Looking beyond pay to help employees

The cost-of-living squeeze is affecting millions of people. But employers need to look at supporting employees beyond pay increases, in order to survive and thrive. 

Inflation is now above 10% and continuing to rise. However, for lots of organisations, offering inflation-matching pay rises is just not possible. And all organisations need to think about the potential-longer term impacts on their business, especially with recession.

We need to look beyond pay at the wider suite of employee benefits that organisations can offer employees, in order to attract and retain talent. These include benefits that can save money, as well as other benefits such as pensions, healthcare and childcare. There are also additional things that employers can be doing to improve financial wellbeing, including policy changes (e.g., flexible working) and a focus on sustainability. 

It’s not a "one-size-fits-all" approach however. Organisations need to understand their workforce, using data analytics, to gain insights that will help inform their employee rewards strategy. And it's about finding the right balance between data analytics and human intelligence. We call this “Employer DNA.”

"Sometimes data is just hard facts. You’ve got to get the sentiment, the emotional side. When you are dealing with people, that’s important."

Watch Julia Turney as she discusses how organisations can reward and support employees during these challenging times and beyond. To learn more about Employer DNA, visit our content hub here.

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