When you can’t afford to give pay rises, then a bit of creativity is called for when thinking of ways to reward your employees without it costing the earth. So we’ve done the thinking for you and here are our top 5 ideas for rewarding your workers without offering a pay rise. 

 

Employee Awards – introduce Employee of the Month or similar award. As well as public recognition and a certificate of achievement you could offer a small prize like a meal for two, theatre tickets, a bouquet of flowers or shopping vouchers. 

 

Days Off – give people an extra day or two’s holiday to be taken on top of their annual holiday allowance. People value their free time, so more of it is always appreciated. 

 

Development Opportunities – offering the opportunity to go to a training course or providing some mentoring sessions with someone they can learn from is a great way to increase their skills and prove some career development. 

 

Nights Out – take the team out for a drink, go bowling, play mini-golf or go to a bingo/quiz night. Getting the team together outside the workplace also helps with team bonding. 

 

Flexible Hours – consider offering flexible work patterns. Perhaps they would appreciate a shorter working week, later starts, earlier finishes or longer break times. It might also be possible to allow some employees to work from home occasionally. 

 

A good tip is that it’s always useful to find out from your employees how they would like to be recognised so that you can make the reward personal to them. 

Last month the Mental Health Foundation hosted its annual Mental Health Awareness Week, and this year the focus was on Stress. 

 

The Health and Safety Executive reports that over 500,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2016/2017 with 12.5 million working days being lost to these problems. 

 

However, whilst people are talking about mental health more than ever, there remains a stigma surrounding stress. Employees suffering from stress and associated problems like depression and anxiety often feel they will be thought of as weak if they admit they are finding it difficult to cope. 

 

Employers, in their duty to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees, should look out for staff who may be displaying signs of stress and do what they can to support them. 

 

Of course, not all stress that employees experience is work-related. There can be personal issues outside of work or at home that cause people to come to work feeling stressed. The additional pressure of work can then cause people to feel overloaded. While it’s generally acknowledged that an amount of work pressure is normally a benefit to motivation and productivity, too much pressure, or pressure when they are already struggling can affect their emotional and physical health, reduce their productivity and lead to issues with their work performance. 

 

Signs you should look out for include: 

 

• changes in the employee’s behaviour, their mood and/or the way they interact with their colleagues 

• changes in the standard of the employee’s work, their ability to focus and/or loss of interest in their work 

• they may start turning up late for work or being absent due to sickness 

• the employee may become withdrawn and appear anxious or tired 

• increases in smoking, drinking and/or losing their appetite 

 

Although it’s important not to make assumptions, if you think an employee may be suffering from stress, the worst thing to do is to avoid the issue. You should arrange to speak with the employee in private as soon as possible. Conversations of a sensitive nature can be extremely difficult, so it’s important that you are positive and supportive and try to reassure the employee. 

 

It may be that the employee doesn’t want to talk about what they are going through. If that’s the case, then it’s important you let them know you are there to help and support them in any way you can. And if the employee does wish to talk in the future, that your door is always open. 

 

If the employee does decide to talk, you should listen rather than talk, give the employee as much time as necessary and be open minded to anything that you hear. 

 

If the problem is work related, then you can try to identify what’s causing the problem. It may be possible to make some changes to their working arrangements or responsibilities. Sometimes that is all that’s needed, and any changes made can be temporary or, if necessary, made permanent. Even where the problem is not work-related, this type of support may still help, as it’s a reduction in the overall pressure in the employee’s life. 

 

It’s important that you continue to monitor the employee, check how they are feeling and whether any workplace changes are helping. Be sure to offer additional support as and when needed. 

If the situation isn’t improving, or appears to be getting worse, then you should seek expert HR guidance on next steps. 

 

With last week being the spring half-term holiday, it got us thinking about how it can be difficult for working parents to balance their work life with caring for a young family. In addition, all employees - parents or not - can have times when they're struggling to cope with various family difficulties. 

 

Many large corporations and public bodies have specific policies in place that address these employee needs, whilst smaller businesses often don't have anything defined. As a result, it can be confusing for employers to know what to do when an employee is experiencing problems at home. However, providing a family friendly work environment with clear work life balance policies doesn't have to be difficult or costly. 

 

Amongst your employees, you're likely to have: 

 

•Mothers and fathers with young children 

•Individuals with sick or elderly dependents 

•Individuals facing and/or coping with separation or divorce 

•Individuals facing and/or coping with bereavement 

•Pregnant women with maternity rights 

•Fathers entitled to paternity leave 

•Parents entitled to parental leave 

•Individuals with short and/or long term medical conditions 

 

There is often complex legislation surrounding employees' rights relating to these types of issues. What are the rules when someone asks for time off for a dependent, requests compassionate leave or needs to attend medical appointments during working hours? What rights does a pregnant woman or new father have, and what about when the parents are adopting a child? 

 

It can be a minefield trying to deal with employee issues if you don't know the law and don't have policies in place defining how they are handled. Mishandling an issue could ultimately see the employment relationship breaking down and you could find yourself facing an Employment Tribunal. 

 

If you would like to find out more about family friendly and work life balance policies, please feel free to give me a call on 01582 488410 or email us.