Employee happiness is as important as compensation: Experts

"Perceived notion is very important when it comes to compensation. Especially, at the time when multiple generations are working in the organizations and each of these generations have a different set of priorities and preferences. While someone may become very happy to receive a coupon for books, some may feel happy with a coupon for couple movie ticket and some with coupon for pub or restaurant.”

“While it matter how much you give your employee, what matters more is how do they feel about it as state of happiness can be different for different people based on age, gender or generation," said Dr. Jitendra K Das, Director, FORE School of Management, Delhi and erstwhile founder Dean, IIM Lucknow, Noida Campus.”

Dr. Das, was moderating the session “Multi-Generational Workforce” at the recently held 7th HR Summit by NHRD on “Compensation & Rewards 2019: Changing Landscape of Compensation & Rewards”, in Bengaluru which focused upon:

Creating a generation friendly C&R program

De-generalization of the reward or employees’ needs and preferences in the light of their age and gender

Differences between employers' and employees' perspectives and determining the ‘perceived value’ of C&R by an employee

Other panellists of the session were Mr. Himanshu Kaushik, Director Skilling and Employment, Vision India Services, Prof. Shaji Kurian, IFIM Bangalore and Mr. S Naga Siddarth, CHRO, Total Environment Group.

White lot of research has been done on this area by employers and HR teams, performance-based compensation and what will keep the employees of diverse generations motivated, aligned and engaged, has been a challenge for the new age organizations.

Compensation being one of the major expenses in organizations specially the ones into services and there has been an enormous demand for innovative business practices which requires more than traditional compensation packages and a closer look at pay-for-performance models for more effective bottom-line business results.

Factors affecting compensation environment, government regulations, social security, social changes and demography were deliberated upon and discussed by speakers from relevant fields.

Referring ‘Best Companies to Work for’ Dr. Das also suggested how a thoughtfully structured reward and compensation survey and analysis can go a long way in effectively planning rewards and benefits for a multi-generational workforce. The reward can be used to reinforce the organisational values that are important to an employer and can also be used in every part of a talent management strategy, acquisition to employee retention and development. 

(With inputs from agencies.)