Learn more ways to improve your workplace wellbeing with The Ultimate Wellbeing Toolkit – a practical learning hub brought to you by financial protection specialists Unum, designed to equip HR professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to show employees that they are valued.  

It’s a given that being cited as a company that cares for its staff is fantastic for recruitment and retention.  But it also has a knock-on effect on a business’s culture, by producing employees who care in return.

As an employer, the reasons to care go above and beyond recruitment and retention.

It may sound obvious, but in order to become a caring company, you have to actually care about employee wellbeing. Taking small, easy-to-implement steps will lead to a truly authentic caring culture. Start with recognising and rewarding performance or facilitating peer-to-peer support.

It’s increasingly important that your organisation is seen to offer a benefits package that is targeted and valuable to specific employee demographics.

Our data shows the benefits that are currently met with the most enthusiasm include holiday trading, childcare vouchers and dental insurance.

For clients that go the extra mile, the most engaging employer-funded options are private medical insurance, life insurance and income protection.

But the journey to becoming a caring company doesn’t stop at putting benefits in place. You need to understand and adhere to your employee’s needs in order to stay on the right path. Here are three different ways to show you care and the results of doing so.

1. Financial education

With five generations in the workplace, the spectrum of financial worries can cover anything from house deposits to downsizing, and loans to investments.

Research recently commissioned by Barclays confirmed that one in three employees worry about their finances and 20% think their finances affect the way they work.

Creating access to clear, credible financial information can provide employees with the tools they need to fix their finances, taking away worry and increasing concentration and productivity in the workplace.

2. Eldercare

According to The Positive Ageing Company, the impact of employees dealing with elderly relatives can cost an organisation £301 per head per year. As the UK population ages, this figure is bound to increase even further.

For example, ageing-issue-related absence, stress, presenteeism (employees pretending to be fit enough to carry out their duties) and replacement costs for an organisation with 4,000 staff has a cost of £1.25m per year.

This cost is one that most companies are completely unaware of.

Eldercare benefits can provide help with looking after older relatives, giving your employees peace of mind and keeping them in the workplace should their parents need looking after.

3. Engaging communications

Research conducted by Benefex shows a positive correlation between the number of communication channels and benefit take-up.

Above and beyond that, respondents who reported using face-to-face communication methods had a twofold increase in take-up.

If we trace communications right back, it all started with face-to face-interaction. So it’s no surprise today that it’s still the most successful method of sharing information and driving behaviour change.

However, there will be times when other methods are more applicable. And we can never rely on one channel only. The most effective campaigns are communicated via a multitude of channels, with the methods and messages tailored to suit the employee demographic.

Once you’ve started your journey towards becoming a caring employer, it’s important to take the time to regularly review your approach. The list of positive outcomes from becoming a caring company is extensive and there’s no reason why any organisation and its employees can’t benefit in an array of ways.