Employee Benefits

The focus of this year’s National Mental Health Week is loneliness. Nearly all of us have experienced loneliness at some time in our lives and usually this passes almost immediately. However, when these feelings don’t go away, they can cause mental health problems such as fatigue, anxiety or depression.

Loneliness has affected 4 in 5 of the UK population at some point, with 20% of UK citizens feeling lonely most or all of the time. Physiologically, long-term loneliness is more damaging to health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 

It’s a problem that affects employees of all ages and classes. Even within a busy environment, those disconnected from the people around them will become lonely and isolated.

Disconnection from Colleagues

Spending 40-50 hours a week isolated from those around you will have a detrimental effect on anybody. Workplace loneliness has a damaging impact on individual performance because it hinders engagement with work. The organisations failing to address employee isolation run the risk of higher absenteeism, poor performance and poor retention rates.

Employers concerned that their employees are isolated should have easy access to tools to manage this. Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) allow employees to speak to a confidential resource about issues that are affecting them. If workplace isolation is an issue, then a good EAP will give the tools to the employee to make friends within the workplace. 

With no one at work they feel comfortable or able to confide in, a higher percentage of managers feel isolated at work. Their role often means they are divided from the rest of their team and pressures from above only compound their isolation. An Employee Assistance Programme is a great way for companies to deal with their manager’s stress.

Building stronger workplace relationships: 8 Tips

1. Assess the situation: If you suspect a colleague is lonely, investigate further. See the 12 question loneliness checklist below.
2. Change your way of working: Does your work encourage competitiveness? Often this leads to mistrust and antagonistic behaviour. 
3. Build a team with a shared direction: Giving a shared purpose to your staff is a great way to build team spirit. 
4. Encourage good relationships: Team building exercises are a great way to build good relationships. On the flip side, be aware of negative behaviour such as rudeness or exclusion, which, although challenging to articulate as a complaint, amounts to workplace bullying. 
5. Take an interest in people’s lives: Seems obvious but taking a couple of minutes to be understood as an individual and not a cog in the machine creates inclusion.
6. Remember the little things: Inclusion in a tea round or even being polite allows them to feel valued.
7. Tackle exhaustion: A vicious circle! The more tired someone is, the more isolated they become: Isolation increases fatigue. Ensure that work-life balance is maintained, even nurtured.
8. Remember remote team members: Checking in on your colleagues outside of virtual meetings and emails, is a great way to show that they’re essential.

Discover how My Staff Shop can manage your green commute initiative. Discover more here

Workplace Loneliness Conclusion

For some, being in the office may bring a respite from loneliness; for others, a crowded office is where they feel most lonely. Creating an environment where colleagues feel valued and included should be the priority of companies that care about their employees and their bottom line. Sometimes, there will still be those who feel isolated, often those who appear to be at the centre of things.

Typically, employees who feel isolated at work experience less job commitment and satisfaction. They also report higher levels of physiological problems. The simple question is, “Do you have a good friend at work?” If the answer is “no” it’s a strong indicator of workplace loneliness.

A good employee assistance programme is a great way to assist those who struggle with any amount of stress, including workplace loneliness. To discover more about how EAP can help your organisation, see https://www.mystaffshop.com/employee-assistance-program/

Measuring customers’ satisfaction has long been an important metric for businesses looking to retain customers. However, the success of an organisation depends upon how it keeps its employees motivated. How do you deliver a great customer experience with demotivated staff?

Keeping employees engaged at work has become more challenging since the pandemic changed all the rules for everyone. Phrases like “hybrid working” and “great resignation” highlight the changing dynamic of work as we move to a post-Covid economy.

We look at the metrics to consider what motivates your employees and what must be present to ensure that they stay. Broadly they can be divided into two categories: Satisfiers and Disatisfiers.  Satisfiers are things that make the job worth doing, which if there will motivate your employees to do their best work, and if not, then the job becomes just a job. Then there are Dissatisfiers, elements of the job that, if not present, will demotivate employees. If the dissatisfiers are dealt with it won’t necessarily motivate them to work harder.

Let’s start with things that dissatisfy employees, otherwise known as ‘hygiene factors’ or ‘pay & conditions.’

