In a world where more businesses are looking at ways to retain, attract and reward the right people, culture has become a key factor in being a successful employer. 

There has been an undeniable move towards businesses promoting positive culture and employees looking for businesses to do so. Staff are looking beyond salary as the reason to stay or move roles and you can see this every day on platforms such as LinkedIn. Like it or loathe it, quotes like this particular one that caught my eye – “Salary increases make you feel happy now. A healthy culture makes you feel happy forever.” - sum up the feelings of many employees.

In the current competitive environment we have employers asking about what they can do to retain and attract staff. We have spoken with businesses saying staff do not feel valued, and we have businesses saying staff don’t appreciate what is already being provided.

So, the question is, what can we do to change this?

In our article on Employee Value Proposition, we explain why it’s important to fully capture the benefits you offer and communicate these effectively to your employees. The feeling of staff being undervalued is compounded when employers are not effectively promoting what they do for employees, and are treating some substantial benefits as a sunk cost with little upside.

For example - yes, some of the benefits you provide will be mandated by government, such as pension provision. But that doesn’t mean they’re not worth shouting about. After all, you will be spending substantial amounts on providing this benefit. The average UK employer pays 4.5% of their payroll to pension and have a minimum requirement of 3% employer contributions. Employers who want to make the most of this should be asking themselves:

• If your business does more than it legally must, do you tell staff this?
• If you run pension contributions under salary exchange/sacrifice, do you tell staff how this benefits them?
• Do you understand any additional resources your pension provider offers and leverage them?
• Do you do anything to support staff’s understanding of their pensions, finances or money concerns?

I suspect for many, the answers to the above questions will be no, no, no and no. These are just some of the smaller things you could be doing with a benefit you already have in place but don’t feel staff are aware of the true value of.

A key way we have supported with this is by helping employers understand if they are doing more; how to get the most out of existing benefits; and supporting the employer with messaging to staff. We find that being a third party is often more powerful and better received than messaging from an internal management team, as there is less space for employee scepticism.

More and more we are being engaged to come and speak directly to staff of businesses that want to promote a culture of looking after their people. These engagements are bespoke to the needs of the business but some popular examples we have are:

• Financial wellbeing sessions where staff can book a 30-minute slot to confidentially discuss their finances. This could be workplace benefits, saving for their first house, discussing their finances, to planning for retirement.
• Lunch and learn sessions on the benefits offered, covering topics of the employer’s choosing.
• Webinars around specific topics – Making the most of your finances / retirement planning / workplace benefits.
• Reviews of existing benefits packages, their impact and whether all add-on services are being utilised. If this has not been reviewed in some time, there can be significant savings.
• Annual Reviews with employers on how they can promote financial wellbeing, using their existing arrangement but increasing value.

The downside of course is that sometimes to make a change, there needs to be an acceptance of additional cost, but for the businesses we have worked with, this has been worthwhile.

The longest standing client that we provide our financial wellbeing service to has a remarkable record of keeping staff for decades. Now, I can’t say that is completely thanks to us, but I can say they take time to make sure their employees feel valued and understand that what the business does to support them  goes beyond their pay packet.

So, if you are looking at the coming year and thinking increasing costs for staffing, pensions and benefits are going to make employee retention and attracting top talent to your business difficult - why not take a step back and ask, could we make more of what we already do, so our staff are advocates of our business and feel well looked after?

And who knows - this time next year, they might be willing to say that out loud on platforms like LinkedIn, staff retention might be easier, and you could find your business attracting top talent.

If you would like to have a coffee and chat through how we could add to your Employee Value Proposition we would be delighted to arrange a meeting. Don't hesitate to contact me at rory.brand@jcwealth.co.uk or another member of our team.

Johnston Carmichael Wealth Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Please note: This communication should not be read as financial advice. While all possible care is taken in the completion of this  article, no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the information contained herein can be accepted by this firm.