hr & hospitality magazine - issue 2 (march)
TRANSCRIPT
March 2017 / Issue 2
Find out how she
explored the whole
of America
BREXIT,
‘KAROSHI’ AND
BURN OUT
Why a culture of
wellness has never
been more
important
SALARY SACRIFICE
VS
NEW LIVING WAGE
Auto-Enrolment and the
Pensions Shortfall
20 26
Once a month insights, features and interviews for
HR professionals in hospitality
03DELIVERING
EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS
PROGRAMMES
Why internal comms
is everything!
09THIS IS NOT HOW
WE'VE ALWAYS
DONE IT!
Creating a culture of
innovation, the Four
Seasons way
MIND THE GAP
14
The Consultant's View
02 12 14
31
50
Contents
03
09
14
20
Delivering employee benefits programmes
Why internal comms is
everything!
This is NOT how we’ve always done it! Creating a culture of innovation the Four Seasons way
Mind the Gap
Auto-Enrolment and
the Pensions Shortfall
Brexit, ‘Karoshi’ and Burn Out Why a culture of wellness has never been more important
Salary Sacrifice VS New Living Wage
The Consultant's View
50 Broadway, St James, London, SW1H
020 7152 4107
www.damgoodpensions.com
ISSUE 2
16 Sandyford Place, Glasgow, G3 7NB
0141 222 2045
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0909
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04
March
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Delivering employee benefits programmes - why internal comms is EVERYTHING!
We’d love to be able to attribute that quote to ourselves, but
we didn’t say it. It’s another nugget from Richard Branson.
But we agree wholeheartedly. We assume far too much and
either communicate far too little or just really, really badly.
Communication only works when it is understood by the
intended person and brings about action, or at least thought.
You can communicate all you like, through the most fabulous,
shiniest of mediums or ‘platforms’ as we now call them, but
unless the person you’re talking to understands what you’re
saying and most importantly, wait for it…can communicate
back, then you’re probably having a big long, probably quite
draining conversation with yourself.
Organisations spend small fortunes on internal comms. Fact.
And do they always work? Nope. Internal comms has come a
long way, certainly within the past ten years and there is a lot
more ‘conversation’ in the workplace, thanks to enterprise
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
“Unless the person
you’re talking to
understands what
you’re saying and
most importantly,
wait for it…can
communicate back,
then you’re probably
having a big long,
probably quite
draining conversation
with yourself. "
INTERNAL COMMS
0
03
“Communication - the thing humans
forgot when we invented words”
social networking tools (think Tibbr and Yammer where you
can communicate everything you need to employees and let
them communicate back and have multi-way conversations),
the development of clever communications channels, weekly
e-blasts, Twitter and real life actual meetings and briefings.
When it comes to communicating employee benefits, many
businesses still have some way to go.
We know the following to be true – employees want to have
their say in what benefits they can choose from. So, you
already have your first step marked out clearly with
‘Consultation’ written all over it, but what happens after that.
The launch of the employee benefits programme and then of
course the uptake. Or maybe not… And what’s the point of
rolling pound coins into an employee benefits programme if
you don’t see ‘Improved Recruitment and Retention’ marching
straight back at you with loud footsteps?
There is no point. It’s a waste of money, but the key to making
sure these pounds are well spent lies entirely in the ‘C’ word.
Communication.
We like to back up everything we say with the facts (ok, the
really important stuff we say…) so we embarked upon a
research project to dig out the detail, unravel the mysteries and
line up some hard (and some not so hard) facts about the
world of employee benefits. (Have a look at our website for
details)
We were quite thorough as you would expect. We asked six
top hospitality business leaders some key questions, 439
people completed our online survey, we held focus groups
with business and finance students to get their views on
employee benefits and businesses’ responsibility to administer
them. One of the biggest headlines that came out of that
research was this:
87% of employees think it is the employer’s responsibility
to explain how employees can get the most out of their
package
What’s the point of
rolling pound
coins into an
employee benefits
programme if you
don’t see
‘Improved
Recruitment and
Retention’
marching straight
back at you with
loud footsteps?
PAGE 10INTERNAL COMMS
04
The key part of that statement is not the percentage, it’s this… ‘explain’ And that’s not just in relation to
employee benefits.
Communication is everything and the challenges of delivering excellent internal communication
within a hotel and group can be enormous, as you know probably better than anyone. Take comfort
from the fact that even in the most organised of organisations where the majority of folk are able to
tap their technology at the stretch of their arm, communication is also a challenge. Because we’re
human. Not robots.
