My clients are used to me going on about putting the PR in the HR all the time. So many companies I work with offer amazing employee benefits and rewards but nobody knows about it or it is taken for granted by the employees.
I think for employees to value the rewards being offered to them they must first understand the cost to the organisation and the value of the benefit. For example, a company I work with gives every employee a birthday holiday. Effectively, this is a day off with pay for every employee on their birthday. This might seem insignificant to the employee, but this company employs over 100 people who average between $200 and $400 per day in wages, plus super, that is a serious employee benefit, but it is not really promoted internally to employees and therefore not truly valued.
Another organisation I work with offers discounted gym membership, free massages, discounts of a range of goods and services, lunch is provided to employees daily and the list goes on. These benefits are not perceived as special rewards by employees as they have become the norm, and employees expect these things to be offered to them. Therefore, the whole purpose of a reward is made redundant. There is a strong correlation between an employee’s knowledge of the reward and the extent to which an employee values it.
So what is the solution? One of the most effective way to promote or ‘PR’ your rewards to your employees is to replace the traditional salary review letter with a ‘Total Rewards Statement’. This document should list the monetary components of an employee’s salary package along with placing a dollar value on the more intangible items. For example, my client (the one that offers free lunches, discounted goods and services and massages), has quantified such benefits per head and now include this in their letters of offer to employees and their annual salary review letters. What I have observed is by publicising and promoting your employee benefits regularly to staff, the perception of the rewards employees receive improves significantly making them more satisfied with their overall remuneration and reward packages.
So what opportunities do you have to put the PR into your HR?
