In 1983, John Woodward and his wife began looking for quality, affordable day care for their child. They couldn’t find any. Asking around, they found that friends and neighbours were having the same trouble. So Woodward and a group of colleagues did something about it.
“When we started the company six of us were teachers, we couldn’t find the kind of childcare we wanted and we couldn’t afford it,” says Woodward. “We sold our houses to start Busy Bees.”
Woodward is now chief executive of Busy Bees Nurseries, which is one of the UK’s largest providers of childcare. Through its childcare voucher scheme, it is also a major provider of other employee benefits. Woodward et al selling their houses to start the company goes some way to explaining how important the provision of staff benefits can be to employees. And how they can be good for employers, too.
Dave Priestley, head of sales at PruHealth UK – Prudential’s health insurance arm – explains that, historically, companies providing things such as pensions and medical insurance for staff were simply looking to provide a benefit for employees. But today, many employers are looking for their benefits to work harder for them, making their businesses better.
Boosting business
Naturally, one would expect that a good benefits package would result in better performance and productivity – it is generally accepted that better employee rewards tends to improve motivation. Furthermore, with health insurance like Priestley’s product, it follows that healthier staff are more effective, and when they get sick, they get better quicker. But the connection is stronger than just that, reckons Priestley.
Any good manager knows that convincing employees to buy in to your company and its vision is key to increasing productivity. A study by Gallup that Priestly cites shows world-class organisations have more than five times the amount of “engaged” workers for every one “actively disengaged” member of staff than the low-ranking firms.
“The top driver in employee engagement – according to the study – is senior management demonstrating a serious interest in employee wellbeing,” says Priestly. “Some 75% of employees who believe that their employer cares about their health would describe themselves as very loyal to that company.”
The Gallup poll finds that the health-related costs to employers – which include disease burden and sick days – of a 60-year-old with high wellbeing are actually lower than those of a 30-year-old with low wellbeing.
Making life easier
So what are the ways to generate that wellbeing?
A host of firms now offer incentives such as holidays, excursions or experience days as part of their bonus packages. These things clearly offer incentive in the form of reward, but there are only so many hot air balloon trips an employee can handle. With this is mind, some employers are now providing benefits that just make life a little easier.
The offer of such things as dry-cleaning services and at-work car repairs – both of which are usually paid for by employees – are an example of firms trying to lighten the administrative load of a workforce that is routinely burning the candle at both ends.
East Durham College offers staff gym membership, discount manicures and beauty treatments from its beautician students, as well as the all-important childcare vouchers.
Woodward says that most employees with young children describe childcare vouchers as the most important benefit they receive from work. It’s one of the reasons that Woodward has launched a petition to try to increase the amount of salary an employee can sacrifice on childcare vouchers before income tax is levied. He sees this as a potential boost for employers and the national level of employment – as well as the ethical thing for the government to do.
Around the country a trend has emerged of one parent simply not returning to work after having a baby as the cost of childcare makes it financially more viable to stay at home with the newborn. Increasing the amount that can be spent tax free, says Woodward, could help encourage people back into work after having a child.
“For a lot of parents who use our childcare vouchers, it’s not the absolute greatest thing in the world, but it is sometimes the thing that tips the balance as to ‘should I go back to work or not?’” says Woodward. “In a tough world like this you’ll take any help you can get.”
Beneficial facts
9.57
Number of “engaged” workers for every one “disengaged” worker in top firms. Ratio is 1.83 to one at weak firms.
31%
Proportion of employers that say they conduct “frequent” research on staff views and concerns on their benefits package.
62%
Difference to employers in health-related costs between staff with good wellbeing and those without.