Kia: Kia here, and this episode we're chatting about all things work.
Kia: It's so easy to think that workplace benefits start and end with
Kia: your salary, but if you're lucky, sometimes there's much more
Kia: to it than that. You might be sitting on a
Kia: huge pile of benefits that you had no idea about.
Kia: This is getting a bit clickbaity, so I'm going to
Kia: jump right into the episode. Joining me is Rebecca Moore
Kia: from Liaise, a healthcare and specialist support service. So let's
Kia: do it. I feel like I'm missing out here. What are some
Kia: of the common benefits you might get if you're working
Kia: for a company, Rebecca?
Rebecca Moore: Workplace benefits go beyond salary, so you should really do
Rebecca Moore: your research into what's on offer. Things to look out for,
Rebecca Moore: things like health insurance, pension schemes, paid leave. Some companies
Rebecca Moore: go the extra mile to offer extra perks like flexible
Rebecca Moore: working programs, opportunities for professional development and wellbeing programs. So
Rebecca Moore: you've got your employee assistance programs and even flexible pay
Rebecca Moore: and things like that.
Kia: Should our listeners be looking at more than just a
Kia: salary when they change jobs, because people are looking at
Kia: different jobs - is it just the money? Or if not,
Kia: what other things should people be looking at?
Rebecca Moore: Yeah, absolutely, salary's just one piece of the puzzle. That's
Rebecca Moore: not the be all and end all, especially in this
Rebecca Moore: day and age where we can feel the pinch in
Rebecca Moore: lots of different areas. When evaluating job offers, you need
Rebecca Moore: to look at the other things that are on offer as well.
Rebecca Moore: Things like healthcare coverage, life assurance, staff discounts. These all
Rebecca Moore: compound towards your financial wellbeing, so you should make sure
Rebecca Moore: you're taking advantage of all those things and research what
Rebecca Moore: the company's got o n offer for you, because you can
Rebecca Moore: absolutely save a lot of money over time. Even things
Rebecca Moore: like free car parking, it all adds up.
Kia: That's a big one. It definitely does help.
Rebecca Moore: Yeah, yeah.
Kia: So when it comes to factoring in benefits, what would
Kia: you say would be important? I know for me, when
Kia: I was working and had one of my first jobs,
Kia: healthcare was not something that I knew was important to me,
Kia: but having access to people who could help me, doctors
Kia: on tap, and being able to access things like counselling
Kia: or things that I didn't realize were good benefits, but
Kia: what should people really have a look and consider? What would be
Kia: some key ones that you'd say, make sure that a
Kia: company has X, Y, and Z. What would you say?
Rebecca Moore: I think when you talk about that, about those benefits to
Rebecca Moore: do with healthcare and counselling, most companies offer something called
Rebecca Moore: an employee assistance program. It's probably one of the main
Rebecca Moore: benefits that people tend to offer. On that, you normally
Rebecca Moore: get a few free counselling sessions, and it's good to
Rebecca Moore: have access to those things, because sometimes the NHS can
Rebecca Moore: be a bit slow. You want to talk to someone
Rebecca Moore: straight away. Normally with your EAP, you've got someone on
Rebecca Moore: hand 24/ 7 that you can call them, have a
Rebecca Moore: chat - it's not just about mental health and things like that,
Rebecca Moore: but also financial counselling. Sometimes they put you in touch
Rebecca Moore: with people that might give you just a bit more
Rebecca Moore: of an insight into where you need to go, pinpoint you in
Rebecca Moore: the right direction. You can even call them to ask for...
Rebecca Moore: like if you've got something going on at home, like
Rebecca Moore: legal problems or something, you could maybe get some advice
Rebecca Moore: and they'll point you in the right direction there. So
Rebecca Moore: that's really a good thing to have for employees.
Kia: I think that's a key one. I think even just sitting
Kia: down with your manager at work and saying, " What is
Kia: available to me?" I know I've definitely done this a
Kia: fair few times and said, " There's so much out there,
Kia: what exactly is available to me as an employee?" And
Kia: then you can have a look at that list and
Kia: figure out what's going to work for you.
Rebecca Moore: There's some other ones which are really good to have
Rebecca Moore: where you can have access to a GP online where
Rebecca Moore: you can ask them questions. It's difficult to get a
Rebecca Moore: GP appointment when you want one sometimes, so it's good
Rebecca Moore: to have that on hand where if you're just a bit
Rebecca Moore: worried about something, you can have a little chat with
Rebecca Moore: them. But that's a really good benefit to have. Not
Rebecca Moore: all companies would offer that, but it's definitely something to
Rebecca Moore: look out and ask for.
Kia: I completely agree. Let's talk about a few other benefits.
Kia: We covered some of the main big ones, but what
Kia: maybe perhaps smaller ones are available to employees maybe when
Kia: it comes to their finances or things that they can
Kia: have a look at to make maybe the financial burden
Kia: a little bit easier if they're feeling that pressure?
Rebecca Moore: Something very high up on the employee benefits agenda at
Rebecca Moore: the moment, and something that I'm definitely looking at for
Rebecca Moore: my colleagues at my company, is having access to flexible pay.
