New data has revealed that 89% of employers have adopted new strategies to bolster employee wellbeing.
The UK reward management survey, carried out by Paydata, also found that 80% of organisations used staff questionnaires and consultations, while around half relied on working groups and parties, to actively listen to employee concerns.
Regarding targeted pay awards, 54% said they were driven by external relativities, with 47% targeting high-performing people and 38% driven by internal relativities. A total of 67% used out-of-cycle pay increases and 77% anticipate using them in 2021.
The reward management consultancy's research highlighted that 84% of employees expect flexible working will be more readily available, with 4% planning to return to their old ways of working, while one in five employers anticipate a return of more than 90% of staff to the office by the end of 2021.
In addition, 81% of employers are continuing to offer home working and 67% are making the return to the office voluntary for workers.
According to Tim Kellett, director at Paydata, the renewed focus on wellbeing strategies is important not only for managing remote workforces but defining new ways of working as people emerge from the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, with hybrid working looking different for each organisation.
“During 2020, we captured the lowest levels of recruitment and retention difficulties that employers had experienced since the 2008 recession. Just as Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s March Budget was focused on economic recovery and building back better, our spring 2021 survey captures the first signs of optimism about the labour market becoming increasingly buoyant over the next six months,” he said.
The research collected data between March and May 2021 from 278 HR professionals and reward practitioners as part of the survey in order to provide insights into current trends in reward and benefits.