1. Pay

If you’re paying below market rate, your employees will go elsewhere and do the same job for more money. A way to enhance your company’s pay is to utilise employee benefits. Take our £80 challenge → to see how pay plus benefits improve your Employee Value Proposition alternatively, read more about your company’s EVP here →

2. Job Security

Since the pandemic started job security has become the second most important factor with 62% of respondents saying it was a factor when considering their current job. If your company has a high turnover of staff or creates an environment where other employees feel that their position is under threat, then that is a factor they take into account when evaluating their job.

Read The great resignation fact or fiction for more detail

3. Working Conditions

The environment in which people work has a tremendous effect on their level of pride in themselves and for the work they are doing. Is your work environment clean? Are the facilities up to date, or are you making do until it breaks? These factors may not make a difference to senior management however they can make the difference between an employee staying where they are and moving to another job.

4. Supervision

Employees that perceive their line manager as unfair or favour some colleagues over others can breed dissatisfaction that ultimately leads to demotivation.

5. Management Policies

Management can be a great source of frustration for employees. Whilst management isn’t an exact science, how do your company policies compare with other companies in your field? And, maybe more importantly, do your employees think they make the job easier or harder?

Satisfied employees tend to be more productive, creative and committed to their employers. Studies show a direct correlation between staff satisfaction and customer satisfaction. To increase motivation, here’s what to focus on:

6. Working Conditions

The environment in which people work has a tremendous effect on their level of pride in themselves and for the work they are doing. Clearly, if you’re taking pride in your work, you’re engaged, motivated and more likely to do a better job.

7. Recognition

We all want to know we’re appreciated. Individuals at all levels of the organisation want to be recognised for their achievements on the job. Their successes don’t have to be monumental before they deserve recognition, but your praise should be sincere.

8. Responsibilities

Employees will be more motivated to do their jobs well if they have ownership of their work. Find ways to add challenging and meaningful work, perhaps giving the employee greater freedom and authority as well.

9. Personal growth or achievement

Clearly, someone who can make a difference in your organisation is going to be ambitious! Having a clear pathway to greater authority and pay is both a great intrinsic and extrinsic motivator. If a promotion isn’t available then giving added responsibilities is a way to recognise a colleague’s contribution and to keep them engaged.

Incorporating My Staff Shop’s Reward and Recognition platform into your staff management tool is an easy way to increase your employees’ motivation.

For example, Fanmail makes it easier for managers and peers to recognise an employee’s work achievements and our discount platform with over 2,000 brands is guaranteed to make salaries go further.

Discover more about My Staff Shop’s Reward & Recognition offer here or for a free demonstration, please get in touch now.“

Stress, anxiety & depression accounts for 17.9 million days of work absenteeism in the UK. Not only that, there is a causal link between sustained periods of stress and other long term illnesses. Identifying signs of stress reduces absenteeism and pre-absenteeism (at work but too distracted to concentrate). Not only that, happy colleagues are more likely to be more engaged and productive. Your organisation has everything to gain by reducing stress, thus increasing productivity.

April is stress awareness month in the UK. We look at the difference between pressure and stress, identifying a stressed colleague and how employee benefits can help you manage the financial worries that lead to stress.

Some stress isn’t problematic

Without a fight or flight response to external pressures, the human race would’ve died out long ago! Even if you’ve ever slammed on the brakes to perform an emergency stop, you’ve acted upon a stress reaction. However, what is problematic is having an apprehensive reaction to a minor stimulus. Phobias are an extreme version of an overt stress reaction to a relatively mild stimulus.

Your job shouldn’t make you on edge or stressed, at least not all of the time. There may be stressful situations you have to deal with at work, e.g. a demanding customer or a big deadline. However, stress should be a temporary reaction, leading to better short-term performance. Performance dwindles the longer an employee is stressed at work. This often leads to issues that are unfixable by the time it gets to the HR level.

Signs of Stress: What to look out for

There are many signs that a colleague may be stressed, The most important thing to gauge is the baseline personality and notice behaviour is out of character. If their behaviour deviates from that baseline for five days or over, it’s a good chance it is stress-related.

Some stresses in life are temporary e.g. a house move or a workplace disagreement, can be resolved with a bit of understanding. However, long-term stress, whether it is personal or workplace, is corrosive to the individual, their team and the organisation as a whole. Signs to look out for are:

The buzzword on all HR platforms in the last 12 months, other than Covid, is “the great resignation.”

Whilst the stories are startling, the reasons driving the statistics paint a different picture of why recruiting and retaining staff post-pandemic has become more challenging.

