smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Remuneration alone won’t be enough to keep your staff motivated and cleverly thought out employee benefits are useful tools for ensuring staff loyalty. SmallBusiness.co.uk spoke to two businesses about their approach to benefits.

Carolyn Lee, diversity and inclusion manager at global law firm Herbert Smith, believes the key to providing useful employee benefits is to respond directly to your staff’s needs.

She implemented an emergency care benefit scheme following a survey that highlighted the issue as a problem for staff. The scheme provided child or elderly person care at short notice if a member of staff was unexpectedly detained at the office.

Says Lee: ‘We found that a lot of our staff fell into that sandwiched generation that were providing care to an elderly relative and had young children. This was a perk that would really benefit them so we decided to absorb all of the costs. It meant that our employees didn’t have to worry about leaving an elderly relative or being late to pick up a child from school.’

Flexible benefits
Another approach is to offer a flexible range of staff allowances. This could include such benefits as childcare vouchers, which are free from both tax and national insurance for the first £55 a week for employers.

Virtual network operator Vanco, which has won two awards for its working benefits, took the flexible benefit route as human resources manager, Stephen Mansfield, explains: ‘Each member of staff was given a benefit allowance with which they could buy into the most appealing schemes. These included additional holiday, private medical cover, tax-free bikes and dental cover among others. Staff could also use part of their salary if they wanted to receive additional perks.’

The programme was invaluable in terms of recruitment, says Mansfield. It improves the company’s image as an employer and means that staff are more likely to stay, saving money on recruitment and training.

A flexible benefits package can help you recognise the diverse needs and values of your workforce by providing a range of options for staff to tailor their own package.

He continues: ‘As with all new schemes, there was a mixed reaction, but the key is to explain clearly that employees are just as well off as before and point out the additional plus points. Open communication is vital to any new initiative like this.’

There are currently no comments on this article