Employee Benefits Live 19: three sessions; one common theme!

One aspect that occurred to us while listening to several speakers who explained different initiatives that they had introduced were the common themes running through their approaches.

​In a session that explained how Deloitte has made huge efforts to increase diversity, Emma Codd, Senior Advisor on Engagement, highlighted some of the key foundations for success. This included the need to think about branding of initiatives to ensure the language used fits with your organisation (‘flexible working” had negative connotations, but by changing it to “agile working” she was able to get senior management buy-in.)

​Josie Lazenby of Virgin Atlantic spoke about the importance of aligning benefits and wellbeing initiative to drive employee satisfaction, ensuring that the three areas of wellbeing (physical, mental and financial) are covered. 

​Stephen Bevan of the Institute for Employment Studies, talked about good practice in promoting wellbeing that had been observed in his research. A clear business rationale is key, so it is important to ask what business problems might be solved with a healthier workforce. This could include improved staff availability, continuity of service, reduced displacement costs, improved productivity, fewer accidents and more innovation.

What was striking, was that all three speakers highlighted the same steps that are critical to the success of a change initiative:

• Ensure it is seen as relevant to the organisation.
• Use whatever data you have to put a value to the cost and benefits of your initiative - use this to develop and sell a persuasive business case to get the senior team on board.
• Involve staff at all levels to identify the issues and their causes: use questionnaires, focus groups and surveys.
• Use a variety of communication, like face-to-face, intranet, information packs - and take account of remote employees.
• Keep reinforcing the message.

These are all key steps that we always recommend to our clients when helping them with reviewing their reward systems!