INTERNAL COMMS
What can you be doing more of to ensure that everyone in your organisation is on the journey with you
whether you're communicating the benefits of your employee benefits programme, announcing
company news, sharing award wins and media coverage or just sending a motivational message ?
CHANGING WORKFORCE
S O , W H E R E I S I N T E R N A L C O M M S A T I N 2 0 1 7
05
- A N D W H E R E ’ S I T G O I N G ?
INTERNAL COMMS
CHANGING WORKFORCE
No – we don’t mean the folk walking into walls
whilst scrolling through their Facebook feed. We
mean the internal social network – the online
community of your employees, getting together in
that ‘cloud’ to collaborate, inform, receive, share
and be ‘always present’, even if they’re not at their
desk, work station or even country! Enterprise
Social Networks (ESNs) are being rolled out all
over the hospitality industry allowing non-desk
employees (and of course desk employees) to be
connected all of the time. Apps are now part of
employee engagement and internal comms culture.
3
3
06
1. Social media at work
5 Internal Comms trends for 2017
No more staring at a blank Outlook message
wondering how you can phrase ‘Can you please
just send me the info right now?’ in a slightly less
demanding way and proceeding to rattle off the
usual email niceties… We’re talking speed,
brevity and no more ‘Hope you had a lovely
weekend’… Quick and easy exchanges, saving
time, cutting down in email overload. Why
wouldn't you?
2. Social media at work
2. In an Instant
INTERNAL COMMS
CHANGING WORKFORCE
You can find out a lot about a company’s culture by the way they run their internal comms. Does
the way you communicate as an organisation really embody your core values? ‘Open-ness’, or
words of that ilk will always be somewhere in a company’s core values but how easy is it for your
people to talk to the ‘big people’? How available, visible and approachable are your CEO,
Managing Directors, Senior Managers in the eyes of your teams? Does that open-ness really
exist in your organisation or does it just sound good? And it’s not just about being open.
Remember that people nowadays are more interested in working for a company that has a
positive impact on the world than they used to be and shares that ehtos internally. The moral code
of the Millenials is as high up there on the list as salary and rewards..
3
3
07
3. Walk the talk
5 Internal Comms trends for 2017
2. In an Instant
Internal comms in 2017 is going to be all
about empowering your greatest assets –
your people. Empowered employees are the
ones who turn up every day and deliver the
best version of themselves to you and your
guests, acting as your internal and external
ambassadors. But don’t take it for granted.
They need to feel like they are working for
the best company they could be and need to
be reminded of that through every day
communication of why you are so great. If
they love you, they’ll stay with you. If they fall
out of love, it’s pretty hard to get that back.
Spread the love.
4. Spread the love
INTERNAL COMMS
CHANGING WORKFORCE
Ok – we don’t quite mean Vegas, unless of course
you are in Vegas but we’re living in the digital age,
the dawning of virtual reality, so why would we
expect anyone to get excited by anything on a piece
of paper? 2017 is all about digital signage and
communicating your news, social media, ‘Thought
for the day’, performance and results, media
coverage, announcements, awards and images on
screens.
If it can work in Times Square… One of the easiest,
quickest and most effective ways of communicating
information in our extremely time poor world
is literally, the ‘huge flashing signs’.
3
3
08
5. Neon lights
5 Internal Comms trends for 2017
2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
There is no secret formula for brilliant
internal comms and there is no 'cut
and paste' solution either. What
works for one company will not
always work for another because
every company has a different
personality and culture. Just because
something looks great on someone
else doesn't mean it's going to look
great on you. Internal comms
success is also about taking your
people on the journey with you partly
as an engagement exercise and but
more so because they need to
understand what and why.
The question that comes back from people will always be "Will this not take more of my time?" and
yes, initially there is a huge pain threshold that needs to be overcome when introducing new internal
comms initiatives, but the long term gain - well, it's there to be seen in several case studies where
hospitality organisations have introduced new technology to revolutionise and introduce multi-way
communication - Accor and Hyatt to name just two. And it works across generations, departments,
different sites, different countries. 'Piece of paper' - the end is nigh!
This is NOT how we’ve always done it!
