Thrive with a complete employee wellbeing offering

We wrapped up 2022 with a review of what the businesses that made it onto the year’s top employers lists did to secure their spots. Whilst there was a strong focus on career development and social value, wellbeing initiatives and employee benefits were the underpinning themes.

Employee awareness & feedback

If you’re yet to implement wellbeing benefits, the best place to start is with your people. Some employees will be more knowledgeable about the support available than others, so raising awareness is essential.

This is a crucial step to take before obtaining employee feedback because your workforce needs to make an informed choice. Once the awareness-raising piece of work is complete, conduct a survey to determine what wellbeing benefits matter most to your people.

Explore the market

Once you’ve defined the wellbeing benefits that will make the most significant impact on your employees, it’s time to shop around. This can often be a complicated stage, as employee benefits providers present their prices differently.

Employee benefits are an investment but can also be sustainable and cost-effective. Take the time to talk with potential suppliers and partners about what you can expect from their service, where you'll see the added value and how to get more for less.

Here at Pluxee UK, we measure our success by yours, which means dedicated account management and marketing support are all part of the service.

Cost-effective wellbeing benefits

With the cost-of-living crisis impacting all areas of our lives, employers are taking measures to protect the wellbeing of their employees. They see the value in creating a physically, mentally, and financially resilient workforce – for their people and businesses.

Sickness absence, whether due to physical or mental ill health, loses the UK economy billions of pounds each year. So, whilst offering employees wellbeing benefits costs the business money, you can expect to see a return on your investment, which can be measured in many ways:

• A physically and mentally healthier workforce means fewer absences.

• Employee benefits boost engagement, and highly engaged workforces are more productive.

• Wellbeing benefits form part of your employee value proposition. The better the proposition, the quicker the hunt for talent, shortening the expensive recruitment process.

• Engaged, supported, and rewarded employees are less likely to seek a new role, improving retention rates and lowering staff turnover costs.

Manage all your offerings in one place to get the best results!

Our Employee Benefits Platform is the all-in-one solution that’s available wherever and whenever you need it, helping build long-lasting connections between your company and your employees.

Salary Sacrifice Schemes

Salary sacrifice schemes help employees afford lifestyle-improving products such as bikes and electric cars whilst saving your business money. It’s a tried and tested way of making the implementation of further wellbeing benefits cost-effective and sustainable.

It all comes down to a reduction in tax because the employees are sacrificing an amount from their salary, which in turn reduces the taxable amount within their pay slips. The result is that your business saves up to 13.8% on each participating employee's National Insurance Contributions.

The employee saves too!

As a quick example, if someone is earning £25,000 p.a. and sacrificing 10% of their salary (roughly £208 per month) through a Cycle to Work scheme, their annual NIC goes down by around £300, from £2,020 to £1,720, while PAYE tax falls from £2,700 to £2,200, saving another £500 (based on NIC of January 2023).

This is the information you need when seeking business approval to implement employee wellbeing benefits.

Mental wellbeing 

48% of people suffering from a mental health-related illness cited workplace stress as the cause.

If you’re starting from the beginning or have benefits in place that haven’t seen an uptake, we recommend focusing on mental wellbeing. Physical and financial wellbeing benefits are also important, and our wellbeing experts can advise you on which packages are often implemented alongside mental wellbeing solutions to achieve the best results.

However, when you pull the concept of wellbeing apart, you find that mental wellbeing is fundamental to all other areas. Ill mental health impacts the body physically and impairs our functionality and ability to solve problems, thus negatively affecting our ability to manage financial difficulties.

Our Employee Assistance Programme is one of our most popular products. It includes 24/7 access to BCAP-accredited counsellors via phone, email, and app (face-to-face sessions are also available) and financial management tools.

Financial wellbeing

The cost-of-living crisis dominated headlines in 2022, and it’s sticking around for 2023.

Employees are looking to their employers to alleviate their financial pressures, and from what we’re seeing, businesses are recognising the positive impact they can make.

We’ve discussed how your wellbeing offering can be cost-effective, and Pluxee UK has a host of financial wellbeing benefits that are sustainable and versatile. One example is our Pluxee Card which has been successfully established within organisations to deliver financial rewards, employee benefits and as an employee perk. Employees have the freedom to add their own funds and top-up alongside the business, continuously benefiting from cashback earnings of up to 15% at their favourite retailers.

Physical wellbeing

42% of Britons have cancelled their gym membership during the cost-of-living crisis.

In addition to the Cycle to Work salary sacrifice scheme, Corporate Gym Memberships are a popular wellbeing benefit. Often seen as a luxury and something to be sacrificed to afford essential items and rising bills, a gym membership and regular exercise boost your people's physical wellbeing.

Furthermore, exercise, swimming, or a trip to the sauna also relieves stress which is beneficial to your employees’ mental wellbeing. Making gym attendance affordable is an employee wellbeing offering that benefits all involved.

Bring your complete wellbeing offering to life with Pluxee UK

While a complete wellbeing offering should encompass all pillars of wellbeing, it isn’t always possible to establish everything in one go. It isn’t necessarily advisable either since it can lead to information overload! The result can be poor uptake levels which impact the sustainability of your offering. It also means that the people you’re trying to support – your people - don’t see the positive impact of the benefits you’ve made available.

Talk to our wellbeing experts today, and they’ll guide you towards your complete wellbeing offering.