Much of Britain is preparing for a long, hard winter. Coming off the back of the pandemic and the ‘Great Resignation’, the current cost of living crisis is threatening to take millions of employees – and countless businesses – beyond their stretching point in the coming months. As the UK gets accustomed to a new Prime Minister, we asked some of our consultants for their messages to company leaders in these testing times.
Know your own DNA
Look at everything you do at the moment through the prism of your company’s DNA. I hear all the time ‘what are other companies doing?’ and you do need to understand the market position in terms of reward, but you also need to apply any measures you take according to your organisational culture and where you're heading. Sometimes it's not possible to completely mirror your competitors and get the same impact anyway, so think about it in terms of your DNA, leverage your data and make it work for you.
Sarah Lardner is a Principal Consultant & Director working across Media, Digital, Publishing, Financial Services, Energy
Stay strong
It’s easy to get carried away with all the news reports and do something you can't afford to do so in terms of Pay and Reward, try to stay strong. At the same time, your starting point should be to ask yourself the difficult questions you need to ask to find out what your employees want and need. Am I supporting my employees and doing all I can for them? If you are on the pulse of your business and know how your staff are feeling, it will be much easier to make firm, confident decisions about closing offices, working remotely, changing pay structures, or staying strong and riding it out.
Lisa Trewitt is a Lead Consultant working across Transport, Aviation, Charitable.
Be visible
My key message is to be visible and I think a lot of organisations are finding it quite hard at the moment. Cultures have been disrupted because of new ways of working and from a leadership perspective, you need to adapt your leadership style and not assume that the old ways will still work, by osmosis. Being visible is also connected to the recognition piece, because if you want to build a culture where people feel valued, and feel connected, you have to make an effort to recognise and almost put yourself out a bit.
Justine Woolf is a Director of Consulting working across Professional Services, Legal, Purpose-led NFPs
Look after the lowest earners
Especially in the context of the cost-of-living crisis you need to be especially mindful of those who are the lowest paid within your organization. It's not enough to just extend the total reward package, give extra leave or additional perks. They're nice, but my gut feel based on the clients I work with is that it only goes some way in retaining key talent. So don’t get complacent around your offering. If there are ways to be more creative with reward, and ways to invest more into the lower levels, then really consider them.
Having a mentor has always been seen as a perk that is there exclusively for senior management, but in terms of career development offering mentoring much further down the organization should be a big focus at the moment, if it’s possible. There’s a real value that everybody gets from that in terms of creating the whole employee deal.
Currently on a career break, Emer Buckucoglu is a Senior Consultant working across Retail, Manufacturing.
Recognise the ‘above and beyond’
Look very carefully at the expectations you’re putting on your employees currently. The potential for burnout was something often talked about during the pandemic, but it is still very real. With so many vacancies in the market the same work still has to be done and people are having to step up and do a lot more, which is often going unrecognised in both monetary and non-monetary terms. If you can, make sure people are working within their role and, where people are stepping up to fill voids, cover shifts, take on more responsibility, and make sure they are being appropriately recognised or rewarded.
Spencer Hughes is a Senior Analyst
