“In-work poverty is now a thing!” - CIPD

Additionally they also commissioned YouGov to carry out an online survey - 2557 adults completed between 22 December 2021 to 15 January 2022, asking about their thoughts on financial wellbeing, pay and benefits. The purpose of both - the CIPD has been able to assess the impact the pandemic and the cost of increases after the UK reopened in April 2021 on their financial wellbeing and in work poverty.

The results from the survey where that 1 in 4 employees say money worries impact their ability to do their job and with the cost of living increasing, it's likely more people will experience poor financial wellbeing and face impossible decisions about money. In-work poverty is now a thing!

So why is reward connected and important to Employee Wellbeing. Remember from our blog last week, unhappy and disengaged employees can impact things such turnover and productivity and there are lots of areas that can influence this. One area can be reward.

44% of employees switch jobs because of not getting adequate recognition for their efforts. (Achievers)

53% of employees say they would stay longer in a company if they feel appreciated. (Source: Glassdoor)

A well-designed recognition program can help drive an 11.1% increase in average employee performance. (Source: Gartner)

90% of HR respondents said that an effective recognition program drives business results. 91% of them agree that it has a positive effect on retention. (Source: Reward Gateway)

So we now that we know how reward and employee wellbeing can be connected, today we bring you the first in our four part series over the course of July – all focusing on employee wellbeing, today’s blog is all about reward and communication.

Communication

The CIPD annual reward management survey indicates many employers are spending a lot of time and money on their benefits package.
However from YouGov survey found:

• Only 57% of employers told their employees about the benefits offered

• 53% of employees had been informed how to access their perks

• 50% of employees knew how those benefits could help them

• 43% of employees knew why those benefits were being offered

• 24% of employees knew how the benefits compared with what other employers offered

The CIPD concluded based on these results, "If employees don't know what's being provided and why, or how to access those benefits and which ones could be of use to them, they won't fully appreciate the benefits on offer and how they meet their needs. This could have an impact on their decisions to stay and perform."

Would your employees say that they know of the benefits you offer them?

What can you do to start or improve your communications around what benefits you offer?

1. Check if the existing benefits align to the purpose, culture and business strategy - so do they meet the needs of the business. HR should take a lead on this piece through discussions with senior and line managers

2. HR should check if the existing benefits meet the needs of staff through forums, workshops and surveys. This will provide an insight on what staff think of the existing package and what changes they would like. From this HR can assess whether undervalued benefits can be replaced by ones more valued by employees. Check out this survey that can help you gather this valuable insight from your existing staff.

3. HR can check how the current benefits package is communicated to staff. It might be that better communication is all that is needed.

4. If changes are needed as the business wants to focus on improving financial wellbeing, for example, an assessment of the cost, administration and communication implications is needed.

5. Another piece of analysis worth completing is what is seen as a benefit, otherwise misunderstandings could arise. Take development opportunities and flexible working, in the line with total reward theory, these would be considered benefits. However staff might not agree that they are perks, rather a necessity.

6. What is happening outside of work e.g. cost of living, will also influence how they perceive them. Another influence is what is happening personally e.g. promotion expectations.

In essence, you might have a great reward offering and your staff don’t know about it, so lets lift the lid and show your staff just how much you appreciate their hard work and contribution. If after reading this, you don’t feel your reward offering hits the mark, this will give you some good foundations to put in place so that when you do have your offering, the communication matches this.