Marcus Beaver, UKI Country Leader at Alight Solutions
The pandemic has changed everyday working lives for millions. We are no longer fixed to desks five days a week and have learned that we can work from almost any location.
As a response, the benefits that employers have been offering employees to keep them sweet have changed dramatically. There’s been a huge shift from office-centric benefits such as subsidised meals, complimentary drinks, company cars, discounted travel, and in-house creches to flexible hours, utility contributions, technologies such as apps for encouraging healthy lifestyles, and childcare. The ways that employers are looking to retain and attract talent has turned on its head as they pivot to what’s now more important for employees.
Flexibilitätsvorteile
The pandemic highlighted the need for employee wellbeing strategies. Our recent research shows that two-fifths of employees rank flexibility as one of the most important benefits and three-fifths (60%) would not consider a job that provided less flexibility than they have today.
For employers, their strategy to best support employees has to be to offer flexibility. Compressed hours or split days are becoming more common. Then there forms of benefit that can support working from home such as utility contributions, technology budgets (for laptops etc) and local business club memberships (where local businesses can share ideas and work together).
No more false promises!
Before the pandemic, wellbeing was often talked about a lot, but rarely delivered on. This did not go unnoticed by employees and has become a cause of irritation as they seek more transparency and flexibility from the organisations and businesses they work for.
As we come out of lockdowns, businesses are increasingly realising that they are nothing without their people: employee wellbeing must be taken seriously. Employers have had to be more empathetic and previously strict policies of how, where, and when people work should no longer apply. Employees have proved they can work efficiently, and they can be trusted to deliver. It will be a tough argument if any organisations want to revert back to the pre-pandemic ways. But first and foremost, if you are not an empathetic employer, heed this warning: many are, and your talent will undoubtedly seek them out.
Mental health is now an open discussion and organisations are also reviewing the health benefits they offer employees. Currently, many private health options do not offer more than surface level introductions to counselling services. These need to be expanded to cover the need for extensive support from PTSD support to psychodynamic counselling, a form of counselling that enables a better understanding of the way we relate to people, to the world, and to ourselves.
Technology is a benefit
Staff need access to technology, digital tools and the software typically used in the workplace. For example, giving employees access to a website or mobile app so they can make best of the benefits on offer, as well as access payslips or other HR matters themselves is better than them relying on others. However, these tools must be easy to access and to use.
Earned Wage Access has become an increasingly popular conversation for companies, and it allows employees to access wages earned at the end of each shift, rather than in a formal weekly or monthly payday. Alongside this, Paycards, a prepaid card that an employer can use to pay their employees as an alternative to direct deposit or paper checks are becoming more and more popular. The latter is a good option for bosses who employ those earning a lower wage (who might not have a bank account and would otherwise find it hard to secure employment).
Wellbeing benefits for retention
Across all demographics, people are looking for an employer who recognises an employee as an individual, and not a cog in a money-making wheel. Companies that have adapted their businesses to remote and flexible working retained staff throughout the crisis and continued to motivate and inspire their workforce. The payoff we will begin to see from this is increased employee loyalty and for these companies to become a more desirable place to work for top talent entering the job market.
PlatonAi. Web3 neu erfunden. Datenintelligenz verstärkt.
Klicken Sie hier, um darauf zuzugreifen.
Source: http://hrnews.co.uk/work-perks-how-covid-changed-benefit-strategies/
