Nearly all creative businesses offer employee benefits, research shows

More than 90 per cent of companies in the creative sector offer benefits to staff over and above basic salary and holiday entitlement, according to new research from accountant Kingston Smith W1.

Of these groups, 73 per cent provide a fixed suite of benefits, while 27 per cent supply some form of flexible benefit package. The research also shows that those offering flexible benefits tend to be larger businesses, with more than 50 employees.

The results showed that healthcare plans and stakeholder pension schemes are the most common insured benefits. Childcare vouchers and cycle-to-work schemes are the most common non-insured benefits for larger companies, while for smaller companies cycle-to-work schemes and season ticket loans are more common.

Kingston Smith W1 says in its report, ‘Establishing and maintaining pay and benefits policies which are attractive, fair and affordable can be a major headache for employers.

‘Getting it right can lead to higher levels of motivation and staff retention; conversely, an unplanned and reactive strategy can easily lead to high staff turnover, inconsistency and low morale.’

The group advises consultancies to undertake regular review processes to manage benefits schemes – keeping a particular eye on competitiveness of packages, and compliance with legislation.

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  • Rachel Fairley November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Kingston Smith W1’s research findings that more than 90% of creative sector companies offer benefits to staff over and above salary and holiday entitlement may ensure parity, but may not be enough to woo or keep talent in design and digital agencies.

    In the Design Industry Voices survey (published 3 December 2009 http://www.designindustryvoices.com) respondents ranked ‘has a good pay and benefits package’ as only the 11th most important of 22 attributes.

    Employees placed more importance on the psychosocial work environment and strong leadership, which is also where they felt their agencies significantly underperformed.

    Jobs with high demands and high control are generally considered the most rewarding, whereas jobs with high demands, low control and poor workplace support are worst for mental and physical health.

    With almost two-fifths of digital and design agency employees possibly or definitely intending to look for a new job when the recession ends companies must make sure that they do not rest on their laurels.

    Rachel Fairley, Fairley & Associates; Karina Beasley, Gabriele Skelton; Stephanie Brown, On Pointe Marketing.

  • VirtualGym TV November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Couldn’t agree more. One of the fastest growing corporate benefits is online gym membership to engage more staff into regular participation in exercise.

    The market leader in the field is:

    http://www.virtualgym.tv

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