While a good and just earning is important, at this point in my life and in this age, where we are privileged to enjoy the benefits of technology such as working remotely, cost efficient measures such as video and voice conferences, salary or compensation is not just the monetary value that we receive in our paycheck. Compensation, for me, is the complete package of financial remuneration, professional and career advancement through opportunities such as training and "emotional salary" tied up with the company´s culture, commitment of trust, openness and other benefits such as work from home.
Being a working parent, it does not matter if you are the mom or the dad, there are days that you have school commitments to attend to. And of course, the proud parent in us would not want to miss that opportunity. Or in cases that we have medical appointments or personal errands to attend to, a work from scheme always comes in handy. Of course, we must not forget that WE ARE PROFESSIONALS and WE HAVE THE COMMITMENT TO DELIVER AND GIVE OUR 100% PERFORMANCE and CAPABILITY TO OUR COMPANY.
As part of Spain´s commitment to work life balance and to the importance of raising a family, a parent who has a kid, until the kid is 8 years old, can actually request for jornada reducida (literally means shortened schedule), where the parent can work straight for 6 or 7 hours a day, no lunch break, instead of the typical 8 or to whatever time hours. This comes with a catch though; there is a salary cut that corresponds to the hours that you do not work. Nonetheless, this is a good and legal approach to create an environment conducive for rearing a family. I took the jornada reducida scheme until my son was 4 years old.
The important thing is as we expect our company to provide a culture of trust, we should be trust worthy professionals as well. I work from home and I am thankful for that. But I can guarantee and my results/outputs reveal that even on the days that I work from home, my integrity as a professional is not compromised - I deliver, I show my outputs, I attend my meetings and I am accessible (except of course if I am on a medical appointment).
True to my form, money is important and there are important things that money cannot buy and that is where the emotional salary comes in. It gives me the relief and the peace that I do not have to be juggling from one place to another to attend to commitments other than work. And that´s why I say it is not just about the money and I hope we are all able to enjoy this privilege without being subjected to scrutiny. We all deserve to be trusted as we trust as well. :)
Thank you.
*** Not my photo. Photo taken from the internet. Thank you.
*** Not my photo. Photo taken from the internet. Thank you.
*** Not my photo. Photo taken from the internet. Thank you.
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