By Esmée Hardwick-Slack
COVID-19 has tested every business and challenged all of us to come up with new ways of working. Spare bedrooms have become home offices, workers have had to balance childcare and home schooling with their work commitments, and those who live alone have had to deal with loneliness and its effect on their mental health. Surviving a tough environment has also meant that businesses have had to find new ways to motivate and retain their teams of people.
A huge percentage of the workforce has had to deal with increased stress, anxiety and adapting to a new way of working. Many businesses have asked more of their people, in order to survive the COVID-19 crisis and a high percentage of employees have reportedly been working longer hours as the line between work and home life has become blurred. As such, businesses have had to re-think how they motivate their people and that is where a reward strategy comes in.
Remember, a reward strategy should consider the strategic objectives of your firm, what your people want, what is affordable and the structures needed to achieve this. Here are a few suggestions.
Develop your people
Providing personal and professional growth opportunities is an essential part of a reward strategy. Good people stay with businesses that provide them with training and development opportunities.
Benefits
Cash is important but so is a good benefits package. Benefits can include generous annual leave entitlements, medical cover and a good pension scheme. Over and above that, more and more employees value flexibility – whether that is the option to work remotely, compress 5 days work into 4 and so on.
COVID-19 has proved that remote working can be just as productive as working from the office. Those firms that continue to offer flexible working arrangements and embrace agile working, post COVID-19, will retain the best people.
Be different
The very best firms offer rewards that are a little bit different. This doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, you could offer charity volunteering opportunities or Friday morning yoga classes for staff. Regardless of the elements you choose to incorporate into your reward strategy, the key is to ensure that the team feel valued by the firm.
How to do you reward your staff for going that extra mile? Has your reward strategy changed since lockdown? Let us know in the comments or via our LinkedIn page.
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