Roundtable: Flexible and receptive approach needed for effective employee benefits
Byline: Stephen Emerson, Managing Editor.
Lunch with HR experts reveals key ingredients for successful programme
Employee benefits play a vital role in cementing company culture, retaining staff and alleviating budgetary pressures.
The Business Magazine, in partnership with reward and benefit advisers Isio, held a working lunch with human resources professionals from some of the Thames Valley’s largest companies at The Roseate in central Reading to discuss how the space is evolving.
ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS
Moderator: Stephen Emerson, Managing Editor, The Business Magazine
- Ruth Pappadakis, Head of People and Culture, Amazon Filters
- James Ettridge, Head of People, BaxterStorey
- Amanda Simon, People and Culture Director, CleanEvent Services
- Bev Capewell, Head of HR, Grundon Waste Management
- Kelly Gajjar, Senior Manager, Isio
- Jon Gilbey, Pension and Benefits Director, Isio
- James Keclik, Partner and Head of Reading office, Isio
- Jen Norris, Director, Isio
- Lisa Purdy, Head of HR, Macmillan Publishers International
- Tom Blake, Group Head of Reward, Tullow Oil
- Kirsty Knight, People and Culture Director, Xtrac
Pension and Benefits Director at Isio, Jon Gilbey, said: “People are more likely to leave if they don’t value or understand the benefits that are on offer.
“Salary increases may be impacted because of cost pressures and one cost effective solution to this is to make the benefits that are on offer more attractive.
“The onus is therefore increasingly on employers to make sure that the benefits are meeting the needs of their employees.”
A 2023 study by Isio and YouGov, surveying more than 7,000 UK private sector employees, found that only 23 per cent of employees felt their benefits met all their needs, with satisfaction highest among older, married White homeowners.
James Keclik, a Partner and the Head of Isio’s Reading office, said: “Workforces are diverse with diverse needs, and ethnicity was one of the biggest eye openers for us.
“Pensions will be one of the highest spends in your budget.”
Culture and communication
Employee benefits can help to build your company culture and according to participants, an open approach is needed to ensure the incentives deployed are in line with what the workforce wants.
Kelly Gajjar, a Senior Manager at Isio, said: “You need to consider the things that are really important to employees and assess benefits against their needs. Employers can then make a plan to implement following an analysis of cost and effort of implementation, identifying some benefits which could be seen
as quick wins and those that support a longer-term vision."
This point was widely agreed upon by the group, who highlighted measures they had introduced to help improve employee engagement around benefits. These ranged from employee forums to custom apps.
Beverley Capewell, Head of HR at Oxfordshire-based Grundon, said: “It’s important to get a financial person in to really explain the benefits that you are offering to your employees.
“We have recently launched an app which is helping with employee engagement and is being used by 70 per cent of the workforce.”
Ruth Pappadakis, Head of People & Culture at Amazon Filters, said some of the best ideas the company had generated around employee benefits had come from its quarterly question time lunches.
She said: “We invite 12 people along to ask questions of the senior management during a formal lunch. A lot of our ideas for employee benefits have come from these lunches, including buying holidays.”
Participants said their employee forums had empowered employees and ensured that they had a role in shaping the company’s benefit package.
Kirsty Knight, People & Culture Director at Thatcham engineering firm Xtrac, said employees had been fully engaged in forums and this had helped solve some long-running issues within the workplace.
She said: “We were able to increase the holiday entitlement, improve our paternity and maternity leave provision as well as improve the on-site catering.”
“Staff also wanted more choice with their uniform provision including the colour and more workwear options, so we changed and improved the whole offering which included a range for our female employees.”
Tom Blake, Group Head of Reward at Tullow Oil, said there was a need for a flexible approach and cautioned against continually adding new benefits on top of existing ones.
He said: “Companies need to redesign their benefits for the context of what is happening in the outside world. Employee forums play an important role in feeding into this process as it gives the benefits process transparency and different viewpoints of matters that are affecting employees.”
Benefit innovations
The importance of keeping employee benefits fresh was also discussed and the round table praised the platforms that allow their easy switching.
Participants also said that enhanced maternity leave and floating bank holidays had been well received, particularly by employees that celebrated religious bank holidays not covered by traditional statutory days off.
The concept of providing unlimited holidays was also discussed.
Amanda Simon, People and Culture Director at High Wycombe-based contract cleaning firm CleanEvent Services, said: “We have been considering the flexibility of unlimited holidays, however I am concerned about the work that it will put on my team.”