The word ‘innovation’ can feel slightly terrifying for many
reasons. It suggests having to get your head around
something that might be quite large and painful, something a
bit "I really don’t get it…why would we do that?", something
that means change in systems and processes, a new measure
that requires lots and lots of communication and extra work,
actually, something which feels like a bit of a headache, when
everything seems to be working ok-ish.
On the surface.
It depends what innovate means to you. It feels like a hard,
technical word when actually it’s more of a blue skies word if
you pull it apart, rejig the letters and piece it back together like
this: ‘Finding new and better ways of doing things’.
There are always new and better ways to do things. There’s
always a different way to approach a problem. You could
spend your life geeking out on new ‘hacks’, but unless you
absolutely need to find a new and better way of doing
something, you’re just re-creating the wheel, but then how do
you know what could be done better?
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
“Innovation can
feel like a hard,
technical word
when actually,
it's more of a
blue skies word"
INNOVATION
0
- CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION, THE FOUR SEASONS WAY
09
How is it possible to know every formal and informal system
and process within an organisation (and know them inside out)
unless you perform each and every one of these functions as
part of your daily routine?
It’s not possible.
Which is why every single person in your hotel and the
organisation needs to be part of the innovation process. That’s
everyone on the ground, up. They know what happens at the
coal face, they’re ‘doing the do’ every day so they have picked
up the chinks in your organisational armour – the things that
stop you being as amazing as you could be, the things that let
you down. But it’s not just about being as amazing as you
could be. It’s about being better than that. It’s about being
better than you could have imagined.
And you need ALL of your people for that.
Innovation can be informal; suggestions at team meetings, a
‘let’s roll with this idea for a while’ approach and of course, the
lone nut in the workplace going off on a tangent and just doing
things differently because they believe that’s the best way it
can be done until they’re hit with the ‘Can I have a word
please?’ conversation. And innovation can be blocked by the
organisation refuseniks – the people in the organisation who
would prefer to just stick with things the way they are because
that’s how it’s always been done. The people who fear change
more than death.
So how do you do it?
How do you create a truly innovative culture where good ideas
‘fly’ and make a difference to guest experience, costs, the ‘time
and motion’ of the operations, staff morale and engagement
and being an organisation that people actually want to go and
work for? Innovation has to be guided for a start. Or you’ll end
up with a giant bowl of ‘ideas spaghetti’ with the odd meatball.
Every single
person in your
hotel and the
organisation
needs to be part of
the innovation
process.
PAGE 10INNOVATION
10
Sure, you might not know every single system and process in the organisation and where little (or big)
changes could be made but you’ll know your organisational objectives and what your business
priorities are, so there’s a framework to start with. Organisations innovate in different ways obviously
as the way we do things is hugely dictated by organisational culture.
One of our clients, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts do innovation really, really well. Exceptionally
well in fact, and they do it by turning to their employees – the inside talent, the people whose sum
part know every nook, cranny and quirk of an organisation, how it operates, from the front desk to the
Board room and all the bits that could be improved to make the customer experience exceptional.
Their company wide innovation programme, BLUEWATER, equips 35,000 employees with tools and
behaviours needed to ‘ideate’, pilot, and refine guest experiences. BLUEWATER sources and pilots
ideas through general managers, while also gleaning fresh solutions from elsewhere within the
company. They have incorporated this programme into all general meetings and staff training. And it
works.
INNOVATION
Each Four Seasons property has a designated cross-functional Blue Water team, which meets regularly
to ‘ideate’ on ways of improving the customer experience. Guided by three principles, the Bluewater
mission is to give every employee a real sense of ownership:
1. Be brave with your decisions
Own your decisions and take risks
2. ‘Green House’ ideas
No idea is a bad idea. Every idea will be given the opportunity to be developed; managers want
employees to feel comfortable bringing all ideas to the table.
3. Sharing ‘Green House’ ideas
How can we adapt this to other Four Seasons properties?
CHANGING WORKFORCE
H O W D O E S I T W O R K ?
11
INNOVATION
CHANGING WORKFORCE
E X A M P L E S O F H O W I T W O R K SThe company focused on service at hotel
pool and beach areas and resorts, giving staff
the opportunity to have free rein on ‘ideation’
and testing their ideas. Customers were
surveyed about their experiences and hotels
submitted their best ideas. The feedback
showed that guests liked being proactively
approached in their lounge chairs and offered
free suntan lotion and cleaning kits for their
sunglasses. This initiative was rolled out
across the board and is now a service
standard in the hotels globally. Increased
customer satisfaction = success.
