged to provide employees with payment for sports activities to maintain health and physical fitness (see also How to avoid recognizing a civil contract as an employment contract ). Based on the specified provision of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, such costs are lawfully included in labor costs and, accordingly, reduce the income tax base (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated April 14, 2011 No. A40-75795/10-76-386). This position was also adhered to by the Ministry of Finance of Russia (letter dated March 15, 2012 No. 03-03-06/1/130).

Such expenses may also be considered justified on the basis of subparagraph. 7 clause 1 art. 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as others related to production and sales - to ensure normal working conditions.

For your information

Activities aimed at developing physical culture and sports in work teams have been added to the Standard List of measures annually implemented by the employer to improve working conditions and safety and reduce levels of occupational risks (Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated June 16, 2014 No. 375n). This may serve as another argument in favor of the fact that company expenses on sports for employees should reduce taxable income.

However, it must be taken into account that the tax authorities appeal to the provisions of paragraph 29 of Art. 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, according to which, when determining the tax base, expenses for payment for vouchers for treatment or recreation, excursions or travel, classes in sports sections, clubs and clubs, etc., made in favor of employees are not taken into account. This list is also open, which gives vigilant and tireless inspectors room for imagination.

Based on this norm, courts and officials of the Russian Ministry of Finance in a number of cases conclude that regardless of whether the employment contract contains a provision for sports events for employees, the costs of organizing them cannot reduce the base for income tax 1 .

It is obvious that the position of the courts and regulatory authorities is based on the recognition of paragraph 29 of Art. 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation more special in relation to the provisions of paragraph 25 of Art. 255 and sub. 7 clause 1 art. 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (if we are talking specifically about sporting events).

Despite the fact that the courts give different qualifications to these rules of law, in each case they analyze for whose benefit the disputed expenses were made. If it is in favor of workers, they do not reduce the tax base. If the company itself ultimately received the benefit, then the expenses will be taken into account for income tax purposes.

One of the most common ways employee motivation , which significantly reduces the employer’s funds, is the organization of New Year’s and other corporate events (for example, trainings). Expenses for corporate events inspectors often do not allow them to be taken into account for income tax purposes, also bringing them under the provisions of paragraph 29 of Art. 270 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. However, the courts side with the companies.

Thus, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District, in resolution dated September 24, 2009 No. KA-A40/9145-09, agreed with the taxpayer’s arguments that corporate trainings were not organized for the personal consumption of employees and not for the purposes named in paragraph 29 of Art. 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, but in the interests of the company itself. The agreements stated that the purpose of their conclusion was to create conditions for maximum unity of participants around a common goal for all - effective teamwork within one company; create an atmosphere of trust, mutual support and respect in the team, etc.

This example shows that courts use the benefit criterion to determine income tax consequences. It is logical to assume that all measures to improve the working conditions of employees, providing collective and individual benefits ultimately lead to the benefit of the company. Of course, costs to improve the quality of working conditions and the social package are increasing not for charitable reasons, but to increase labor efficiency and the attractiveness of the company on the market. Is it possible to fairly differentiate between the interests of the employer and the employee? And who has the burden of proving that the expense is important and necessary to the company?

Let us assume that the actions of the employer as a subject of economic activity always have an economic justification and he acts precisely in his own interests and for his own benefit. Is there a risk that the tax authority will assume the opposite due to the lack of clear criteria for separating expenses in favor of the employee and the company itself?

Example 2

The bonuses for non-smoking employees provided for in the labor and collective agreements are related to the results of the employees’ work. The purpose of these payments is to increase material interest in reducing the loss of working time from smoking breaks. This directly affects the effective use of working time by employees, their performance of work duties, and labor productivity. This means that incentive payments are related to the production activities of the company and on the basis of clause 1 of Art. 252 and paragraph 25 of Art. 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation reduce the income tax base (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated June 24, 2014 No. A33-16111/2013).

