In 2022, London-based law firm Shoosmiths not only gave its employees a discretionary thank you payment equal to 3% of their salary in May, but also awarded them a £1,000 cost-of-living payment in September.
The organisation, which employs more than 1,500 members of staff across 14 locations, also received living wage employer accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation and reviewed its salaries in light of it increasing the real living wage rates to £10.90 per hour across the UK and £11.95 per hour for those based in London in September.
In addition, the firm implemented its annual pay review in Autumn 2022, bringing it forward from 1 January when it has been held in previous years.
Eleanor Tanner, director of people at Shoosmiths, says: “We have clarified our reward strategy including principles for each element of the overall pay deal and introduced a new collegiate bonus for the 2022/23 financial year based on financial and non-financial goals aligned to the long-term strategic plan. We have a target to pay all employees 5% of their basic salary for the financial year in question. There is also the option to earn 7% of their salary, depending on the firm’s performance.”
Shoosmiths also sourced additional pay benchmarking insight for the development of its pay ranges, which were created with greater flexibility in order to reflect other factors affecting pay outside of years of experience.
Other ongoing comprehensive financial wellbeing support the law firm offers to its workforce includes an employee assistance programme, which provides 24-hour access to personal assistance including live and online counselling, as well as information services on managing money, and cashback and discounted services through its Your Discounts scheme to support day-to-day spending, such as weekly grocery shops and other high street retailers.
Employees are also able to access digital financial experts through MyEva to support them with money-related matters, have online financial health checks and one-to-one financial advice via telephone, as well as weekly webinars and online resources for practical advice on a range of topics relating to wellbeing.
Shoosmiths has focused on ensuring its pay and reward strategy is well-balanced, sustainable and includes multiple elements, says Tanner.
“We are thinking about the whole employee proposition, as well as how we provide choice within it, such as financial reward alongside recognition, flexible working, wellbeing, and our environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives and performance. All of these have an important role in shaping and supporting a positive, high-performance working environment,” she concludes.
