Now is the time to SUPPORT your staff, not reward staff
Show you Give a Damn
‘Give a Damn’ is one of Prezzee’s core values, and with the rising cost of living challenging many households across the UK we want to empower organisations to ensure their staff's basic needs are met.
Keeping employees engaged, and ensuring that they feel supported has never been more important. And for organisations, determining the difference between the wants and the needs of your employees can go a long way to defining an employee engagement and retention strategy.
What are you doing currently to support your employees' needs during the cost-of-living crisis?
The term ‘needs’ is defined as an individual’s basic requirement that must be fulfilled to survive and thrive. Needs are something that we cannot function successfully without, such as a place to live and staples, such as food and water. Whereas wants are defined as goods and services which individuals like to have but do not actually need i.e., Christmas parties or hampers. Employees wants are often items they think they need but aren’t critical to their everyday lives.?
There are many examples across the UK highlighting that employers are providing employees with one off payments to support cost-of-living needs. Although the employer’s intention is positive and of course to be applauded, how do the companies know that this money is not being spent on frivolities and not on essentials such as food or energy bills. In the short term this is a great show of support, however is a one-off payment effective for supporting employees longer term needs?
CIPD are also endorsing the use of vouchers as an alternative payment method with various benefits in doing so:
"Many organisations are also considering offering staff a bonus to deal with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. However,?for some low-wage employees in receipt of Universal Credit or Tax Credits, a one-off or lump sum bonus could interfere with their benefits payments and leave them struggling to budget and make ends meet.?
To make sure this doesn’t inadvertently cause extra undue stress or financial hardship, HR teams should consider what other options their organisation could offer, including:??
Google also released some statistics on the increases they are seeing with internet searches as another indication of what we are all worried about:
Cost of living:15,900% increase
Energy bills: 4,700% increase
Food prices: 586% increase
Inflation: 1,300% increase
领英推荐
Interest rates: 2,850% increase
Mortgage rates: 2,500% increase
Petrol prices: 3,800% increase
Tax cuts: 875% increase
Pay rise: 400% increase
Employees expect support from their employer
A recent survey conducted showed that eight out of ten employees across the UK said that their employer has an obligation to support them in managing the cost of living and 79% of employees want employer support during the cost-of-living crisis. The major risk for organisations who aren’t supporting these employees is that it could lead to a demotivated workforce with poor engagement which can be detrimental to a company’s performance.
According to the Office for National Statistics around three quarters (77%) of UK adults reported being worried about the cost of living , and 1 in 4 are dipping into savings to cover increasing costs, and almost 1 in 2 have stated they will not be able to save money next year.
The Everyday Card from Prezzee empowers HR teams to support employees
With these concerning facts at the forefront of our minds, Prezzee has developed the ‘Everyday Card’ to empower HR Teams to support their employees' needs and provide a helping hand towards essential purchases, without fanfare or frills. These purchases enable individuals to support themselves or their families when they need it the most.?
Prezzee wants to ensure that we support clients to get to the heart of tackling the cost of living crisis - In this vein, we have? have seen a large number of clients sending out smaller value cards to all employees, on a monthly basis to support them on a more regular basis - making far more of an impact than one single large payment.?
Personalised messages of support show employees that they are valued?
The Everyday card can be of minimal value but it provides high emotional return. The ability to personalise the card makes it stand out. Employers can create a video message that fits with your core company values and show support to ensure that your employees basic needs are met.
The definition of value is not necessarily how much money an individual is given, the value is in the emotion and sentiment created. as much as the value of the eGift card itself. The ability to provide a video message, bespoke branding that fits the company's culture can really send a powerful message to the recipient.
Businesses must be aware of employee sentiment, and create robust strategies for engagement and support. Prezzee can support your organisation to do just that. Let’s have a chat to discuss how we can support you, to support them.