To avoid risks and protect your position, you need to carefully spell out the economic justification for spending on “benefits” for employees in contracts, orders of managers, and local acts of the organization. Then the tax inspectorate will have no room for thought on this matter.

1 For example, this position is reflected in the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian District dated January 24, 2013 No. A45-15793/2012, as well as in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 19, 2014 No. 03-03-06/1/58667, dated November 12, 2014 No. 03-03-06/1/57234, dated November 12, 2014 No. 03-03-06/1/57244, dated October 30, 2014 No. 03-03-06/2/54994, dated October 29, 2014 No. 03-03-06 /1/54903.

Stock options gives the manager the right to repurchase shares of the company at a fixed price during a specified period in the future. That is, the employee receives the right to buy back company shares in a few years at the current price. Since the purchase price is fixed, the manager is interested in maximizing the market price of the shares over the period specified. Typically the offer period for the option plan is 10 years.

There are:

An option to repurchase shares at a fixed price during a specified period in the future.

Discount program for repurchasing shares at a price below the market price.

A bonus program that allows the manager, after a certain period, to receive not shares, but an amount representing the difference between the current value of a certain number of shares and their future value. This program is called a phantom stock option and is used when shareholders do not want to “dilute” the business.

A grant to receive shares free of charge upon achieving certain financial targets. In this case, the number of shares that will be transferred to the manager if the set goals are achieved is determined. The desire to increase the value of this block of shares should motivate the hired manager to increase the value of the company.

A limited option is a gratuitous receipt of a certain block of shares when working in a company for a certain period.

Index programs – the ability to purchase shares at a price depending on an industry or market index.

Benefits

Benefits - a significant part of the compensation package: additional benefits and compensation that employees receive indirectly, and not in the form of direct cash payments.

Goals of the compensation and benefits system:

1. Attracting qualified workers. Most American companies pay a lot of attention to personnel selection. It is believed that if you can find a suitable employee, you can save a lot of money (there will be no conflicts in the team, the work will be done efficiently, the company will grow, and its image will improve, etc.).

2. Motivation. If an employee is motivated, he will perform his duties more effectively. Increasing employee motivation and improving work efficiency is one of the main goals of HR strategies.

3. Retention in the company. When qualified personnel leave, the company loses money to find another person, and also loses the ability to perform well and thereby help its competitors.

The size of benefits in American companies is 40% of the main (basic) salary.

Benefit cafe

In many American companies, employees are offered the right to choose those benefits that best suit their needs and interests - cafeteria style.

Lincoln Industries develops compensation for employees based on the effectiveness of their work. The main ones see table 2.

table 2

List of some benefits and rewards Cornell University, see Table 3.

Table 3

Most often, compensation and benefits in American companies are handled by specialists from the HR department. In large companies, there are revord departments that develop and administer the remuneration strategy in order to ensure that it meets the company’s goals and the needs of the staff.

At Cornell University, for example, three departments have been created, one of which deals only with the payment of salaries, the second manages benefits, and the third department is developing a program to maintain a healthy lifestyle for teachers and staff. At Lincoln Industries, which employs about 500 people, three people are responsible for compensation and benefits: one responsible for the entire system of compensation and benefits in the company and directly for compensation of top management, including incentive programs and privileges. ); responsible for compensation and benefits of all personnel (except for top management); responsible for system administration.

Compensation- (from Latin compesatio - compensation, reward)

To the concept compensation the same applies:

Compensation for damage;

Reward for unused right;

Method of repaying obligations by offsetting counterclaims of the debtor and creditor;

Issuance of cash and one-time benefits to employees for unused vacation, price increases, upon dismissal, reinstatement, upon transfer to another job, etc.

Reward system or compensation package , which are used in the organization, consists of three elements - basic salary (basic salary), additional charges (incentive payments, bonuses, bonuses) and social benefits or benefits (benefits).
Basic salary and there is guaranteed compensation to the employee for his work in the organization or for the performance of duties in a given position, in a given workplace. It consists of the base salary (payment for time worked) and allowances (additional payments).
An employee's official salary is determined by the rank of the position held or the assigned tariff category, and allowances (additional payments) are introduced to take into account the individual characteristics of the employee.

