Pay and benefits
Wages, salary and benefits
My name's Luigi and I'm a hotel manager in Venice. I get paid a salary
every month. In summer we're very busy, so we work a lot of extra hours, or overtime; the money for this is quite good. Working in a hotel, we also get
nice perks, for example free meals!
I'm Ivan and I work as a waiter in Prague. I like my job even if I don't earn very much: I get paid wages every week by the restaurant. We get the minimum wage: the lowest amount allowed by law. But we also get tips, money that customers leave for us in addition to the bill. Some tourists are very generous!
V
I'm Catherine and I'm a saleswoman based in Paris. I get a basic salary, plus commission: a percentage on everything I sell.
If I sell more than a particular amount in a year, I also get extra money - a bonus, which is nice. There are some good
fringe benefits with this job: I get a company car, and they make payments for my pension, money that I'll get regularly after I stop working. All that makes a good benefits package.
Compensation 1
My name's Alan. I'm a specialist in pay and benefits. Compensation and
remuneration are formal words used to talk about pay and benefits,
especially those of senior managers. Compensation package and remuneration
package are used especially in the US to talk about all the pay and benefits
that employees receive. For a senior executive, this may include share options
(BrE) or stock options (AmE): the right to buy the company's shares at low
prices. (See Unit 36) There may be performance-related bonuses if the
manager reaches particular objectives for the company.
Compensation 2
Compensation is also used to talk about money and other benefits that a senior manager (or any employee) receives if they are forced to leave the organization, perhaps after a boardroom row. This money is in the form of a compensation payment, or severance payment. If the manager also receives benefits, the payment and the benefits form a severance package.
In Britain, executives with very high pay and good benefits may be referred to as fat cats, implying that they do not deserve this level of remuneration.
18                    Business Vocabulary in Use