Currently, in many enterprises, in addition to the established system of remuneration, compensation and benefits are provided. Their introduction is aimed at providing workers with material goods that improve their quality of life. Depending on the type of activity of the enterprise and working conditions, benefits and compensation may amount to up to half of the employee’s total income. Next, we consider some additional material incentives, their purpose and the appropriateness of the introduction.
Types of wealth
The compensation and benefits provided to the employee contribute to the retention of the employee in the enterprise. They are not used to form additional motivation, since their size does not depend on the quality and volume of work.
Separate (social) compensations and benefits are fixed in the Labor Code. Among them:
- Payment of holidays and periods of temporary disability.
- Preferential loans for emergency needs.
- Pension insurance
- Compensation for harmful working conditions.
However, it must be said that far from all enterprises comply with the provisions of the law on the introduction of additional benefits for employees.
Some benefits and compensations to employees in the Labor Code are not fixed, but are spelled out in other normative acts. It is, in particular, about:
- health insurance;
- additional pension provision;
- accident / health / life insurance;
- material assistance in addition to vacation pay;
- trips to sanatoriums partially (or fully) paid by the company;
- pay for employee training;
- preferential prices for the company's products;
- additional vacations;
- providing free food;
- reimbursement of the costs of using personal vehicles to perform production tasks;
- providing a cell phone, paying for communications, etc.
Factors determining the establishment of additional benefits
When deciding what compensation and benefits will apply in a particular organization, management must take into account:
- Features of the law. Enterprises must provide their employees with payments, compensation, benefits fixed in regulatory enactments. At the same time, local authorities can issue municipal acts introducing additional material support.
- Features of the labor market. To increase the competitiveness of the enterprise, the manager must provide not only a standard list of compensations and benefits to his employees, but also additional benefits, taking into account professions. For example, in Soviet times, all employees were given permits to sanatoriums, housing, free food.
- Features of taxation. Skillful use of the specifics of the tax system allows you to optimize labor costs. In countries with high personal income tax rates to attract highly qualified specialists, the provision of a car, preferential housing, etc. is envisaged. In the Russian Federation, quite large amounts have to be deducted from earnings to extrabudgetary funds. But due to the wide spread of gray salary schemes, domestic enterprises are in no hurry to expand the list of compensations and benefits for staff.
- Cultural traditions. This factor must be taken into account when the company plans to organize production or open a representative office in another country. If you do not take into account the peculiarities of the culture of the state, you can encounter various unpleasant situations. For example, mass absenteeism during religious festivals that are not declared officially non-working days, etc.
- Qualitative staff. Many compensations and benefits are established depending on gender, age, and education of employees. For women, for example, maternity benefits are provided, for men they are not installed. At some enterprises, individual employees are considered especially valuable, so management is in no hurry to send them on a well-deserved rest by age. Compensation and benefits are granted to such pensioners on special conditions. For example, employees are paid a salary and additionally accrued the amount that they could receive if they retired.
- Features of the organization of the enterprise (specifics of labor organization, nature of work). Benefits and compensation at individual enterprises depend on the conditions of work. In organizations engaged in industry, staff is provided with free meals, uniforms. The law provides for compensation and benefits for harmful working conditions. Employees of such enterprises are provided with additional paid leave, free trips to sanatoriums, etc.
Nuances
Of course, these factors affect the lists of compensations and benefits established in organizations. Given the existing national-cultural differences, changes in the material support system have common features. Its development proceeds from the establishment of simple, standard compensations to the formation of a complex set of benefits, the introduction of which requires significant investments.
Recently, there has been a tendency to refuse centralized, standard compensation for all employees, without exception. Instead, functions are redistributed between the private sector and the state. Many enterprises in the state provide for the post of specialist in compensation and benefits. His tasks include analyzing the situation and developing programs to provide employees with material goods in accordance with the nature of their activities.
In some cases, legislation allows monetary compensation for benefits. Employees themselves can choose the form of material support. For example, additional days of rest can be replaced by a cash payment.
Working hours and rest
The first benefit provided to employees was limiting the length of the working day. Officially, it was first fixed in the XVII century. in England.
Currently, in almost all states, not only the length of the working day (shift) is regulated at the legislative level, but also the number of working days in a calendar year, holidays and weekends are set. At the same time, the concept of a “flexible working schedule” is enshrined in labor legislation. It assumes that the employee must work out a certain number of hours per month (or per week), and he has the right to choose the direct mode of work himself. The flexible work schedule system is popular in enterprises using the labor of scientists, engineers, and managers. It allows employees to combine personal life and work.
The development of the concept of "flexible schedule" is the model of "officeless work". In accordance with it, the concept of "work" in the sense of the room in which people from one organization gather, disappears. They do not come to the office, but carry out tasks where they can. For example, sales agents work directly with customers, programmers, accountants - at home, suppliers - with suppliers, etc. Communication between an employee and a client is carried out by e-mail, phone, etc.