Supplements can be: for knowledge of a foreign language, for work experience (length of service), for operational efficiency, for managing employees, etc.. Typically, bonuses are calculated as a percentage of the base salary. Supplements can be permanent or temporary (for 3-6 months).

Bonuses or incentive payments usually associated with additional remuneration for the employee’s performance. These include: commission payments, bonuses for fulfilling the plan, profit sharing, etc.. - everything that constitutes the variable part of the monetary remuneration for labor and is used to account for the performance of employees, linking the level of monetary remuneration with the overall performance of the company, division or the employee himself.

(The variable part can be piecework, i.e., for each unit of product manufactured, the employee receives a fixed remuneration. A special type of piecework payment is the sales incentive system , or commissions. This system is used to manage sales and stimulate sales personnel. With a commission incentive system, a direct relationship between the amount of remuneration and sales volumes is established.)

The variable part of the monetary remuneration can be determined as a percentage of the base salary and vary depending on the performance of the company.

The ratio of the constant and variable parts of monetary remuneration may be different and is determined by the dependence of the result obtained on the labor efforts of the employee himself. For example, for sales managers the variable (commission part) of monetary remuneration can be 60, 70, or 80 percent of the total monetary remuneration, and for a secretary the variable part should not be more than 10 - 15 percent. This is based on the fact that the structure and content of the compensation package and the principles of material compensation for different categories of personnel will be different, because the contribution of different categories to the final product is also different and the differences are reflected in the remuneration system.

Benefits or social allowances are considered as remunerations that are not related to the quantity and quality of labor, remunerations that employees receive for the fact of working in a given organization or at a given enterprise. In addition to direct monetary compensation, there are various forms of indirect material compensation to employees, which are called social benefits, or the company's social package. Benefits include: medical insurance, vacation pay, compensation for travel expenses, provision of interest-free loans and loans to employees, membership in sports clubs, payment for meals, payment of expenses for using a mobile phone, training, reimbursement of expenses for utilities, maintenance of children in preschool institutions and other social benefits.

Social benefits, representing additional benefits received by employees from the enterprise, increase their well-being and quality of working life. Some social benefits are provided by law and are mandatory for all enterprises (paid basic and additional leaves, payment for temporary disability, benefits for young employees and women, etc.). Part of the social package is provided by enterprises on the basis of voluntarily assumed obligations towards employees.
The goals pursued by the employer, providing in addition to the basic monetary remuneration also a certain set of social benefits and payments, are quite diverse and depend on the company’s strategy, for example: attracting and retaining highly professional personnel, indirect and direct stimulation of productive work, creating a favorable public opinion about the company ( PR goals), increasing the real well-being of its own employees.

Used by companies forms of encouragement can be divided into several groups.

First: valuable gifts are the most common, then: moral rewards (gratitude, certificates of honor, etc.), as well as: time off and additional vacations.

Second group- less common: here is the inclusion of the employee’s name in the history of the company, and hanging a portrait of the most distinguished on the honor board, and awarding memorable badges.

TO third group We can include various forms of incentives that are used quite rarely: offering employees participation in profits, selling shares to employees, etc. The range of forms of incentives is wide, as it depends only on the imagination of managers.

Thus, the main trend in the development of compensation packages for organizations is a relative increase in social benefits and payments in the general remuneration system. The developed social policy of the enterprise indicates that the strategic goals of the organization include not only maximizing business profits, but also the social security of the employee and the development of his personality. And, as experience shows, such organizations turn out to be the most effective and market successful.

Sources:

Free encyclopedia "Wikipedia": Wikipedia.org

Electronic magazine Onby.ru: E. Morgunov: “Models and methods of personnel management.”