Megan Wiseman
As the world reels from the impact of the pandemic, global conflicts and economic turmoil, the cost of living is spiralling up, and fast. People everywhere are struggling to balance the rising costs of groceries, petrol, electricity bills and more, and this is putting a great amount of stress on employees.
A recent survey revealed that 72% of global HR managers feel that cost of living increases are negatively impacting the work of their employees, so now is the time for employers to step in and alleviate these pressures where they can.
We know that a company-wide pay rise isn’t the solution, as it’s not possible for most companies and won’t be sufficient to keep up with rising costs.
But employers can still support their employees’ financial wellbeing with various low-cost initiatives, and have a chance to make a difference during challenging times. Let’s dive into a couple examples:
Bringing awareness and increased uptake to employee benefits
One of the ways organisations are navigating the cost of living crisis is through extra attention paid to benefits on offer, whether adding new, low-cost benefits for employees to help them shoulder financial burdens, or bringing attention to benefits that employees may have forgotten about.
A Reward Gateway client, St. James’s Place, uses its newly launched Total Rewards Statement and centralised benefits hub to show its near-2,000 employees all the benefits they have in one place, leading to higher take-up and improved employee satisfaction. The team recently moved their paper-based TRSs, which were delivered annually, to a digital format that employees could access anywhere, anytime, whilst the HR team can make changes to it quickly and easily.
Today, 97% of its employees are registered on the ‘My Rewards’ benefits hub, which gives employees access and awareness to benefits such as dental, medical, pension, share schemes, EAP, Holiday Trading, employee discounts, Cycle to Work and more. The team has received positive feedback from employees, who say the platform has made their reward and benefit policies ‘really easy to find,’ as they are all now accessible in one place.
Understanding the power of peer-to-peer recognition
Reward and recognition are critical to retaining employees and boosting morale through challenging times. Because of this, Reward Gateway clients such Majesticare, a healthcare provider with hundreds of employees in the high-turnover care industry, has put a renewed focus on reward and recognition in response to an employee survey that labelled ‘a lack of recognition’ as their top reason for leaving.
During the pandemic, several initiatives were adopted that continue to propel Majesticare’s uptick in retention – with turnover dropping from 48% to 28% and recruitment and onboarding time decreasing by 36%.
Every week a different company value was chosen and then an employee was recognised for living those values, given a specially produced rose plant that they were able to keep and watch blossom. The tailored eCards the team created with Reward Gateway also were redesigned to be more values-led, sparking an increase of nearly 100% usage year over year.
The organisation’s annual Star Awards see nominations across the Majesticare family, with a handwritten card, quotes of their digital nominations and a badge, complete with an all-expenses-paid awards night, trophy and yes, an actual star named after them. Because of efforts like these, Majesticare now sees that 96% of their employees feel positive about their future at Majesticare.
If you're looking for more low-cost ways to help your employees through cost of living increases, get in touch with us, and a member of our team will walk you through our solutions to extend disposable income.
