HR REWARD AND BENEFITS


Towers Watson, says his advice to clients is to benchmark to understand the baseline level of competitiveness to ensure market parity. Slavishly following the market as the only input is not necessarily the right thing to do, as more unusual benefits can give some character to the package, preferably reflecting the company ethos and style, he says. “We would recommend getting the balance right between


comparing against named competitors and a decent-sized sample,” says Charman. “A happy medium is a sector- orientated comparator group with named key competitors that will resonate with stakeholders. Consideration should also be given to the diversity of talent markets from which organisations attract talent; it may necessitate flexible benefits to accommodate diverse market expectations.” Staff are not in a position to press for much better packages at the moment, with growth weak and unemployment high. This throws up provocative questions. Are employers hooked on austerity? Should they invest more in staff to stimulate employee engagement and broader economic growth? Aon Hewitt principal Duncan Brown thinks they should.


“How do businesses grow and succeed? Through a well- motivated and well-rewarded workforce: you can’t have one without the other. There has been a focus on cost over the past three years but we now have an employee engagement recession and employers need to re-orient their reward and benefits policies to address that, if they want to improve their performance and emerge from the economic slump.”


We now have en an employee


gagement


recession and employers need to re-orient


benefits policies to address that


Duncan Brown/Aon Hewitt their reward and


Employers looking at benefits in this light, aligning them


with a core business goal of growth, will have a clearer sense of their strategic value. While ROI metrics remain elusive, a clear sense of impact on engagement can be established by taking the trouble to talk – and listen – to staff. HR


Benefi ts for working parents


Childcare costs in the UK are among the highest in the world. As a result, childcare vouchers are a benefi t that is much appreciated by those working parents that receive it.


With vouchers the fi rst £55 earned per week for basic rate taxpayers and the fi rst £28 earned per week for higher rate tax payers is exempted from payment of tax and national insurance contributions. “This means that a family paying basic rate


tax, where both parents receive childcare vouchers, could save up to £1,800 a year on their childcare costs,” says Anand Shukla, chief executive of childcare charity, Daycare Trust. “Different exemption rates apply for higher and additional rate taxpayers.”


hrmagazine.co.uk Busy Bees, a major childcare provider in the


UK, is campaigning to raise the cap on childcare vouchers from £55 to £75 per week, in a bid to make childcare more affordable. Its chief executive John Woodward says he is “amazed” at the number of employers and individuals who are still unaware of the existence of childcare vouchers. It is thought there are in excess of 500,000 working parents throughout the UK using childcare vouchers, but actual fi gures are unknown. Given that there is negligible cost to employers, it is not as if an ROI calculation is required to justify their provision. However, Woodward argues that employers who shun this benefi t may regret it. “If you have a member of staff who stops work because they


can’t afford childcare, that is a big problem for you.”


Investment bank Bank of America Merrill


Lynch runs a returning talent programme as a way to support staff, particularly women. It works in partnership with Mumsnet – to help it fi nd talent that might otherwise be an untapped resource – and Executive Coaching Consultancy, which delivers maternity coaching workshops to employees and their managers. Michelle Fullerton, head of diversity and inclusion at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says: “To us, diversity means business. There is a strong business case for doing this, as it impacts positively on our employer brand and gives us access to a talent pool that other people are not reaching.”


HR Supplement September 2012 15


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