Reward Matters
21st June 2022
What matters most to your employees in terms of reward through these challenging times?
How can your company build the right reward scheme to motivate and excite your employees?
Big questions for a Tuesday morning!
Thankfully, at a recent roundtable, we were joined by Mary Robertson, of Reward Matters who identified the key components of a solid reward structure; what we need to consider to make it appropriate and fair for our employees; and how to keep it cost effective for organisations in 2022.
So, what’s important to your employees? Mary identified 4 key areas:
Being rewarded fairly.
Feeling valued.
A scheme that excites and motivates them.
A reward structure that is clear and well- communicated.
Keeping the above front of mind when designing a reward structure is essential. Mary shared the key components of a fair and motivating reward offering:
Salary – employees must feel their pay is fair
Employee Benefits –
Medical insurance – one that is appropriately designed AND has an excess.
Pensions
Holiday entitlement – this is top of the list for exciting your employees. Mary explored why it’s important to allow employees to buy holiday days at very low cost to your company.
Company cars – a hot topic, especially now that many meetings are conducted virtually the need for company cars has reduced significantly. If you do have a company car policy, Mary says most important to ‘manage your third-party providers very carefully’ as there are lots of hidden costs.
Discounted benefits – a key offering to consider in times of higher living costs. Mary mentioned that this is ‘a real line of sight for reducing outgoings for employees’ – offering discounted benefits, such as vouchers for supermarkets or social events can be hugely valuable to your employees and their families.
Bonus Scheme – make sure you can pay out on it.
Commission structure that is regularly reviewed, but not constantly changed. Employees need to know what they are working towards.
Mary’s top tip: when thinking about employee benefits, consider your employee demographic first and foremost, and what is most important to them?
Mary also identified a couple of extra ideas that will enable you to enhance your benefits and reward offering, keeping costs down whilst increasing morale and recognition:
Really recognise your people – this doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Genuine wholehearted recognition. In our digital age, a handwritten thank you note can make all the difference (Mary still remembers one she received 30 years ago!).
Working environment – get the basics right; clean, airy spaces, office plants and free coffee – low on cost but high on value to your employees on the days they are in the office.
Throughout her presentation, Mary touched on several key elements that underpin a good reward structure, these were:
Cost efficiency
Creative ideas
Imaginative reward offerings
Pragmatic options
Clear and fair explanations
Strong governance
Reward ideas positioned to employees with a marketing mindset
Simple incentives that pass the ‘kitchen table test’
And most importantly, when all is said and done, the resounding message was that your reward offering must be fair and it must be honest and clearly communicated.
If you’d like some more specific support to develop or update your reward offering, please reach out to Mary directly on: mary.robertson@rewardmatters.com
And as always, we would love to hear your comments or reviews of our May Roundtable. Did it hit home? Was it helpful? What changes have you made in your organisation?
We’d also love to know what you’d like to hear more about in future Roundtables – do you have a burning topic you’d like covered? Pop an email to jane@trapezehr.com
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