Employee Benefits

Most people are aware of the high levels of financial stress dominating the UK. In fact, Champion Health found that 37% of those surveyed listed financial pressure as a top cause of stress outside of work in 2023. With the cost of living crisis being a glaring issue for many of us, shaking off that bothersome cloud of worry is easier said than done.

Paying the bills, mortgage, and groceries can be a struggle month to month, let alone having a rainy day fund in case of emergency. Being productive and positive in the workplace when battling with this can feel like an impossible task, so by helping employees to manage financial wellbeing, creating a more stress-free environment can be achieved.

So…how do I help?

Obviously increasing employee salaries would be ideal, but when that isn’t an option, there are still steps that you can take to assist you employees with saving money and managing finances.

Let’s talk

A problem shared is a problem halved, right? Sometimes part of the issue when it comes to stress is bearing the burden of it alone. Having someone to talk to such as a counsellor can be a huge source of support when it comes to stress that’s impacting mental health. This is where having an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) in place comes in handy.

For when help is needed with specific financial advice, there’s also experts that can provide that with the EAP. Receiving money management assistance can be a game changer when it comes to budgeting, so having access to this tool is a win.

Savings, savings, savings

With food inflation up 16.3% in the most recent year up to April, the food shop often comes with a familiar sense of dread once reaching the checkout. The stomach-churning cost of living crisis has been difficult for most, and reducing everyday costs in any way is a high priority for many of us. Discounts and Reward Beans offers for the most popular UK supermarkets provide a way to save a bit of money on that regular shopping trip. And it’s not just supermarkets; you can save with top retailers on clothes, electronics, and event tickets.

Magic beans

So what is special about our Reward Beans? This virtual currency allows you to save up from your purchases to reach a custom goal: be it for shopping, to put into an ISA, or for charity. With each purchase made through My Staff Shop, your employees can collect Reward Beans and have extra savings for no extra cost!

Worried that your people don’t seem as happy as they could be? The UK places 12th in the world in terms of employee satisfaction, with 74% of employees feeling very satisfied. But with one in three staff saying they are unhappy in the workplace, there is still a way to go for overall satisfaction.

There are many ways HR can combat a poor organisational culture, but not everyone knows how to take the best course of action. It’s time to ditch the ‘working for the weekend’ mentality and start looking for the joys in the job.

Spot the warning signs

Let’s be honest: It has not been easy over the last few years. The changing landscape of the workplace during the pandemic has left a lot of people feeling lost at sea without a paddle, and adjusting from working from home can cause friction, especially if employees joined an organisation during this turbulent time. Stress can cause ‘burnout’: a culmination of workplace stress that has not been managed correctly. If you are finding staff retention is low, there may be underlying issues of burnout amongst your own employees.

There are the more obvious signs too. Staff members turning up late, or a drop in productivity can show a decline in the work environment; while more subtle indications of unhappiness include not engaging in office culture, or increasing conflict with colleagues. Once you spot these signs, it’s time to get that flow of communication up and running again, and start to work on making your organisation as stress-free as possible.

Talk it out

Open and clear communication is vital in a happy workplace. It may seem simple, but maintaining a strong dialogue with employees will help keep motivation and morale high. Consider opening up weekly or monthly wellbeing check-ins with your employees, and create a safe space for them to drop in and access a clear and direct line of communication.

Online surveys are also a great way to gather data on how your organisation is feeling about their environment and work, especially if you have a large business with a lot of employees. Sites like Survey Monkey or Google Forms are an easy, anonymous way to assess the climate of the workplace. You can take this data and produce it as a report for your management team to really get to the core issues needing to be addressed. Handing this power over to employees is a great way to show that their voices are being heard and respected, and the data is a real advantage to an organisation; it identifies those core areas and factors that are important to employees but also things they find unsatisfying. You may be surprised to find what the catalyst can be for issues in your organisation.

Advocate appreciation!

My Staff Shop offers a wide array of ways to increase employee satisfaction. We can help show appreciation in a way that is actually beneficial to your employees, like being able to buy gift cards or trips with the Rewards Beans they’ve earnt.