1
Hotels wanted to get connect better with
guests through mobile so the Costa Rica
property came up with the idea of supplying a
tablet to guests being picked up at the airport,
providing a mobile check-in experience by
connecting them with a hotel guest
experience manager. This gave the manager
the opportunity to glean some key information
about the guest that would make their stay
that little bit more ‘wow’ and amazing and
make the whole arrival and check in process
seamless. This idea was then extended to
gateway cities.
3
In a video presentation to staff, a
Four Seasons housekeeper in Hong
Kong said: "Before BLUEWATER I
would go into rooms to make sure
they're clean. Now I look for
opportunities to wow."3
2
12
Employees become more involved in shaping the success and the future of the organsiation and feel
more value, like they have something to add beyond their day-to-day role within the hotel.
And if the idea doesn’t work, they don’t call it a failure. They call it a ‘glitch’.
Phew – zero risk of an ‘epic fail’! No such thing.
The winning formula for innovation is undoubtedly frontline engagement + being customer centric.
The way you roll with it (and roll it out) depends on your organisation culture and how innovative you
are in your approach to innovating!
W H Y I T W O R K S ?
INNOVATION
13
Mind the Gap
The research states that current contribution levels will result
in a massive savings gap and that if the UK government wants
savers to achieve these targets, contribution levels need to
rise dramatically.
Not good news if you fall into the ‘in-betweener’ category – an
entire generation aged 30-45 of people who are at a huge risk
of under-saving for retirement.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
“ For many, the
£200,000 - £250,000
pension pot is a distant
dream; the level of
monthly savings
required to get to that
target is simply
unsustainable for
most. "
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
0
14
Last month, pensions Minister
Richard Harrington revealed that he
has set a target for savers to
achieve a £250,000 pension pot by
the time they retire, however recent
research by Aviva shows that auto-
enrolment contributions would need
to rise significantly to enable savers
to achieve that target.
- Auto-Enrolment and the Pensions Shortfall
This generation will be hit particularly hard. The previous
generation enjoyed the benefits of funded pensions
provision and easier access to home ownership and the
generation after that have been introduced to auto-
enrolment at a much earlier stage in their working lives.
For many, the £200,000 - £250,000 pension pot is a
distant dream; the level of monthly savings required to
get to that target is simply unsustainable for most.
Even saving at 8%
for 40 years may
not be enough to
bridge the income
gap at retirement.
PAGE 10FINANCIAL EDUCATION
15
Dale Critchley, pensions policy manager at Aviva, said "Next year we’ll see the first contribution rise
and in 2019 it will reach a total of 8%. When it reaches that point, those who have stayed in their
workplace pension scheme will be putting a reasonable amount into their pension pot. But, as our
figures show, even saving at 8% for 40 years may not be enough to bridge the income gap at
retirement."
And what about the people who have only
started saving since 2012 when auto-
enrolment was introduced? There are huge
numbers of employees who are faced with
having to sacrifice significant chunks of their
salary to make up for their pension shortfall or
extend their working life considerably to
make up for the years they were not saving.
Aviva recommended at the end of last year that auto-
enrolment levels be pushed up to 12.5% as the 8% levels
are “clearly inadequate”.
Ahead of the DWP’s auto-enrolment review, which will
investigate contribution levels, Aviva made its own
recommendations to the government at the end of last
year. The provider said the 8% levels were ‘clearly
inadequate’ and advocated pushing them up to 12.5%
by 2028. With the road ahead looking pretty bumpy in
terms of disposable income, value of Sterling and
increases in the cost of living post-Brexit, what can you
as an employer do to support your employees in tackling
the ticking timebomb of pensions and in finding a
savings balancing act that works for them, bearing in
mind that you’re also likely to be feeling the pinch.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
CHANGING WORKFORCE
16
As a result of the impact of various policies including
Auto-Enrolment, the National Living Wage and the
Apprenticeship Levy which will come into effect this
year, the pressure is on for employers, especially within
the hospitality industry to improve productivity. One
way of increasing pension contributions is of course
from the employer side, but is it then a case of robbing
Peter to pay Paul ie reducing other elements of the
employee reward package to boost employer
contributions?
