ATTRACTION, REWARD & RETENTION SURVEY SPRING 2024

INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

As the South East’s leading independent consultancy with a vast amount of local and industry knowledge, Walker Dendle’s Attraction, Reward & Retention Survey is seen by finance and human resource managers as an authoritative overview of recruitment and reward practices in Surrey & the South East, including South West & West London. This report presents informative yet concise information on staffing trends and remuneration packages available to finance professionals and we are confident that employers and employees alike will find the content both enlightening and useful.

REMUNERATION RANGES

PAY & REWARD MANAGEMENT

There is no doubt that now, more than ever, reward and pay are both important factors in the attraction, retention and engagement of employees.

The marketplace witnessed little or no fluctuation in the range of benefits tendered to employees although the ‘bundle’ on offer may vary from organisation to organisation, from small to large firms and across assorted sectors. Regardless of this there is no doubt that now, more than ever, reward and pay are both important factors in the attraction, retention and engagement of employees and that the most effective reward packages will be aligned with business needs whilst also serving as a reflection of an organisation’s values.

There are several elements to reward and it is important to choose the appropriate mix of base to variable pay, fixed to flexible benefits and pay to non-pay rewards and to acknowledge the various ways that individual employees view pay and benefits. An organisation’s pay policy reflects its values so it is vitally important that an appropriate communications strategy is adopted to explain which staff behaviours and performances are being rewarded, how and why. The term ‘reward’ generally covers total earnings made to employees, including basic salary or ‘cash pay’ and the broader benefits package and may also include wide ranging provisions of non-pay benefits otherwise referred to as ‘total reward’.

Historically basic salaries were the tool to attract employees to join an organisation; benefits helped retention whilst incentive schemes motivated and increased productivity. Research also points to the fact that individuals are attracted, retained and engaged by a whole range of financial and non-financial rewards which will change over time depending on personal circumstances. Reward elements should complement each other and enlightened employers seek to establish how best they can meet employee needs – as well as meeting the requirements of the business within the appropriate legal and regulatory environment.

These days, organisations employ a range of methods to set pay levels, including job evaluation and market pricing and, where market rates are used, employers should determine where to set their rates; at the median or upper quartile. When agreeing the annual pay review budget employers generally include performance-based pay increases as well as general pay structure and apply one or more of the following considerations: ability to pay, inflation and market rate changes. On the topic of pay progression, employers take a hybrid approach and look at individual performance and market rates as well as competency.

Bonus and incentive schemes are commonly linked to an individual’s performance, followed by approaches based on organisational performance – of which the most popular are those driven by business results, such as profit or revenue targets. Combination schemes use both measures of organisational and individual performance. The advantage of variable pay schemes is that they can link pay closely to desired performance and, in theory, only pay out when there is reason to do so. Variable elements of pay do not generally feed through into other elements, such as overtime or pension contributions, and so create no additional on-costs for the employer.