Recruiting and retaining talent has become increasingly more competitive for businesses due to there being more open jobs than candidates right now. Experienced talent, especially within certain industries verticals, hold a lot more leverage than they may have had in previous years. This is forcing businesses to review and assess whether their people strategy is actually fit for purpose and relevant to the talent that they are looking to attract and retain.
Employees are no longer seeking just a pay-rise and a generous benefits package. Of course they do play a part but more employees are now looking at the bigger picture and considering if their employers’ beliefs are strongly aligned to their own. Businesses are now having to review their policies and company values alongside their benefits strategy to ensure that they are, at the very minimum, meeting the demands of the talent that they are trying to hire and/or attract or risk missing out on their ideal candidate.
What can you do as an employer?
Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles into your business strategy is no longer a should-do, but a must-do for all employers. We have taken a look at some of the areas that you might want to consider if you aspire to be an ‘employer of choice’ for the talent of the future.
Aligning your benefits strategy to your company values
A number of our clients are now regularly reviewing their benefits scheme design in order to stay ahead and meet the ever-changing demands from the talent in today’s market. Historically, employee benefits might have been viewed as ‘nice to haves’ rather than ‘must haves’ with this now no longer being the case. In order to be an employer of choice your people strategy will have to remain both relevant to your workforce and heavily aligned to your wider business strategy and company values.
As an employer you might want to consider projects such as benefits benchmarking and audit reviews to identify these gaps in your existing benefits strategy. Once you undertake a review like this, your company culture and core values should be at the heart of it. The benefits you offer should reinforce your culture and core values, but you need to be wary of how they can and will be perceived by current and future employees within the business. Projects like these also provide you with the opportunity to see where you are currently positioned against your direct competitors, general market and market leaders ensuring you never fall behind.
Aligning your benefits strategy to your wider business strategy
Individually and collectively we all have a duty of care both in the workplace and outside of it. Employees expect to see their employers acting in a responsible way by implementing an ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy that has clear defined goals and outcomes.
Benefit providers are continuously adapting their propositions to meet the evolving demands and needs of today’s workforce and businesses. The majority of businesses right now, irrespective of size, will have ESG as a priority agenda item. Reviewing your benefits alongside your wider business strategy will allow you, as the employer, to scope out the quick wins that will help you work towards achieving your companywide goals and objectives.
What quick wins can you consider for your business?
Workplace Pension
Does your current pension provider provide access to an ESG offering? Employees will want to have the option to align their investment approach to their personal beliefs and retirement strategy.
As part of this review, and potential changes, consider a communications campaign to ensure employees know how to make changes to their pension pot.
Car Salary Sacrifice and Company Car Schemes
Do you currently have a voluntary car salary sacrifice scheme in place? If not, introducing this benefit will provide your employees with the opportunity to select a ULEV (ultra-low emission vehicle) at an extremely competitive price due to the low benefit in kind tax rates currently on offer. Not only that but there are significant National Insurance contribution savings on offer to the employer should an employee select a low emission vehicle.
If you have a company car fleet you can consider ‘electrifying’ it by either fully or partially switching to an electric fleet. There are some points to consider though before making such a change such as the increased cost to the business and the infrastructure changes required (for example – mileage expense policies).
Carbon Offsetting Schemes
Employers typically either run these initiatives in-house or partner up with a third party provider(s)/charity(ies). The main purpose being to provide employees with the opportunity to contribute to carbon offsetting schemes throughout the year should they wish to do so. Some examples of how these schemes and/or initiatives are being run by other businesses are:
1) We are seeing businesses partner up with a third party provider/charity so employees can contribute to a variety of different projects and initiatives such as the creation of wind farms and tree planting projects.
2) Incentivising employees with rewards if they avoid high emission journeys. This will not only reduce your employee’s carbon footprint individually but also collectively as a business.
Benefit Provider Review
Have you considered doing a full review of your existing provider relationships as you will need to make sure that each of their propositions remains relevant and is aligned with the wider business strategy.
A great example of this, apart from the pension example mentioned above, is the evolution of the corporate discount portal market and how the providers have evolved their propositions to keep up with the ever-changing market demands. Many discount providers are now regularly reviewing their partnerships to identify whether there are in fact enough discounts and/or rewards on offer that promote a more sustainable and ethical way of living.
Written by Mercer Marsh Benefits.
