Adviser spoke to Steph Gordon , Employee Benefits Consultant about what to look for when setting up or reviewing your benefits and rewards. I t was not so long ago when at the end of an interview, the inevitable final question to interviewees about ‘anything else that you’d like to know?’ would be ‘how many days’ holiday will I get?’ Benefits have moved on a bit in the last few years, and are now classified as ‘core benefits’ and ‘employee benefits’. An employer is legally obliged to offer certain core benefits such as paid holiday and a workplace pension scheme, however how far over and above this they go will depend on each organisation. Employee benefits on the other hand are a much more flexible element of the workplace, and are widely considered to be a very valuable and cost-effective way of recruiting and retaining employees. Some of the most popular employee benefits are: • Enhanced pension contributions • Life Assurance • Income Protection • Flexible working hours Where do I start with employee benefits? Many employers will already be offering benefits in some form to their staff, but they may not be appropriate or cost effective - especially if they haven’t been reviewed for a while. Start with a back-to-basics review of your benefits and pensions arrangements. Often your existing policies may include features and added value which you and your employees may not be aware of. Pension providers have great tools and information to support pension transfers, they can offer support with annual reviews and analysis of your membership
• Holiday buy/sell • Health Cash Plan • Dental care plans • Private medical insurance • Health screening • Subsidised gym membership • Company car • Saving schemes such as a workplace ISA • Share schemes • Subsidised travel • Free food and/or drinks • Discounted meals
and investment performance. Your group risk schemes often come with ‘free’ Employee Assistance Programmes and sometimes ‘discounts and deals’ these can be great add- ons to offer your staff at no extra cost. Look at your competition Benchmarking your benefits package against your competitors can be really useful (and may explain why they are attracting such good people!). For example, just having a pension scheme won’t necessarily differentiate your business, so you might want to consider what your competitors pay into their pension scheme and what other benefits they offer.
• Wellness programmes • Employee referral bonus • Free company events
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