Q3 Newsletter

Welcome to our Q3 newsletter for 2024!

It has been a busy few months here at Henley reward Consulting, and the same can be said for many businesses as they adjust to a new government and the legislative and financial changes that this will bring. Read on to see our latest thoughts! - Louise Haines, Managing Director

The Insight Insider...

Following July's Labour landslide victory, what changes can we expect in the world of business and HR? How will this affect your company, and what do you need to be prepared for?

With a new government in power we can expect a number of legislative changes to come into effect when it comes to employment rights and workplace policies. Labour's promise to deliver the biggest shake-up in workplace law for a generation presents a unique opportunity for businesses, and their HR teams, across the economy. These changes aim to provide greater security, protection and predictability for employees within their "Plan to Make Work Pay".

Below is a synopsis of some of the changes that Labour plan to implement:

Day One Rights and Pay Adjustments - Basic rights such as unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave will become effective from day one of employment, whereas before there was a qualifying period for new hires. National Minimum Wage and Living Wage are set to rise. Regarding pay gaps, companies with more than 250 staff will now need to report on ethnicity and disability pay gaps, in addition to gender pay gaps.

Family Friendly Rights and Flexible Working Policies - Labour aims to expand statutory maternity and paternity leave, review the system for shared parental leave, introduce bereavement leave, and strengthen protections for pregnant workers. The party also plans to offer paid family and carer's leave, and flexible working will be a default right from day one.

Mental Health and Employee Wellbeing Initiatives - Employers will need to support workers' physical and mental health, including raising awareness of neurodiversity and long Covid, implementing menopause action plans, and upholding a right to disconnect after working hours.

What does this mean for your organisation?

Businesses must adapt swiftly, stay informed, and be proactive to navigate these significant changes successfully. Employers need to be committed to reviewing their HR policies, making the necessary changes to ensure compliance as these new rights and laws come into effect.

At HRC, we can review your existing salary and benefit offerings, including flexible working arrangements, sick pay policies, and parental leave packages - all to ensure you are not only complying with Labour's new initiatives, but also to ensure that you are remaining competitive against your direct peers when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent. - Netta Pegler, Project Support Coordinator

Below is a snapshot of the work we've been doing for our clients over the past few months...

Salary Benchmarking Reviews

Since the start of the new financial year in April, and with new data being released about pay awards, organisations across many sectors are continuing to review and reevaluate their reward offerings.

We have recently completed a full organisational pay benchmarking review, comprising more than 300 individual roles, for a leading housing association which is looking to remain as a fair and competitive payer within the housing sector.

Alongside this, HRC has carried out a remuneration review across several directorates for a renewable energy firm specialising in offshore wind developments. We have also supported an electrical manufacturing company in benchmarking and evaluating its Executive Board pay levels.

Benefit Reviews

In the past few months we have completed a variety of projects for clients looking to enhance their benefit offerings and bolster their employee value propositions.

We conducted a thorough review of bonus frameworks for an infrastructure and transportation consultancy firm, to enable them to implement a fair and competitive structure for variable pay. We have also carried out a detailed research piece around Sick Pay policies as part of an Industry Benefits review for an oil and gas energy company.

Pay Gap Evaluations

As mentioned above, the requirements for pay gap reporting are set to widen. Many companies are already one step ahead, looking at more than just gender when it comes to pay discrepancies.

HRC recently provided pay gap calculations and thorough analyses for a large social housing provider, comparing their outcomes with the previous year's figures to evaluate their progress towards closing the gaps. This was not only for their gender pay gap, but also for their ethnicity pay gap - which is set to become a requirement for all organisations with over 250 staff, alongside disability pay gap reporting.

Market Stats - from Brightmine and HRreview

• The median basic pay award for the 3 months up to July 2024 fell to 4.5% - marking the lowest level of 2024
• Job vacancies continued to decline from May - July 2024, although they still remain above pre-Covid levels
• One in four employees are actively job hunting, according to HR software provider Ciphr
• One in five UK HR leaders have implemented hiring freezes this year, reflecting the broader cooling of the job market

Looking Towards the Next Quarter

As we move towards Q3, your organisation may be rethinking its reward strategies. Are you ready for...

• Evaluating & benchmarking pay towards 2025?
• Gender Pay Gap calculations and reporting?
• Incorporating ESG measures and metrics?
• Reviewing your ED&I strategies?
• Reassessing your benefit offerings?

Keeping up to date with regulatory requirements and equality measures, understanding your market, and providing a competitive benefit scheme are all crucial to your company’s success. Read on to find out how we can help your business to thrive.

Henley Reward Consulting: Our Services

In a nutshell, we can:

• Benchmark Executive and Board remuneration structures and components, including LTIPs, to ensure your leadership team are competitively rewarded.
• Benchmark wider directorates, as well as conduct full organisational reviews where required.
• Benchmark individual roles at any level where there are pockets of challenge.
• Benchmark across multiple sectors, as well as internationally.
• Develop pay grading structures, as well as assess job levels and structures to ensure your pay and career structures are aligned.
• Conduct a competitive health check of your internal benefits, looking either at individual components such as family policies, car provision or insurances for example, or indeed the full benefit proposition.
• Deliver gender/ethnicity and wider pay gap calculations to meet regulatory reporting standards, but importantly we can deliver deep dive analysis into what those numbers mean, identifying risks and priorities to support the bridging of any pay gaps. We can also support with equal pay audits.
• Benchmark ED&I policies, as well as wider HR policies to provide you with targeted market intelligence to drive innovation and best practice.

Thank you for reading our Q3 Reward Round-Up! We look forward to updating you again at the end of the year.

For more information please get in touch.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 7798 630 382

Website: henleyrewardconsulting.com