Paycheck as a sustainable rewarding mechanism

A couple of years ago a Dutch company called Oxyma was awarded withnthe Best Managed Company prize. Also, the company is often ranking high in employee surveys, both national as international. One of the things that stand out it that the company is using salary as a strategic instrument. How they apply this so effectively I will explain in this article.

For salary to work as a strategic instrument it really has to fit into your company strategy. Oxyma understands this like no other. Ronald Morcus, CEO of Oxyma says: “Everybody knows that our clients basicly determine our HR policy. When we founded this company, we mainly worked with the operational marketers of our clients. We got work from them, but the dream we had formulated as a company went much further, was much bigger. ”

Being able to think about the strategy
“We wanted to discuss marketing policy at board level. I present that dream to all employees and we all believe in it. And we have adjusted our workforce accordingly. If you want to sit down with management, you need to hire employees who can think strategically. We did that. And now – a few years later – we are invited at that board room. ” It is nice to see that such a strategic personnel planning works that way.

Challenging career paths
But it also has far-reaching consequences. The company must now grow and develop at a much higher level. “This meant a lot for our hiring strategy,” says Morcus. “We have to develop people and employ highly educated people.” Oxyma does this with a good salary, an annual market compliance check and salary scales that are deliberately aligned with the 90th percentile. The basis is a job matrix that clearly displays the careers and associated competencies. Everyone knows exactly how to develop in order to get more salary.

Setting the bar high: it really works
Oxyma does not make an important concession: they do not automatically give employees a step every year. You don’t have a function title at Oxyma either. You have a role. And it can grow. Morcus says: “We make people better and that works. Employees believe in that. I set the bar very high in this regard. Maybe sometimes a bit too high. But we have been very successful for years and score high on employee satisfaction. So apparently it works. ”