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
CHANGING WORKFORCE
3
3
17
1. Social media at work
No more staring at a blank Outlook message
wondering how you can phrase ‘Can you please
just send me the info right now?’ in a slightly less
demanding way and proceeding to rattle off the
usual email niceties… We’re talking speed,
brevity and no more ‘Hope you had a lovely
weekend’… Quick and easy exchanges, saving
time, cutting down in email overload. Why
wouldn't you?
2. Social media at work
2. In an Instant
And what about the scale and cost of reviewing working practices and job design to pay for auto-
enrolment while we’re in the middle of the ‘perfect storm’ of policies which have significantly
increased our business costs? The pressure on the employer is huge at the moment, especially within
the hospitality industry. Good employers will have that sense of paternalism towards staff and want to
look after them in whatever way is right – it’s the most fundamental aspect of attracting, recruiting and
retaining the best talent and one of the most important ways that you as an employer can empower,
develop, motivate and support staff. Never has it been more important for employers to deliver
financial education in the workplace.
Education was the red thread that ran through our
findings. The future of corporate benefits and pensions
can be secured without the need for complex
strategies. It’s not rocket science.
Knowledge is power; and the survey shows clearly that
through positive communications for employees, staff
can be enabled to make smarter decisions for
themselves and their families.
DAM did some research into the future of employee benefits and found that
employers who empower staff with financial education are those that enjoy
higher benefit take up rates and improved staff retention.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
CHANGING WORKFORCE
3
3
18
2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
And as the retirement - and arguably health -
benefits from the state look set to wane, savvy
employers of choice have an opportunity and a duty
to recognise this need and reward their people with
not just what they want now, but what they need for
a lifetime.
Yes, the contributions you make as an employer are
hugely important, but the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ in
terms of supporting employees with a long term
programme of advice and support is going to be
crucial to ensure their financial wellbeing and of
course, your productivity as an organisation.
A financial education programme should incorporate all benefits, including
employee assistance programmes, retail discounts and pensions and debt
management advice.
As an employer, you provide the primary source of income and with that comes
responsibility. Of course you won't be telling people how to spend their money, but
wouldn’t it be great if you could help to ease financial worry and help your teams get
the most out of their salary and of course working for you?
It’s not something that can be ‘got’ anywhere else and it will be one of your most
important recruitment and retention tools. A financial education programme can also
bring your corporate values and CSR strategy to life and set you apart from your
competitors.
Times are pretty hard right now, and probably going to get a lot harder, so the more
you can do to look after your employees’ financial wellbeing, the better your teams
will feel and that can only be a good thing for productivity.
Research in 2015 by Capita showed that 45% of employees would be willing to save more if they
had a better idea of how pensions worked.
It’s very unlikely that they’re going to go and find that information out for themselves so there’s a
clear opportunity for you provide support with that.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
CHANGING WORKFORCE
3
3
2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
DAM is delighted to be supporting the Caterer
HR Forum 2017 taking place in London this
April, a must attend for all HR professionals.
Topics will explore how to get your workforce ready for the challenges of Brexit, making the most of the apprenticeship levy, aligning customer and employee engagement and the conference will also
explore the tools of retention that will helpyou attract and keep the best talent.
We'll also be celebrating the Best Places to Work companies in hospitality 2017. www.hrforum.com
Brexit, 'Karoshi' and burn out...
We wish we could tell you that it’s something on the menu at
Wagamama, a form of spiritual enlightment or perhaps a new
chain of ‘Yo! California Roll to Go!’ type sushi bars but it’s not...
It translates to ‘death by overwork’, and it could be one of the
first knocks on our door post-Brexit as the UK notches things
up a little on the productivity front in response to our high
performance international competitors.
The working week in Japan is 40 hours (doesn’t seem so bad)
– however a recent government report revealed that
employees in one in four companies are racking up more than
80 hours of overtime a month.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
“ I wish I could tell you
that it’s something on
the menu at
Wagamama, a form of
spiritual enlightment
or perhaps a new
chain of ‘Yo! California
Roll to Go’ type sushi
bars but it’s not. "
HEALTH & WELLBEING
0
20
While you’ve been scrolling through
your feeds this week, you may have
stumbled upon the news that us
Brits may be about to sample a
phenomenon winging its way over
from Japan - 'Karoshi'.
- why a culture of wellness has never been more important
This is a working culture where the term ‘work/life
balance’ doesn’t even exist, a culture which has
developed over the course of the last 40 years, beginning
in the 1970s where wages were relatively low and people
worked harder and longer to maximise their earnings.
