UK care home provider HC-One has unveiled a number of reward and benefits initiatives to help employees with the cost-of-living crisis.
The new provisions include a reward platform which offers discounts on items, financial wellbeing support and broader wellbeing services. As part of the assistance, employers will receive insights and tools to help with their financial planning.
John Handley, people director at HC-One, said: “With the cost of living rising significantly, and everyone feeling the impact, we have a responsibility to support each other through these challenging times, starting with making sure every penny counts.”
The initiatives complement the company’s Benefits Reward Gateway platform, which was introduced at the end of 2022 to give employees full access to its range of rewards and benefits.
Around two-thirds of staff have already joined the platform, meaning they are now able to receive recognition awards, wellbeing assistance and easy access to a discount programme which includes savings at restaurants, retailers, entertainment venues, and much more.
HC-One has also rolled out the Wagestream app across its workforce, which offers financial services to help with budget management. The smartphone app – in use by more than a quarter of employees to date – also allows individuals to decide when they get paid, save money, have free financial coaching, access shopping discounts and save money on household bills.
The new offerings follow the company’s largest ever investment in pay and reward of £17 million in 2022, as it redesigned its pay structures and offered carers an average pay increase of 11%.
Explaining that the business is committed to continuing the development of pay and reward benefits in 2023, Handley added: “We have established a new ‘cost-of-living working group’ at HC-One where colleagues come together to share ideas and local practice to help us to understand what more as an organisation we can do to help through these challenging times.
“We are pleased to have launched a range of great new initiatives to date and are continuing to invest in further initiatives throughout 2023 and beyond to reward, support and develop our colleagues.”
