Unlimited holidays, well-being days, remote working: reward and ‘perks’ packages are changing to suit newways of working. With a big focus on employee well-being, Glyn King, groupmanaging director at Datagraphic , looks at howpayroll teams can use their skills (with a little help from technology) to understandwhat employees want and to drive change Using existing payroll skills and technology to drive change and improve employee well-being
D uring the pandemic, many people took time to evaluate their work- life balance and understand the importance of their well-being. In response to this, organisations are looking at their rewards and benefits packages to reflect new ways of working and help improve financial, health and mental well-being. The challenge going forward is offering relevant rewards and benefits that are sustainable, affordable and relevant to individual needs. This is where payroll teams can step up and contribute towards their organisation’s reward strategy, drive change and help improve employee well-being. Using existing skills to drive change Your teams already have the skills and information to help improve your organisation’s reward and benefit offering. ● You have an engaged workforce – Your teams regularly communicate with employees, from handling calls and emails about pay-related queries to sending payslips and other employee documents on a weekly or monthly basis. As a regular touchpoint for employees, you can check in on employees to see how they are feeling and communicate important company updates, making them feel valued. ● You have access to valuable data – You have the data and knowledge at your fingertips to help guide employees and other stakeholders. If you can see from the data a proportion of your workforce is close to retirement age, you can check to see how they are preparing for that stage of their life. Employees making savings for the end of their career can feel anguish if they lack understanding about the process, what they are entitled to or the value of saving for retirement. Working with your organisation’s pension providers, you can help communicate and educate employees
about automatic enrolment (AE) and the pension scheme(s) available. The impact of financial worries, poor health and stress on employee motivation and mental health can be significant. But by offering advice, using the information you already have access to and communicating effectively with employees, you can have a real positive impact on their well-being. Using technology to drive change Employees want to see if their payslip, and the amount they’ve been paid is correct. So, whether this is on a weekly or monthly basis, payday is the perfect opportunity to grab their attention and share valuable information on rewards and benefits or employee well-being updates. If you deliver online payslips, use this technology to engage further with your employees. There are third-party solutions, like Datagraphic’s Epay, that provide more than online payslips. Using the secure online portal, you can create a communication hub to share pension advice, helplines for mental health support, company updates and more. You can also have a two-way conversation through the portal, so you can reach out and check in on employees, and they can instantly respond securely and privately. To offer relevant rewards that will help improve employee well-being, you need to understand what employees want. Again, by interacting with employees when they are already engaged with you (i.e. on payday), you can encourage employees to take part in online surveys to tell you what reward and benefits they would value the most. You can then use this information to help guide the organisation on their reward offering and help match the health and well-being package to what your employees want, which will immediately impact employee engagement. If you already have a reward and benefits
platform, you can use your online payslip delivery as a way of driving engagement to your platform through single-sign-on (SSO). This means employees are going through the reward platform first and possibly engaging with the different benefits you offer before clicking to view their latest payslip. SSO is great for employees, having access to all their information in one place, so they can quickly locate the information they need. Technology can help in many ways. As more employees work remotely, you must use easily accessible technology to communicate with them regularly so they feel empowered and engaged with what’s happening in your organisation. Sharing your insight to drive change Sharing the data and insight you gain with other stakeholders within your organisation can help guide strategic decision-making and drive change to improve employee well-being. For example, you have access to timesheets and can see the numbers of hours worked, so you can see who is consistently working overtime. This information can be shared with line managers for them to encourage those individuals to adopt a better work-life balance and prevent employee burnout. By proactively sharing valuable information with other departments, you can make a real difference and improve overall employee well-being. In the future, reward and well-being strategies will need a flexible approach to meet the changing needs of all employees. The use of technology will become even more crucial in boosting employee engagement and helping payroll and human resource (HR) teams manage their reward strategies more effectively, ultimately helping to create a forward- thinking culture based on data-driven decisions. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | November 2021 | Issue 75 44
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