REWARD
earned wage access or, as I call it, “any day payday”, which allows rapid draw- down of wages. Having a robust reward and benefits strategy which supports employees to be financially resilient, not only complements traditional pay schedules, but it can also work in tandem with more immediate forms of pay withdrawal. Also, it gives businesses sight of the financial situations of their employees and provides an indication of whether any extra support is needed. Part of any reward and benefit strategy should include steps to support employees with financial wellbeing and literacy. This can help employers by reducing stress on employees, and it can help maximise the reward and benefit strategy by putting it front and centre of employees’ minds, encouraging uptake and engagement. Making life easier for employees will hopefully have the effect of improving their work experience, retaining talent for longer and creating a positive effect when recruiting. Implementing a reward and benefit strategy can have a wider impact on the company culture as well, creating a sense of ‘giving back’ to employees beyond just salary or bonuses. Appealing to the entire workforce If you decide to introduce a benefits package, you need to understand how different benefits will appeal to your employees. You’ll need to consider your existing employee profile and take account of how this may change in line with your business objectives.
Care must be taken when creating a benefits package which is too focussed on one type of employee or age demographic. This can create a lack of inclusion in your overall offering. Benefits can be exciting to employees but costly to businesses. Finding a balance between high investment benefits such as pensions and private health care, and high value / lower cost benefits, such as training and development, career conversations, instant discounts and flexible working conditions will create a benefits package which meets objectives, without placing financial pressure on the business. “There’s also been a move toward the emergence of flexible benefits and giving employees a choice over which employee benefits they want to make use of” Raising awareness and ensuring easy access A company can have the most amazing rewards and benefits package, but what’s the use if employees can’t easily use or access it, or even understand what’s available to them? Reward and benefit platforms need to be straightforward to
use and understand. Having an app is beneficial, enabling employees to obtain those instant discounts when they’re shopping. The platform shouldn’t see employees having to jump through hoops or needing to click constantly to access the benefits they’re entitled to. Ease of access to rewards and benefits is hugely important to the success of your offering. Weekly newsletters, payslips, team meetings and pay portals may provide useful spaces for sharing messaging about rewards and benefits employees may have missed. You could also highlight key benefits, such as pensions when it’s pension awareness week, or a dental benefit and how teeth can be affected during the menopause. Once the benefits package is in place, it’s important to monitor the value it delivers to employees and whether they understand the benefits available to them. Producing an annual total reward statement highlights the benefits to employees, as it shows them what they’ve received but also what they’re missing out on. To conclude, for industries with skill shortages or limited pools of highly skilled candidates, a reward and benefits strategy which has been developed with all employees in mind can make a significant difference in attracting and retaining talent. Developing a strategy with input from employees is a highly effective way of creating something useful to staff, which will likely improve uptake and promote the prevalence of reward and benefits throughout a company. n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 109 | April 2025
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