Iceberg reward system (mainly for managers) exists in some private enterprises and even prevails in some places. This low-paid and big-red-envelope salary payment method is called "iceberg" salary system, and the salary that emerges from the water is called "monthly fixed treatment", which can be seen not only by employees themselves, but also by others in the company, but the "volume" of this salary only accounts for a small part of the whole "iceberg volume". The part where the salary is not underwater is called the "year-end red envelope", which is usually invisible. No one in the company except the boss (including financial personnel) knows its specific amount, and the "underwater volume" is much larger than the "water volume".

The existence of iceberg salary system has its "rationality"

From the historical origin of iceberg salary system, it is closely related to the development of private enterprises. Many private enterprises in the initial stage, due to the limitation of capital turnover, are financially unable to pay higher fixed wages to employees, and can only wait until the end of the year or after the enterprise has a certain surplus, and then pay them uniformly. With the passage of time and the development of enterprises, this salary system has become a natural agreement, at least for some old employees, it has been recognized as "reasonable".

From the psychological "rational" point of view, the decision on whether to distribute the year-end bonus and how much is completely in the hands of the boss, which undoubtedly makes the owner of the enterprise experience a sense of superiority formed by the control of assets, which also makes him feel that not only the assets of the enterprise, but also the human resources of the enterprise are under his direct control. This dominant psychology makes some bosses reluctant to give up this salary model easily.

From the perspective of financial "rationality", there is no need to hide it. Red envelopes are a trick for enterprises to evade taxes. From this point of view, this kind of salary system is more or less acceptable for both enterprises and individuals. At least in a sense, both sides have reduced some expenses that should have been.

Another angle of financial "rationality" is that the year-end red envelope can be more closely linked to the operating performance of enterprises, so that enterprises can more effectively control the proportion of wages in corporate profits, and will not affect the overall profitability of enterprises.

It is precisely because of the historical evolution and the so-called "rationality" factor that the iceberg salary system has the possibility of existence and development.

Influence of iceberg salary system on enterprise human resource management

The rationality of iceberg salary system may have played a positive role in the initial stage of the development of private enterprises, but with the further development of enterprises and the gradual standardization of management, the restrictive effect of this salary system on human resource management and the negative impact on enterprise development have gradually emerged.

First of all, the iceberg salary system is not conducive to the establishment of a truly stimulating salary system. The distribution of year-end red envelopes depends on the boss, which also means that the assessment of managers is completed by the boss alone. As for what indicators the boss uses to evaluate employees, only the boss has the final say, which invisibly forms the subjective, fuzzy and generalized evaluation indicators, making the evaluation indicators lose their incentive function. The secrecy of red envelopes also makes it difficult for employees to compare the relationship between their own efforts/benefits and others' efforts/benefits, which also blurs the signal that salary is linked to performance. In this sense, employees' sense of fairness is naturally out of the question.

Secondly, the iceberg salary system is not conducive to creating a harmonious organizational atmosphere. Under the iceberg salary system, due to the secret operation of red envelope distribution, some employees can easily inquire about the amount of red envelopes of other employees through various channels, while the information obtained from informal channels is often incomplete or even wrong, which is more likely to cause mutual suspicion among employees. An important sign of a harmonious organizational atmosphere is mutual trust and communication among employees. Once the apparent peace maintained by secret distribution is destroyed, the conflict will become more intense, which will seriously destroy the positive, friendly and communication atmosphere and is not conducive to enhancing the cohesion and development of the organization.

Third, the iceberg salary system is not conducive to attracting foreign talents. With the expansion of enterprise scale, the change of tasks and the transfer of environment, it is impossible to achieve the development goals of enterprises by relying on the old employees of enterprises. It is very important to introduce foreign talents, especially senior management talents. However, because the iceberg salary system can only pay foreign employees a low fixed monthly salary, and because the internal credit mechanism of salary payment in private enterprises is not high, and the guarantee mechanism is relatively imperfect, many high-level talents, especially senior managers with rich practical management experience, are discouraged.

Fourth, the iceberg salary system is not conducive to the improvement of the overall management level. Emphasizing employee participation, encouraging empowerment and improving commitment are the goals pursued by enterprise management today. Employee participation can not only greatly improve the enthusiasm and initiative of employees, but also help management to find and solve some problems in management in time through employee feedback. However, under the iceberg salary system, it will be very difficult to encourage employees to participate in other management fields because the employee participation in the most important salary link in human resource management is zero, which will make it difficult for enterprises to effectively face the ever-changing competitive environment by relying on their own human resources.

Fifth, iceberg salary system is not conducive to the establishment of human resource accounting. Human resource accounting will be an important part of 2 1 century accounting. Under the iceberg salary system, because the amount of the year-end red envelope avoids the financial department of the enterprise, it will be difficult for the financial and human resources departments of the enterprise to accurately calculate the human resources costs of the enterprise and various departments, and the cost control goal of the enterprise will become a whitewash.