It’s obvious the pandemic suppressed regular job movements that would’ve happened in normal times. Since the unwinding of restrictions, there has been a bounce-back in employees looking to move but is that enough to explain the great resignation.

Furlough: An excellent reason to stay where you are

The unique nature of the pandemic meant that the number of jobs advertised fell by 67% compared to the period in 2019. In addition to fewer vacancies, the number of redundancies rose by 77% from March to October 2020. Furlough probably meant this rise was reduced however it also provided another disincentive to change jobs.

Understandable when changing jobs mid pandemic meant you would be ineligible for furlough payments if other lockdowns were announced.

Lower paid employees are resigning for better jobs

The great resignation has led to the idea that staff are leaving their current job for similar roles. That isn’t necessarily true. Staff in low paid industries, like catering, are often going to a different sector of the economy for better pay and conditions.

In catering, there was a recruitment crisis before the start of the pandemic because of European employees returning home after the UK formally left the EU on 31st January 2020. Whether this trend was accelerated because of Covid we will never know, however, what is true is that most of these workers haven’t returned. This is the main factor that has led to recruitment challenges in the catering industry.

This pattern has been repeated in most sectors where low paid and fluctuating working conditions prevail.

Employees aren’t looking for new jobs

During the pandemic, there was a massive drop in people looking for new vacancies from 5.5% of all UK employees to 4.6% of all UK employees, about a quarter of a million people. Since September 2021 there has been a sharp increase in workers looking for new jobs. However, employees looking for a new role haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels and is still under 5%.

This is in contrast to the number of roles that were advertised in December 2021 which was the highest in four years, 40% higher than in February 2020.

Higher rates of early retirement have led to greater vacancies

The first lockdown allowed time for many people to re-evaluate their priorities. For those coming up to retirement age, the transition from working life to retirement came sooner than in more stable economic times.

As a counterpoint, the number of younger people entering higher education hit record numbers. With the combination of a reduction in younger employees available and an increase in early retirements, the vacancy boards will have fewer employees available for the roles.

Great Resignation Conclusion

The term “great resignation” is probably a misnomer. However, there’s no doubt that it is the toughest recruitment environment in a number of years. The recruitment crisis has been caused by increased vacancies and fewer available employees.

The reality is there has been less job movement since lockdowns ended however the laws of supply and demand have changed the job market. Organisations that want to attract the best talent now have to offer a package that stands out to potential employees.

Do you want to make your job post stand out? My Staff Shop is the employee benefits provider have a range of employee befits that will make your job post stand out.

Discover the difference we can make for your organisation please request a demo.

National Employee Appreciation Day, is all about a company’s greatest asset, their employees! At My Staff Shop, we believe that every day should be a day where an employee’s contribution is recognised, not just on the first Friday of March each year. Peer-to-peer gratitude is proven to boost morale and build stronger teams. There is a basic human need for recognition. When completing a project or task, we all want to know, “Was that OK?”

There are countless psychological papers proving a link between gratitude and happiness. There is now a strong correlation between giving appreciation and team building in the workplace. Gratitude is a two-way street: receiving gratitude rewards employees for a job well done and, by actively seeking out a reason to praise a colleague, the gratitude giver also gets a psychological lift. Within psychology studies, this is referred to as “Find, Remind, and Bind” which leads to a virtuous cycle of praise & reciprocation that can only benefit the organisation’s morale.

My Staff Shop provides a unique way for organisations’ teams to give each other peer-to-peer acknowledgement, thus fostering strong internal rapport and strength. Fanmail (exclusive to My Staff Shop) is a way for employees to quickly show their appreciation to their colleagues, and for managers to give praise. Fanmail has ready-made templates which are easily customisable for the users.

Fanmail is non-financial and all your employees have total freedom to use when they feel it is appropriate. Because it is free to the user, it’s a valuable tool for human resources and rewards managers who are serious about using Employee Benefits to foster good team spirit.

1. Improve Job Satisfaction

One of the simplest ways for employees to be happy at work is for them to be able to give thanks to each other. In fact, research suggests that employees experience greater job satisfaction “through belonging to a work-place culture that endorses gratitude.”

With a peer-to-peer recognition program in place, employees become more engaged. Colleagues start to see how their position affects the work of others, on both their team, and other teams within the organisation. In the long run, peer-to-peer recognition can even help reduce staff turnover, as 75% of employees say that giving and receiving recognition makes them want to stay at their current organisation longer.