And of course it became far too difficult to change the
working culture of the world’s second-largest economy
in the 1980s, so it continued, way after the bubble burst
in the 1990s where people worked longer and harder just
to keep their jobs.
This is a working
culture where the
term ‘work/life
balance’ doesn’t
even exist...
PAGE 10HEALTH & WELLBEING
21
A culture which is only starting to change now with the Japanese government announcing last
month that it will impose a cap on overtime of 100 hours a month to reduce the number of cases of
‘karoshi’, which research has put at 1456 per year (in the 12 month period that ended in March
2015). In the year that ended March 31, the health ministry identified 93 suicides and attempted
suicides as being caused by overwork. Police statistics, however, claim there were 2,159 suicides
that could be attributed to problems related to work.
The Japanese government has also
introduced the ‘Premium Friday’ policy,
which calls on employers to let their staff
finish up at 3pm on a Friday, start the
weekend early and experience a new
phenomenon for them – a work/life balance.
Research into the effects of long working hours by The
Lancet last year revealed that it’s not necessarily the
length of the working week that leads to heart attacks
and strokes, it’s the stress associated with sitting for long
hours at a desk; the physical inactivity and also factors
such as increased alcohol consumption used to counter
the increased stress.
We know the importance of work/life balance, stress
management and wellbeing in the workplace, but how
easy is it going to be to champion these types of
initiatives.
Our industry is about to go through perhaps one of the
most challenging periods of its time and the pressure to
increase productivity and performance is high.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
CHANGING WORKFORCE
22
Hospitality businesses are starting to weather the
perfect storm of challenges; the introduction of the
Apprenticeship Levy, the rise in the National Living
Wage, increases in the cost of food and drink as a direct
result of the fall in the value of the pound, rising
statutory employer pension contributions, the costs to
small businesses of Auto Enrolment coming this
October and of course the issue of staffing our industry
with skilled and talented people.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
CHANGING WORKFORCE
3
3
23
1. Social media at work
No more staring at a blank Outlook message
wondering how you can phrase ‘Can you please
just send me the info right now?’ in a slightly less
demanding way and proceeding to rattle off the
usual email niceties… We’re talking speed,
brevity and no more ‘Hope you had a lovely
weekend’… Quick and easy exchanges, saving
time, cutting down in email overload. Why
wouldn't you?
2. Social media at work
2. In an Instant
The potential changes to the free movement of people as a result of our exit from the EU will directly
affect our sector’s ability to attract, employ and retain overseas staff, both seasonal and permanent.
Just to put another layer of doom on the Brexit cake, our domestic market is also feeling the pinch due
to rising inflation and modest real terms wage growth, so reduced consumer spending will also hit our
industry hard.
Well, what you offer through your employee benefits
programme in terms of health and wellbeing initiatives
is going to be important obviously but the way you
champion and communicate these programmes is
ultimately what’s going to create a culture of wellness.
The link between improved health and wellbeing and
increased productivity is clear however last year’s
Financial Times Health at Work survey revealed that
79% of services and facilities offered by companies to
improve employee health have a low awareness rate.
Looking at the pretty grey backdrop of rising costs and productivity
pressures, our industry is operating against, how do we ensure that we look
after our biggest asset – our people?
HEALTH & WELLBEING
CHANGING WORKFORCE
You can find out a lot about a company’s culture by the way they run their internal comms. Does
the way you communicate as an organisation really embody your core values? ‘Open-ness’, or
words of that ilk will always be somewhere in a company’s core values but how easy is it for your
people to talk to the ‘big people’? How available, visible and approachable are your CEO,
Managing Directors, Senior Managers in the eyes of your teams? Does that open-ness really
exist in your organisation or does it just sound good? And it’s not just about being open.
Remember that people nowadays are more interested in working for a company that has a
positive impact on the world than they used to be and shares that ehtos internally. The moral code
of the Millenials is as high up there on the list as salary and rewards..
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2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
So, how do you ensure that your efforts hit the mark, and you deliver a health and
wellbeing programme that truly makes a difference:
1. Do your research
How do you know what initiatives to introduce if you don’t have evidence of the need for
them?
2. Data
Sickness absence data, online health assessment tools, employee health checks,
questionnaires - these will help you to identify health and wellbeing weak points within your
company and the areas for focus.
3. Be SMART
Have clearly defined goals which show what success looks like, based on your data.