The establishment of a certain length of working time is often used as a means of controlling labor costs. In the crisis period of the early 90's. of the last century, due to the transition to a market economy, the leaders of domestic enterprises transferred their employees to a shortened week, and some even sent employees on unpaid leave.
Along with the duration of the work shift, the minimum duration of paid leave is fixed at the legislative level. The duration of rest is determined, as a rule, by the specifics of work. For example, for educational workers a long vacation is provided - throughout the summer period.
Employee Insurance
As a rule, the enterprises have a collective insurance system, which involves the distribution of risks between participants in labor relations and the insurance company. This system includes medical care for an employee who has received an industrial injury or occupational disease, payments in case of injury or death of the employee.
Previously, workers themselves created insurance unions. Later, they began to include employers who wanted to take on part of the costs. Currently, the insurance system by enterprises of their employees is a complex structure consisting of many elements.
Health insurance allows employees to receive medical care free of charge in states where the government does not guarantee such services to all entities. Often it is funded by both the employer and the employee himself at a ratio of 70:30, respectively.
Health and life insurance provides the employee and his family with a certain income in case of loss by the insured person of disability or death due to an industrial accident. Payments are usually set in proportion to the salary. The company finances most of the compensation, and the employee - the smaller.
Hazardous working conditions: compensation and benefits
Domestic legislation obliges employers who attract citizens to harmful production to compensate employees for the damage caused to their health.
Harmful (dangerous) conditions are those working conditions in which there are factors at work that adversely affect the health status of workers. To identify them, an examination of production is carried out, certification of jobs is carried out.
According to current standards, the following compensations and benefits for harmful working conditions are established:
- Additional annual vacation of at least 7 days.
- Reduced working hours.
- Salary supplement (hourly wage).
- Free examination in a medical facility.
- Early retirement.
- Organization of special (preventive) nutrition.
- Occupational disease and accident insurance.
- Providing workwear, protective equipment.
- Payment for treatment.
Features of social guarantees for workers in hazardous work
Current legislation sets the standard for the length of the working week. It is equal to 40 hours. For workers in hazardous industries, the working week is reduced by 4 hours. However, the law allows for the involvement of staff in overtime work with the establishment of a supplement to earnings.
For citizens working in harmful conditions, an additional weekly paid vacation is provided. At its discretion, the employer may increase its duration.
Persons working in hazardous conditions should receive preventive nutrition. However, it is issued at especially hazardous industries, for example, at facilities of class 3.1.
Employees of hazardous industries are entitled to retire earlier than ordinary workers. Such an opportunity is provided if the position held by a citizen is included in the list of dangerous (harmful) posts.
The specifics of registration of benefits
The rules for receiving compensation and other material benefits are enshrined in the collective agreement, labor agreement, as well as in local acts of the enterprise. Supplements, as a rule, are already included in the amount of earnings.
The basis for the provision of benefits is a time sheet for employees and orders of the head of the organization.
Employees assigned to hazard class 3 are provided, inter alia, with an allowance for earnings. It is at least 4% of the salary. The head of the organization can increase this amount at his discretion.
Documents
Many employees are interested in what papers must be provided to the employer in order to receive compensation or benefits. Since additional material support is already enshrined in the employment contract, it will be provided automatically. No documents are specifically required for this. If the employee wants to replace the benefit with a cash payment (if this is possible by law), he writes a free-form statement addressed to the head of the enterprise.
The negative side of compensation
Despite the importance of financial support for workers, in some states there is a tendency to reduce the list of benefits provided by the employer. Many employers seek to replace them with cash payments. This is due to the fact that the leaders of many companies try to focus more on their activities, giving employees the opportunity to independently solve their everyday problems.
The desire to replace benefits with cash payments is also due to the fact that today it is quite difficult to distribute material goods fairly among all groups of employees. This problem is especially acute in the "social sphere" traditional for Soviet organizations. It is, in particular, about kindergartens and recreation centers owned by enterprises. So, far from all employees can take advantage of a preferential place in a preschool educational institution, because not everyone has small children. Only employees who are not limited by their health status or interests can go to the recreation center.
It is worth saying that the introduction of new forms of compensation can also lead to similar problems. So, the pension or health insurance system does not cause much interest among young employees; older workers, in turn, are not interested in going to bowling or sports halls, for which the company can provide free subscriptions. The same can be said about free preventive nutrition - it is far from suitable for all employees, because someone can follow a special diet for health reasons.
Such problems can be partially solved if packages of additional compensations are provided for certain groups of workers. Of course, this option may require a restructuring of the material management system and, consequently, investment.