Q1 2023 | 43 health, and financial wellbeing support. This can lead to poor engagement, high staff turnover, low productivity, and poor business reputation. Understand your Workforce To understand what your employees value and where they may need more support, you could consider getting direct feedback from return-to-work interviews, exit interviews, employee surveys, and focus groups. This can help you to detect themes across the workforce. Analysing benefit usage can help you to understand the level of engagement from employees, and potentially the state of their health too. Absenteeism rates, productivity, and customer satisfaction ratings can tell companies a lot about how well or unhappy the workforce is. Low productivity and customer satisfaction can be a sign that employees are not as engaged in their work and may be unhappy or struggling. On the other hand, good productivity and customer feedback suggests an engaged workforce. Even if you offer a very rich benefits package, do your employees know what they have access to, and moreover if it’s relevant to themselves? If you don’t communicate this to your employees correctly, they may miss out on important support, and you will not be getting the most from your benefit spend. Helping Your ‘Uninsured’ Employees Companies could do more to support their traditionally ‘uninsured’ employees. Some SME clients are reviewing their pension setup to see if it is functioning as intended, and providing value for money to employees. Some are considering salary sacrifice, which is an agreement to reduce an employee’s entitlement to cash pay, typically in return for a non-cash benefit. This is a way of saving money for the company, as well as making employees’ money go further. One of Mercer Marsh Benefits’ clients, who is conducting a salary exchange exercise, will save over £60,000 through this process. Clients are also interested in supporting their employees to better manage their money. Financial education sessions were traditionally conducted via seminars but since the pandemic, companies are increasingly turning to webinars. This provides employers with more flexibility, is better value for money and enables them to reach a wider audience. Companies can also consider requesting the assistance of a benefit and wellbeing consultancy, which could help with providing a benefits and strategy review, benchmarking data, and guidance on employee practices, policy, and employment guidelines. What Actions Employers Can Take Now? There are three key areas where employers can take actions now in order to deal with these challenges. 1) Evaluate your employee benefits package to consider how well it supports your workforce now, post-pandemic and in a cost-of-living crisis. Does it offer something for everyone? Do you understand what your workforce needs, and how well does what you have in place cover those needs? Mercer Marsh Benefits offer a free no obligations benefits audit that can help you do this. 2) Address what actions you need to take. Do you need to have better promotion of your current solutions? Can a review of your options help free up budget to do more for your workforce? Remember that benefits package can play a large factor when people change jobs. 3) Communicate the benefits and support that you provide to employees. You can do this by ensuring you have strong signposting and communications so that your workforce is aware of everything you’re offering them. This can then help them to further understand how it can help them. The Benefits of Partnering with Mercer Marsh Benefits A comprehensive employee benefits package can help attract and retain talented people. But affordability is a key concern for SMEs, which is why Mercer Marsh Benefits offers to help employers create a cost-effective benefits package based on what they need. It offers employers a free, no obligation benefits audit that can help you deliver value to your employees and your business. It understands your business so that it can identify potential gaps in your benefits and benefits strategy. Because Mercer Marsh Benefits is independent of any provider, it can review the market and work with any provider to ensure its clients are receiving the best benefits. It also offers free extras, such as optical, dental and physio care, a virtual GP service, and health assessments. Mercer Marsh Benefits can help you to get the most from your benefit spend at a time when it is crucial to find the right culture that engages staff and makes them feel valued. The team strongly believes that if you look after your employees, they will look after your business. Contact: Rachel Riley Company: Mercer Marsh Benefits Web Address: https://www.uk.mercer.com/elect.html Making Economics More Empathetic
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