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Top four trends in UK Reward Management right now

Date: 19 December 2018

In the ninth year of running our UK Reward Management survey, we captured the views of 138 organisations who represent over 360,000 employees.

Our autumn edition of Paydata’s bi-annual survey focused on the usual statistics around pay, bonuses and employee turnover, in addition to benefits and the wider push for diversity across organisations. The topical focus for this edition was employee benefits and how they are shaped by HR teams, alongside the gender pay gap as companies prepare for the second reporting deadline in April 2019.

Here are the top four trends from the survey that are shaping the HR landscape in 2018/2019. The full copy of the report is emailed directly to participants.

1

Business optimism is cautious as Brexit is yet to be finalised

Whilst Brexit hits the headlines daily, definitive detail on what this will look like by the time the UK is due to leave the European Union on 29 March 2019 is yet to be agreed. Despite this political turbulence, business optimism remains steady, though the results are a little more cautious than the projections from the spring edition. 60 per cent expected revenues to increase in our spring survey, which is six per cent lower at 54 per cent for the autumn survey.
2

Pay awards officially increase as out of cycle pay awards remain common practice

Out of cycle pay increases continues to feature on our radar as a potentially additional HR cost as some businesses use this to bridge the gap between ‘official’ wage increases and keeping up with inflation. However, 49.5 per cent expect that the 2018 pay review budget will be up to three per cent, in comparison to 32 per cent of respondents paying at that level in 2017.  Inflationary pressures are starting to have an impact on official pay increases.
3

Gender pay remains a key agenda item as the next reporting deadline looms

Gender pay gap has dominated mainstream media and continues to feature on HR agendas as the second deadline is upcoming (4 April 2019 for the private sector and 30 April 2019 for the public sector). The figures from the first deadline provoked widespread media scrutiny, revealing a national median gender pay gap of 9.7 per cent. 57 per cent of respondents have conducted additional analysis to identify what drivers are behind their figures as organisations assess the wider picture of equality within their workforces.
4

A creative approach to benefits is valued by employees

Respondents highlighted the increasing value of flexible and voluntary benefits. The top five were broadly in keeping with the traditional benefits on offer to employees, covering:
  1. Annual leave was the only benefit offered by 100% of respondents.
  2. 98% offered pensions.
  3. 92% offered childcare vouchers
  4. 90% offered Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
  5. 86% offered Occupational Sick Pay
More surprisingly, 74% offer a bike to work scheme and 75% offer private medical insurance, whilst 41% offer gym memberships and 54% offer health check-ups, illustrating the different approaches organisations take when it comes to defining wellbeing in the workplace.

Participate in our UK Management Reward Survey Spring 2019

A full report of the findings of the survey is available free of charge to all participants or you can request your own copy. We would like to thank all participants and those of you who have recommended the survey to others as we continue to build the survey as an authoritative source of information, trends and insights into the world of reward.

Want your copy of the full report?

Request your free copy of our UK Reward Management Survey 2018 Report.

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