2. Greater Productivity

With peer-to-peer recognition taking place, you may find that employees are more productive, taking fewer sick days and managing deadlines better. You might even see increased engagement with your company’s wellbeing program!

3. Relationships strengthen and grow

Peer-to-peer recognition encourages employees to make deep, personal connections with their team members. This is because gratitude uses a process called “find-remind-bind” that helps create and strengthen our most important relationships. When we regularly recognise our peers, we find new relationships or remind ourselves of existing ones, serving to bind the relationship more closely together.

Peer-to-peer recognition significantly increases the probability of a constructive team culture. Not only that, but peer-to-peer appreciation also strengthens the connection between employees and increases psychological safety. Teams become more cooperative, rather than competitive, when they are able to recognise each other and don’t have to waiting for recognition coming from the top down.

4. Employees and organisations thrive

Gratitude has been found to stimulate pro-social behaviour: those altruistic social behaviours that benefit other people, such as helping, sharing, donating, and volunteering. When people experience gratitude more often, they are more likely to experience pro-social behaviours. As employees recognise each other more and more often, they will start to experience these behaviours as well. Colleagues will become more inclined to help one another out on difficult projects, to share their office supplies, and to give to their community. This can lead to a wonderful cycle of positivity: the more grateful employees feel, the more likely they are to act pro-socially towards their colleagues, which causes them to feel grateful, and on and on as your workplace culture benefits.

Employee Appreciation Day: Saves you time and money

Employees that work in an atmosphere where performance is appreciated are more likely to be more productive and stay in their post longer. Thus earning your organisation more money as well as saving valuable time and money on recruitment training.

In addition to Fanmail, My Staff Shop offers employers many ways to show that they appreciate their employees. From Reward & Recognition which allows a tax-free financial gift, making salaries go further through the discount platform, and so much more. Show your employees they’re top of your list of priorities, give them access to My Staff Shop from as little as 30p month!

If you’re looking for ways to show employees how much you value them, learn more about our extensive rewards program, with plenty of benefits to boost staff morale and incentivise work?

My Staff Shop give all this and so much more. Read our White Paper to discover more or, if you prefer, request a demonstration for yourself now.

At My Staff Shop we not only provide excellent standard employee benefits: discount shopping and reward & recognition. We’re also here to help you improve your business’ standing in the community.

Below top two ways My Staff Shop assist you to improve your employee wellbeing within the wider community.

2022 has arrived the great news that coronavirus seems to be under control. However, this news has been buried under the wait for the Sue Gray report, the crisis in Ukraine and the news cost of living is about to rise steeply.

National Insurance Rises

The health & social care levy, 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance contributions from 12% to 13.5%, will be deducted from pay-packets in April. The increase aims to raise £12 billion, initially for the NHS, and then to cover the rising costs of social care.

Travel Costs

As workers return to the office, they’re likely to be hit with a hike in fuel prices. The rise is a surge in wholesale oil prices and a weaker pound. The average diesel price is now a record £1.50, and there is no change in the foreseeable future for that will see the prices drop.

In addition to rises in motoring costs, rail fares will to rise by 3.8% in March.

Energy Bills

Similarly to diesel costs, worldwide prices and a weaker pound have meant that wholesale fuel costs have risen for energy suppliers in the UK.

The weight of the rises have not been felt by the majority of UK household as the energy price cap is still in force. The price cap ends in April to coincidence with the national insurance rise.

Runaway Inflation

The Treasury and Bank of England annual inflation target of 2% annually has already been shattered. In December, inflation stood at 5.4%, from November’s 5.1%, the steepest rise in 30 years. Inflation may yet to rise to 7% when the energy price cap ends.

Studies by Barclays estimate that for every £1 million an organisation spends on payroll, it loses 4% of productivity due to poor employee financial well-being. As the cost of living crisis affects more and more families, the loss percentage is likely to increase.

Employee benefits are a cost-effective way to supplement your employees’ wages. They offer an easy way to enhance the workplace culture, business objectives, and are often tax-efficient.

My Staff Shop will make a difference to your colleagues. For a free demonstration or to answer any question, please get in touch.

Understanding different demographic needs

For most, personal finance is a complex subject to understand and be engaged with, despite knowing how important it is. For organisations, it is paramount to engage with employees about finance because poor personal finances often lead to poor workplace performance.

A quick reminder of what negative impacts on the workplace occurs when colleagues suffer financial stress: