There is no question that persistently high inflation in recent times has put a squeeze on workers’ pockets and ramped up the pressure on employers to keep pace with pay awards. Recent industrial action, for example by teachers, nurses and rail workers, have only served to highlight the increased focus of employees, and the need for greater pay transparency moving forward. While employers grapple with determining their appropriate pay levels, educating workers about the true value of their compensation package has never been more important, and yet this education is often overlooked. Here are four key areas employers can look at to boost salary education across the workforce.

1. Build a robust support structure

A recent Innecto survey found that 85% of organisations have been responding to rising inflation by promoting financial wellbeing support. In the current economic climate, having safety nets in place for staff who may need financial support should be priority number one.

That might mean practical help and support around managing debt, or emotional support for unexpected issues and unbudgeted-for expenses. There are already a wide range of tools available to companies looking to boost their Employee Assistance Programme in this way, from debt advice signposting and one-off cost of living payments to hardship funds.

Before looking to start something from scratch, it is always worth checking what your existing pension, EAP or insurances provide in this area because in many cases they will have in-built tools to support employees.

2. Review your communications around benefits

We speak with clients who are investing in benefits platforms providing a range of savings and discounts, but which have low engagement and usage rates. Often staff are simply unaware of what is available. Employee induction is always a good place to start but beyond that you want a constant drip-feed of information to keep staff informed.

By drawing up a calendar of communications specifically around reward, HR can engineer a structured way to reiterate parts of the Total Reward Statement in a way that workers can easily access, also integrating the messaging into general staff comms.

Once this is in place you can tap into national awareness campaigns like Financial Wellbeing Week, Pension Awareness Day, Living Wage Week and share stories of how staff have been able to use the benefits and highlight successes.

3. Enhance the financial support available  

In addition to promoting the wider benefit package, employers should consider the specific practical financial advice being made available to staff. This can range from online learning and simple budgeting tools through to accessing financial advisors.

These tools can be priceless in helping staff plan how to use their compensation package and better understand the investments being made by themselves and the company into pensions, company ISAs or share schemes.

Crucially on this, try to communicate a culture where workers feel comfortable to access this kind of support on an ongoing basis, rather than only when they get ‘into trouble’. If you can do this you will remove the stigma that often says ‘only those in need should access these tools’.

4. Help staff understand how pay is determined

My final point is around the key element of pay transparency and employers using objective criteria to determine pay levels.

How are your pay structures currently being communicated? Do staff understand their position within a range, job family or pay spine?

Before you can talk to employees about progression, staff need to genuinely understand how their pay is determined. This provides the foundation to discuss progression, whether it’s a basic description of how they can move to the next pay band or a detailed career pathway mapping out their development opportunities. Only by showing them this roadmap will most workers truly understand what is expected of them to in order to progress and the potential enhancements to their compensation package. Often this can only happen if employers empower and train line managers to hold these important discussions.

How Innecto can support

Understand your current alignment - How does your current package align with the market? This insight is crucial in understanding the competitiveness of your compensation package. Innecto can support here in sourcing the right data, matching your roles and displaying the analysis in our revolutionary pay benchmarking tool PayLab, which allows you to gain complete clarity around your current and aspirational pay stance.

Move the focus beyond pay - Pay is important but it’s only one part of the compensation package. A strong benefits package can reinforce an organisation’s values, strengthen its culture and better connect it with its employees. We can help you establish or revise your benefits strategy. As part of the Personal Group family, Innecto clients can also access Hapi, an app-based employee benefits platform which connects all aspects of wellbeing support into one easy tool. From traditional benefits to grocery discount vouchers and recognition schemes, Hapi houses everything in one app and so connects all aspects of a company’s mental, physical and financial wellbeing offering. With in-built communication and engagement tools, HR and business leaders can connect with workers and create a genuine buzz around what they’re offering their workers.

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