Published April 2026
“I love my job – it’s my passion” is an overused statement. I once saw a LinkedIn title stating “cut me and I bleed marketing”. While such devotion is commendable, it’s easy to test its limits without phlebotomy: “if you had 100 million Euro, would you still do this exact job?”. Most people would likely shelf their work passion to pursue other pleasures with their newly found wealth – enjoying a drink at the Mediterranean might be more attractive than drafting marketing plans. Yes, it is great being passionate about our jobs, but there are limits to the love.
In the end, it seems that most people work for money – that’s where compensation management kicks-in to steer the money flow from company revenue to employees’ pockets based on the contract of trading work for reward. But what are rewards?
Rewards is the concept of all things that include financial components (i.e., money) and non-financial components (i.e., going beyond monetary value). Such a schoolbook answer misses the point by being too abstract and boring.
Company rewards are a means to an end – employees need to pay their rent and buy food, that’s what the money is for. But it goes beyond that; money is also a social comment about status and worth – society seems to put homeowners higher up the social attractiveness ladder than rent-paying apartment-dwellers. Money is also a source of envy – as we tend to be constantly comparing ourselves, homeowners might still be upset about how much smaller their residency appears in comparison to the estate down the road. This could propel people to work harder on earning more being motivated by money. Companies use our motivational drives and organise rewards into incentive systems to ensure payment is consummate with performance. This way pay reflects performance and skill. But over-incentivation can lead to greed – banks can attest to these effects as they have been pummelled with regulations on reward systems following the learnings of the 2008 financial crisis. Most companies going through a difficult period might classify rewards as a cost factor and would prefer engaging its employees on the cheap. Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive – sincerely praising your underappreciated top performer with a thank you card and voucher in front of the team could do wonders. So does career development like sending your employees, who display high potential, to training courses. Taking these actions together will reflect your company culture.
In short, Rewards is a lot. It’s much more than just numbers a tired compensation manager hastily puts together during the annual compensation review.
Rewards is the answer to the question why we work when we haven’t earned our millions yet. But it is also the answer to the question why we miss work once fortune grants our multi-million wish – it is the colleagues, engaging environment, and job title that we miss and discover to have been rewarding as we sip our cocktail in the Mediterranean sun.
(This is article 2 of 3 in the series answering “what is compensation management” where I draw-up a reply that goes beyond schoolbook-responses to reflect the truly expansive nature of a Compensation Manager’s job.)
You can find Part 1 here.
You can find Part 3 here.