Fanmail not only allows managers the option to award hard work, but employees’ can provide peer-to-peer recognition too. It helps to encourage the camaraderie and teamwork that will get them through the tougher days, and create a more cohesive unit.

You can also help reignite passions your employees have, with access to courses in skills from learning a foreign language, to career development and design. Not only are you helping to grow your employees’ opportunities, but these skills could improve your business, and help employees excel in new areas of your organisation.

Don’t discount the discount

With the cost of living crisis harming labour productivity, discounts on supermarket shopping can really help ease the anxiety employees are having. Covering the basic needs of life like the food shop can create a foundation in which your employees can start to relieve their stress, and the discounts on day-to-day life essentials add up, and help make things feel a little easier.

In-the-moment support

My Staff Shop also offers an Employee Assistance Programme for your team to access whenever they may need it. Whether it be for peace of mind, or crucial care, an EAP is a great way to show that your organisation has its employees at its heart.

Yes, it’s hard right now. And employees should find HR a safe space to talk about their unhappiness and anxieties. Talking things through openly and honestly is the best way to build trust with employees, and encourage a stronger business that values each individual. Offering benefits on top of this, will further advance your company into a place which your employees feel heard, seen, and most importantly appreciated. Happy days!

It goes without saying that not every workplace is the same. Nor is every employee the same. Therefore when it comes to benefits they should fit the needs of your people, right? According to the organisation Get Living, nearly three quarters of employees (73%) want a more tailored benefits package, so the proof really is in the pudding when it comes to bespoke employee benefits.

Why is it important to have a tailored benefits package?

Different workplaces can have different demographics, and often workplaces are a mix of people. Whereas one employee may lean towards discounts and health benefits, others may be more interested in leisure and lifestyle. No two people are the same, but there will often be more popular choices within the workplace.

One thing that all employees want is to feel heard. Feeling like their needs are being met and they are being acknowledged by their company can be empowering for them as individuals as well as a team. In fact, 82% of employees say that it’s important for their employers to see them as not just an employee, but a person. A key way to build this trust and employer-employee bond is to give them a return on their hard work in ways other than just their salary.

What types of benefits can I offer?

Enter My Staff Shop. Our priority is finding the best way to reward employees with meaningful benefits. By offering a huge range of discounts, from learning courses to supermarket shops, there will be something for everyone.

So how is this tailored? Well, you can add-on benefits to better suit employee needs. For employees that would like access to further healthcare benefits, MyHealthXtras is there to offer that extra support when it comes to health concerns. Having that added assistance there is just one less thing to worry about when going through difficult times.

Another fabulous benefit that you can add if you think your staff would value it is Spectrum, a platform that puts mental health and wellbeing first. With reports of such high levels of stress in the workplace – 76% of professionals from the Workplace Health Report – evidently there is a need for further wellbeing benefits. Spectrum has a wide selection of tools, from a digital gym to video sessions with a nutritionist, the aid in reaching health goals and prioritising mental health is there.

There are also options that individual employees can use to personalise their benefits. For example, with Reward Beans your staff can choose how to save or spend! Save for a holiday, treat yourself to a gift card, or set up an ISA to help reach those financial goals. However employees want to save a bit of extra money is up to them to decide!

It’s Learning at Work Week! So looking at peer to peer learning specifically, what is there to think about?

There’s plenty of skills, programs, and methods to be learned in the workplace, but how do staff actually pick up new information? Harvard Business Review found that 55% of employees seek help from peers when it comes to learning something new, proving that learning from superiors or external training is not the only effective way for your people to be enriched through the power of learning. Learning and Development is hugely important and should be considered a high priority for employers, as giving employees a sense of fulfilment, teaching them transferable skills, and boosting their value to the company are just a few of the benefits of workplace learning.

Why is peer to peer learning important?

