Time and time again we focus on our salaries when thinking of how much we are valued by our employers, but the thought that money alone is the only incentive companies can use to keep employees is ridiculous. While everyone enjoys a good old-fashioned raise, many times employers can use other means to reward employees and improve job satisfaction. In tight times when even Uncle Sam is counting on an absence of raises, these methods are especially prudent. My Two Dollars provides employees and employers with some excellent ways to compensate employees without opening the checkbook too wide.

If there is anything I have learned in my 25 years on this planet, it is that everyone has different motivators, and the quicker you figure out what the appropriate carrot at the end of the stick is, the better your business or your career will go!

Providing employees with the opportunity to use flextime to better mesh their personal life with work is a great way to increase overall employee job satisfaction.

Other suggestions, such as sincerely thanking employees and paying for health insurance for the entire family, can be excellent ways of compensating good employees. Working in a non profit has made me well aware of how these non-dollar-focused benefits can make a difference in job satisfaction. I thoroughly enjoy the good amount of vacation and the tuition reimbursement that I have received over the past few years.

A recent New York Times piece looks at the hot button topic of whether employees should know how much their coworkers make. The current discussion was spawned by a post on The Brazen Careerist but the issue of salary transparency isn't a new one. A professor at University of Southern California has been studying the subject for over 4 decades and notes that the current behavior of not disclosing pay is related to our upbringing and the fear of finding out our perceived value is lower due to a coworker's higher pay.

The professor went on to note that we are often off on how much we think our coworkers make, giving our boss a smaller salary and inflating those of people in similar positions, which he notes is a simply asking for trouble. Whether you think salaries should be transparent or not I found it interesting to discover that we underestimate how much our bosses make, which makes me reevaluate the paychecks at my day job! If anything I would think we would overestimate those above us especially anyone higher than your direct supervisor and undervalue those who work at slightly lower levels in the organization.

In order to achieve a transparent salary setting at an office the way in which salaries are awarded and increased needs to be quantified and made known to all of the people working there. In my situation this would be a deal breaker; it isn't so much that I would be upset if I found out a coworker is making several thousand more than me but to find out without a reason behind the disparity would be problematic. My current day job doesn't make the salaries known to employees and for the most part it seems that we as employees are OK with this but unfortunately my employer doesn't lay out the pay ranges and scales associated with determining salary which makes it easy for employees to feel as if they are underpaid for the experience, education and performance. I don't care how much my coworkers are making but I'd love to see where I sit in the pay scale for my position and description.

When it comes to getting a raise or getting a new job appearance matters. While you can clamor all you want about the usefulness of judging people by their appearance it has been shown time and time again that good looking well dressed people enjoy higher salaries and that many employers place your appearance including your attire above your college transcript when it comes to the hiring process. Personally for guys there isn't anything better than a tailored suit to make a great impression.

Purchasing a suit can be an expensive outing especially if you want one that is stylish and fitted to your measurements. When I went looking for a suit last month my options were to spend $400 and up on a custom tailored suit at a local establishment or shell out for big name stylish two piece at the local department store forgoing the elegance of a custom tailored solution. Thankfully before I purchased a new one I discovered that the handmade suit I picked up in Vietnam a few years back would make due as long as I didn't dish out any bear hugs at the reception. Since this isn't a long term solution and the airfare to fly back to Vietnam to pick up another custom tailored suit for $80 would outpace the savings I have been looking for an affordable tailored suit online.