4. Measurement
How do you know it works if you don’t measure it? Clear metrics are crucial to give an
accurate picture of how your health and wellbeing initiative is going down…
5. Preaching to the unconverted
It’s pretty easy to get healthy, fit people on board in your wellness initiative – it’s part of their
lifestyle anyway but the real challenge is in getting your unhealthier workers to make the
lifestyle changes (at home and at work) that they need to get the most out of your
programmes. Focused support for specific groups of employees is going to be important.
Talk to them and find out what’s going to motivate them.
6. Be the change
The most successful wellbeing programmes are the ones that have involvement, participation
and endorsement from all levels of management. The culture of any organisation starts from
the top.
7. Financial education
According to research by Nudge last month, 60% of respondents believe that employees who
suffer from stress due to financial concerns will drive demand for financial education in 2017.
Almost two thirds (63%) of employer respondents think that the impact of Brexit on the UK
economy will drive demand for financial education in the workplace.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
CHANGING WORKFORCE
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2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
The success of any programme is in the way its communicated of course. Use all the
tools available to you to strengthen your culture of wellbeing, from your company values
to your intranet, Enterprise Social Network (and all the other internal comms tools we
talked about last week) to embed a positive, healthy culture within your organisation. And
talking is good. Your employees will be as concerned about their own health and
wellbeing as you are. They may however be just too 'head down' to do anything about it,
don't have the time, can't weave it into their daily working lives which is where you, as an
employer come in.
Numerous studies, including from Forbes and the Harvard Business Review have
concluded that happy employees are around a third more creative and productive than
unhappy employees. Wellness = increased productivity - that's the way forward for our
workplace culture and the only sustainable way to protect our industry from the
challenges that lies ahead (and eliminating the risk of Karoshi ever creeping in to our
workplace culture).
SALARY SACRIFICE vs THE NEW LIVING WAGE
Both Salary Sacrifice and the National Living Wage
have featured heavily in various media articles over
the last few months.
Many benefits are to be stripped from the scope of
salary sacrifice with only very few remaining
seemingly untouched, and many employers are
faced with ever increasing costs of not only
increasing the minimum wage but perhaps having to
lift pay rates across all layers of their pay structures in
order to maintain a clear hierarchy.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
“The changes
come into effect
soon - make sure
you are aware of
the implications
for your
business"
SALARY SACRIFICE
26
- THE CONSULTANT'S VIEW
minimum wage. It is
therefore important that
employers take action is
taken now.
Why is this important?
Many employers who
perhaps pay slightly
above the minimum wage
and therefore have
happily enrolled
employees on the salary
sacrifice scheme, may not
have considered the
effects of the National
Living Wage coming into
play in April.
What is changing?
Chancellor Phillip
Hammond’s Autumn
Statement declared that
from April 2017 the
minimum wage will rise
4% from £7.20 to £7.50.
That’s £15,600 per
annum!
What should employers
do?
It is important that
employers assess their
payroll and indeed their
pension scheme
members. Assess the
resulting salaries after
exchanges have been
made and take steps to
We are inundated with
discussions surrounding
these topics but only
looking at them in their
own right. Have the
consequences been
considered when looking
at them together? And are
there plans in place to
ensure they are legally
addressed? If you use
salary sacrifice for your
pension arrangements, I
highly recommend you
read on.
It is against the law
to sacrifice a salary
by an amount that
leaves the
employee
effectively
receiving less than
the minimum
wage.
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SALARY SACRIFICE
Alastair Pickard
Consultant
What is Salary Sacrifice?
The idea behind this is
quite simple. You give up
part of your salary and, in
return, your employer gives
you a non-cash benefit,
such as childcare
vouchers, or increased
pension contributions.
Once you accept a salary
sacrifice, your overall pay is
lower, so the employee
pays less tax and both
employee and employer
pay lower National
Insurance contributions.
Limits on salary sacrifice?
It is against the law to
sacrifice a salary by an
amount that leaves the
employee effectively
receiving less than the
ensure your scheme
remains compliant. The
changes come into effect
soon, ensure you are
aware of the implications
for your business.
P E O P L E W I L L F O R G E T W H A T Y O U S A I D ,
P E O P L E W I L L F O R G E T W H A T Y O U D I D ,
B U T P E O P L E W I L L N E V E R F O R G E T H O W Y O U M A D E T H E M F E E L .
M A Y A A N G E L O U
08
Produced by Davidson Asset Management
Editor: Mhairi Clarke
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