Difference Between Remuneration and Salary

Remuneration vs Salary
 

The words salary, wage, emoluments, and remuneration etc. hold great significance for those doing a job in an organization. While all these terms indicate the money and other benefits received by an employee in exchange for services rendered by him for the organization during a fixed term, there are subtle differences especially between remuneration and salary. As a prospective employee looking for a job in a company, it is important for a person to know these differences. This article takes a closer look at the two related concepts of remuneration and salary.

Remuneration

Remuneration is a general term that describes all different forms of compensation packages for employees in an organization. It can be the salary of an individual, or it can be much more than just the salary. Remuneration often includes non monetary incentives as well as allowances and other perks. Remuneration is a term that is reserved for higher echelons of management in a company where there is a tendency to refer to salary when it comes to lower levels of employees.

People working as salesmen in companies tend to receive remuneration through the commission on sales, and they do not receive a fixed salary as is the case with people working in white color jobs sitting in offices. Stock options, bonuses etc. offered to employees to motivate them for better performances typically are included in remuneration.

Salary

Salary is a fixed amount of money that is given to employees on a monthly basis in exchange for services rendered by them. Salary is regular and is given frequently on a monthly basis. You may have been hired on an hourly basis or weekly basis, but salary is mostly calculated for a month. For those working on an hourly basis, here is a provision of extra payment if they put in additional hours of work in a month. This is called over time and added to the salary of the person.

Salary is considered as the cost incurred by a company, to arrange human resources for running the operations of the company. In terms of connotation, salary seems closest to pay and wages.

What is the difference between Remuneration and Salary?

• Salary and remuneration are words that are very close in meaning though salary is more commonly used to refer to compensation for services offered by an employee in an organization.

• Salary is a type of remuneration.

• Remuneration is a broader term than salary as it consists of bonuses, incentives, stock options, perks etc., in addition to the basic salary of the employee.

• Salary is the fixed amount of money that is given to an employee on a monthly basis.

• Salary is a word used in connection with the amount incurred by a company for arranging human resources to run the operations of the organization.

• Salary is used for the pay of employees at lower levels whereas remuneration is used for describing the pay of employees in higher echelons of management.