While Tom Blake added: “A lot of American companies use this system and find that employees don’t abuse it. I feel it can be a bit gimmicky and not real.”
The roundtable agreed that there was a risk that unlimited holidays could in fact lead to employees taking less leave which could potentially have an impact on general wellbeing.
Participants also debated the positives and negatives of platforms that allow workers to access their pay early, with the consensus that it could make financial problems worse for employees.
Amanda Simon said: “I think it just exacerbates the problem.
“It’s not that I don’t trust our employees, but everyone is struggling and I don’t want to give a facility that will make their situation worse. I would rather give them a benefit to help them with the weekly shop, that would actually give them a little bit more financial stability, but not give them money.”
Kelly Gajjar, floated the idea of a hardship fund that had been put in place by some companies as a means of providing relief for employees in temporary financial problems.
He said: “A hardship fund policy can work well in the right circumstances and if you have the right criteria.
“There must be a decision-making process behind why you are saying yes or no to an employee. You have to consider whether it is solving a problem or creating a bigger issue such as dependency.”
Sustainability
Participants agreed that a company’s sustainability credentials were becoming an increasingly important factor in recruitment, particularly among the younger generation.
Tom Blake cautioned that companies had to carefully examine how each part of their organisation operated to ensure that it aligned with their green messaging, especially in a social media age where investment information was easily accessible.
He said: “Firms need to look at the portfolios that they are investing in. Companies may say they are sustainable, but they may be investing in non-sustainable sources through pensions.”
Volunteering to help in communities was also raised as a value-for-money benefit that provided impact in the places where companies had a base.
Lisa Purdy, Head of HR for Basingstoke and Swansea at Macmillan Publishers International, said: “We do two days a year now and have partnered with a company called Community Matters Partnership. They arrange all our volunteering days, and we have a small group of people visiting charities to do some work at schools and other places.
“Volunteering can also help young members of their team get out and speak to people. Some are wary of how to do small talk, and this builds their confidence.
Wellness
Wellbeing was also increasing in importance to employees, according to those around the table, with assistance with mental health, fitness and flexible working making their way onto the employee benefits list for companies.
James Ettridge, Head of People at Reading-headquartered catering firm BaxterStorey, said: “Support is becoming a matter of huge importance for many people, be it wellbeing or mental health support. This includes support for not just the individual but the family too, as these relationships impact people at work.”
He added that his company was focusing on hydration in the workplace using water bottles and electrolytes. “We’re focusing a lot on our chefs in the kitchen because they’re usually terrible at having a can of caffeinated drinks.
“We have started a trial with 600 people across our business who are going to get these water bottles electrolyzed. We will then conduct a before and after survey and it will be really interesting to see the results.”
Modern approaches to health were also a theme, with many employers around the table experimenting with a range of approaches with a view to them becoming a permanent feature of their employee offering.
Tom Blake said “We are in the middle of our wellbeing fortnight. We have a different theme every day. It is covering meditation, reflexology and mental health to name but a few.”
James Ettridge said his firm had blood tests available that employees could send off to check for health issues. He said: “This helps to flag up issues and reduces absences across the business. A few of our managers have done it and found out that their cholesterol was really high. They have since made some major life changes.”
Salary Sacrifice
Salary sacrifice schemes can also benefit employers by reducing costs paid in National Insurance Contributions because their contribution is calculated based on the employee’s gross salary after the salary sacrifice deduction.
The CBI noted that many businesses might need to reduce job numbers or scale back investments due to the £25 billion tax hike.
Amanda Simon said: “With the increase in National Insurance, the value of benefits is only going to become more important. If costs are going up then pressures are going to come and that is why it is going to become even more important to understand your workforce and their motivations.”
Marking employee milestones was also highlighted as a key benefit that helped to bolster employee morale and embed cultural values within organisations.
Kirsty Knight of Xtrac created a recognition scheme which recognised employees that excelled in the company's behaviours.
She said: "We have our spotlight individual, and team awards every quarter where anyone can nominate a winner.”
"These are all linked to our company values and behaviours and the nomination must bring to life how they have excelled in them."
Kirsty said she had also developed a new recognition programme which recognised employee’s employment milestones.
She said: "For us it's really important, we very much communicate key milestones in our company publicly, so we can thank them for their contributions.”
The lunch concluded with a message that it was vital that employee benefits were reviewed to remain relevant so that they create value for companies and retain staff. How relevant are your employee benefits?