There are loads of benefits to co-workers teaching one another skills. For a starter, it encourages inter-work relationships and helps to create a teamwork dynamic in the workplace. Building that foundation of trust and communication flows naturally with the teaching and learning process, so having this on top of new skills being picked up is a plus.

Another key benefit to peer learning is the influx of alternative perspectives. By learning from a different viewpoint and getting someone else to take their experience and pass it on, a fresh outlook can help to keep a workplace from feeling stagnant.

Keeping up to date with such quickly evolving information is another perk that comes with encouraging peer to peer learning. With such incredibly fast developing technology like AI making its way around work practices, having employees keep each other up to speed with the latest news and is a great way to prevent anyone from getting left behind.

Ultimately, by implementing peer to peer learning and promoting learning based engagement in the workplace, a more supportive, positive workplace culture can be created while expanding the existing skill set.

What methods of peer to peer learning are there?

Sounds simple enough, but what’s the practice behind the theory?

One method that has a certain structure to it is the ‘lunch and learn’ process. Periodically, perhaps once monthly, have a different employee put together a powerpoint presentation centred around a particular subject or skill. Encourage employees to bring snacks and drinks and take notelean towards a discussion based ‘seminar’. And as a bonus, this also is great presentation practice!

Finding out your employees strong (and weak) points can be very constructive in finding out what your team knows and what they could benefit from learning more of. By identifying ‘experts’ in particular areas, you can have those specialist staff share their knowledge and create a more well-rounded knowledge base.

It’s also worth considering which skills could be taught. While hard skills are often desirable, there are also soft skills, and skills that are more personal development or outside of the workplace that could ultimately build confidence and give staff something to bond over.

Occupational stress and employee burnout remain an issue for HR. In fact, in the UK, sick days cost the economy £14bn annually while mental health illness and work-related stress is losing UK businesses 23.3 million working days, and is responsible for almost half of all absenteeism cases (48%). 

Whether your people are feeling the effects of short term burnout or they are managing long term stress, this debilitating condition can have a devastating impact on a person’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing at work – and will most certainly affect their ability to perform their job.

While no one can wave a magic wand to solve everyone’s problems, there are lots of things that HR can do to mitigate employee burnout and stress in the workplace:

1. Create a ‘talking culture’

Fostering the psychological safety of your people is paramount if you want to keep on top of absenteeism, quiet quitting and attrition and build resilience. By encouraging employees to maintain open lines of communication, creating a space for them to talk if they need to discuss any issues, and ensuring you have robust wellbeing policies in place to protect their interests will help them feel that their health is important to the business. The more open a company culture is, the less stigmatised people feel. Opening the discourse on subjects like menopause, fertility, men’s health and mental health can provide people with the confidence to turn to HR if they need support.

2. Set up an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Employees need to feel that their employer has ‘got their back’ when times are tough. One simple thing they can do is to put an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) in place. Not only can this help employees who may be feeling burned out, stressed or worried about their finances but it can show them that their employer makes their wellbeing a priority. 

3. Explore wellbeing benefits

Whether you offer your people a digital wellbeing platform with access to things like meditation classes, yoga and fitness sessions, or somewhere that they can track fitness or wellness goals, placing a focus on health, nutrition and wellbeing and offering benefits that support these areas will create an uplift in mood. This feeds into the employee experience too, and provides that sense of security that people are searching for at the moment.

4. Prioritise mental health

If you want to show employees that their health is important, having ‘mental health first aiders’ is a good place to start. The organisation can provide accredited training and individuals can be taught to spot early signs of mental ill health as well as knowing how and where to signpost people so they access the correct resources and support they need. They can also provide a safe place to talk without any judgement.

5. Train your managers

Managing burnout and stress is about building trust and psychological safety into the organisational culture. Having managers replicate these positive behaviours is imperative if any wellbeing and mental health initiatives are going to be successful. Not having the tools, communication skills or understanding of complex issues can affect managers’ ability to effectively support their teams and can inadvertently compound the problem of stress and burnout. 

Providing training such as coaching or workshops on listening or communication skills, for example, can give managers the tools they need to help their teams deal with any stress issues early.