By Hardeep Singh
Neena managed to get out of the office by 1700hrs, hoping to beat the evening traffic. As she pulled out of the parking slot, her mind buzzed with various thoughts. Somehow, she parked her work aside and started thinking of the many open balls in the air. She started to think of her Nanny’s request to visit her hometown – how would Rohan be taken care of? her parents arriving for a visit, and amidst it all, her college friends insisting her to join a 9-day trip to Europe. Neena’s heart was set on the trip, but despite her family and workplace being supportive, she realized that she simply didn’t have enough money.
Her thoughts drifted to one of her closest friends, Lopamudra, fondly called Lopa. Neena and Lopa had been college friends, and Lopa had seemingly made it to a well-paying job immediately after college. This trip to Europe was her brainchild, and she had rallied the entire group’s enthusiasm. Lopa epitomized the symbols of success- a fat pay-check, a prestigious position, luxury bags, and cars!
Whenever Lopa and Neena met, Lopa would complain about her organisation’s lack of understanding towards its employees. As Neena would listen in, she would often wonder whether high remuneration came at the cost of empathy from organizations and managers. Parallelly, Lopa secretly longed to be in Neena’s position—working for an organisation that valued empathy and understanding.
The Organisation Problem
The choice between high remuneration and high empathy in the workplace is quite intriguing and requires deeper insights by evaluating the critical factors that influence employee engagement, culture, and individual & business priorities and success. Either/or is difficult as both have their advantages in different contexts and business priorities.
High Remuneration
The concept of high remuneration can also be subjective from a larger perspective on what is considered as high. However, for simplicity, we can define “High Remuneration” as a payment of competitive salaries, benefits, and incentives which are much more than the average in a similar industry. Remuneration is considered as a significant motivator to attract and retain talent in an organization. Some of the advantages of high remuneration include:
- Driver for Engagement: Employees feel that they are paid for their efforts and performance, and feel motivated to perform better and are engaged.
- Attract and Retain Talent: In general, and especially in industries where there is a talent shortage, high remuneration can attract and retain talent.
- Job Worth: Employees feel they are fairly valued for their skills and performance and appreciate this from the organization.
However, high remuneration on its own cannot guarantee engaged employees, as they look for many more factors such as work culture, job enrichment, and work-life balance.
High Empathy
On the other hand, empathy in the real sense, is not a choice but a must for people and organisations. It involves understanding, appreciating, and providing a culture of warmth, trust, and respect for employees. It’s connecting to their hearts and building a relationship where employees feel safe and connected. The benefits of empathy are plenty, but some important ones include:
- Employee Well-being and emotional connection: a sense of emotional connection with the organisation and appreciation of the culture is a positive influencer.
- Engagement: It helps in building a long-lasting impact on employee engagement and employer branding.
- Workplace culture and relationships: There is better communication, coordination, and team-work, and conflicts are resolved effectively.
However, as in the case of high remuneration, only having high empathy may not create a complete impression on employees as they also feel respected and valued with reasonable and adequate compensation.
Striking a Balance
High remuneration is more effective in the short term where organizations are looking to attract and retain talent in competitive industries. In the longer-term employees start looking for a culture where there are parameters of engagement beyond compensation and in such situations, empathy plays a crucial role.
In addition, the situation or context of an employee is also important. Whereas no employee or human being will undermine the importance of empathy, there are times in life of common people when there is a specific need for more money for some crucial obligations in life and family. In those times, employees may choose higher compensation as a factor in their decision-making.
Ultimately, the best approach for any organization is a balanced one. Creating a work culture rooted in empathy, where employees feel valued and respected, is essential. High remuneration can then be used strategically to achieve specific organisational goals, provided it is financially viable. The advantage of empathy is that it can foster a sustained, positive culture where employees see it reflected in the actions and attitudes of their leaders.
In the end, secretly, both Neena and Lopa longed for the same things – a better life, a better organisation, and a balance between compensation and a compassionate work environment.
(The author is Hardeep Singh, President at Right Management India, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
