¿Qué es el salario emocional?: hacia nuevas fórmulas de acción social empresarial

En los últimos años, en el ámbito de los recursos humanos, ha adquirido una cierta notoriedad el término «salario emocional», como fórmula novedosa para retener y atraer talento a las empresas. Si el debate en torno a este concepto no ha sido más intenso es debido a que, en buena medida, se ha visto cercenado por la crisis económica y la devaluación salarial. Con la recuperación económica, el salario emocional vuelve a cobrar auge como una herramienta de gestión de los recursos humanos que pretende, a través de la motivación y el incentivo a los trabajadores, mejorar su rendimiento, resultados y productividad y, por ende, del conjunto de la empresa. No se trata, sin embargo, de cualquier fórmula de incentivo, sino que hunde sus raíces en diversas teorías psicológicas entre las que destaca la inteligencia emocional. Es el bienestar personal lo que pretende retribuir el salario emocional, como VÍa indirecta para mejorar la competitividad y productividad de la empresa.During the lasts years, the so-called «emotional wage» has raised within human resources management’s field as a new formula to attract and retain talented people. If this discussion has not been more intense is owed to the financial crisis and wage devaluation frustrated its development. With the economic recovery, the interest on emotional wage is increasing as a human resources management tool that aims, through motivation of employees, to improve their performance, results and productivity and, therefore, the overall of the company. Nevertheless, it is not any kind of incentive tool, but a sophisticate one which has its roots in various psychological theories, among which emotional intelligence stands out. Emotional salary aims to reward personal well-being, as an indirect way to improve the competitiveness and productivity of the company. However, its origins in the field of Business Economics, Human Resources Management and Psychology, along with the lack of attention paid by Law, make its practical application hardly difficult. In fact, the term «emotional salary» is as unknown as vague. What is to be understood by such is something which is rather controversial, especially when it tries to implement the concept from the theory to the reality of the companies. In this field, Law plays an essential role because the practical application of emotional wage will be achieved by using legal instruments (such as collective agreements, collective contracts or employment contract). This is precisely the main objective of this paper, firstly focusing on the diverse notions of emotional provided by that from these other sciences. After that, we will analyse it from the prism of the Social Law, with the double objective of trying to advance towards a more concrete concept of emotional salary and, at the same time, facilitate its practical application as an advanced formula of corporate social responsibility.Este artículo forma parte del proyecto de investigación «Un derecho del trabajo para la recuperación: competitividad empresarial y cohesión social» (DER2015-64676-C2-2-P)