Rebecca Moore: And I think probably for the younger generation as well,
Rebecca Moore: having access to your earned wages before payday, can sometimes
Rebecca Moore: ease that financial burden. If you've had something emergency come
Rebecca Moore: up that you need a bit of extra cash for,
Rebecca Moore: it's good to be able to access your earned wages
Rebecca Moore: before payday, and it stops you going to things like
Rebecca Moore: loan sharks and things like that where they're going to
Rebecca Moore: give you massive interest rates, so that's a good benefit
Rebecca Moore: to look out for. For the company I work for
Rebecca Moore: at the moment, we've introduced something called Wage Dream where
Rebecca Moore: colleagues can go onto an app - they have good visibility
Rebecca Moore: of the wages that they've earned so far, and also
Rebecca Moore: if they do overtime or something like that, they can
Rebecca Moore: have access to that money quicker than having to wait
Rebecca Moore: till payday. So if they wanted to go out next week,
Rebecca Moore: maybe they'll pick up a few extra hours this week
Rebecca Moore: and then they can access those funds to get that
Rebecca Moore: money quicker without having to wait.
Kia: I think that's a good thing to have access to,
Kia: especially as an employee. It's a good oversight and it
Kia: feeds into that money management. We tend to focus on
Kia: budgeting when it comes to the final stage once it
Kia: gets paid into your account and what am I going
Kia: to budget my money for? But if you know during
Kia: the month how much you've currently earned, and maybe I'm
Kia: going to do a few more hours, like you said,
Kia: to be able to have a bit of extra money, it's a good way
Kia: to keep on top of your money. I think that's
Kia: a good point you made there.
Rebecca Moore: Yeah. One good thing about these apps as well is
Rebecca Moore: sometimes they allow you to put money away before you
Rebecca Moore: get the money into your bank account. So you don't
Rebecca Moore: really notice it as much when you're trying to save
Rebecca Moore: that 50 pounds or 10 pounds you might put away
Rebecca Moore: every month that you won't even realize that's come out.
Rebecca Moore: When you look in your saving pot, then it grows
Rebecca Moore: quite quickly. You don't even notice it.
Kia: I think that's great. Exactly. Anything that we can do to make
Kia: everything feel a little bit easier, but we're still planning
Kia: for our finances, is a win in my books. That's
Kia: what I think, for sure. So Rebecca, are there any
Kia: traps to be aware of when it comes to taking
Kia: advantage of workplace benefits? Like for example, is there something
Kia: that's likely to be cheaper elsewhere?
Rebecca Moore: Yeah, that's a good question actually. While workplace benefits do
Rebecca Moore: offer convenience, it's important to compare cost and coverage. I'd
Rebecca Moore: definitely say that. So maybe healthcare benefits might not cover
Rebecca Moore: everything, and you might need to just assess if it's cost-
Rebecca Moore: effective, compared to maybe getting private cover. And then just
Rebecca Moore: make sure you're looking at potential tax implications for benefits
Rebecca Moore: like healthcare, because sometimes that might add onto that. It
Rebecca Moore: might not make it beneficial for you. So it's worthwhile
Rebecca Moore: doing your research around those points.
Kia: Completely agree. I think it's worthwhile just understanding and knowing
Kia: what could come up, and just having a good overview
Kia: over everything.
Rebecca Moore: Yeah. Some companies do things like cycle to work schemes,
Rebecca Moore: parking's paid for, or the development programs for professional development.
Rebecca Moore: Maybe they've got apprenticeships you can go on and advance
Rebecca Moore: your career that way, and then obviously you are not
Rebecca Moore: having to pay for those things yourself, and that will
Rebecca Moore: be better financially for you in the long run, because
Rebecca Moore: you've managed to get a qualification. Also, you need to
Rebecca Moore: look at flexible working arrangements, other things they have an
Rebecca Moore: offer, like the employee assistance programs, maybe they've got an
Rebecca Moore: app where you can go on and get discounts from
Rebecca Moore: high street stores and things, and all those little bits
Rebecca Moore: mount up.
Kia: They all mount up. And I think what you mentioned about
Kia: the employee development program, I definitely did that at one of my
Kia: jobs. I used that and took advantage of it to
Kia: another language, which is always useful. It's something I always
Kia: wanted to do, and it's even better when my employee
Kia: wants to pay me to learn a language.
Rebecca Moore: Yeah, absolutely.
Kia: So that's a very key point you made there.
Rebecca Moore: That's a great benefit.
Kia: So for anyone listening, if you have listened to this
Kia: podcast before, you'll know what's coming next. So Rebecca, I'm
Kia: going to ask you a question. What are the three
Kia: easy ways that people can use when it comes to
Kia: workplace benefits to help them get a little bit richer?
Rebecca Moore: Number one, I'd definitely say maximize pension contributions, especially the
Rebecca Moore: employer matched ones. Number two, utilize your wellbeing programs, gym
Rebecca Moore: discounts, things like that. It all adds up and contributes
Rebecca Moore: to your health overall. So definitely go for that. And
Rebecca Moore: then number three, explore your employee share purchase plans. They're
Rebecca Moore: a really smart investment opportunity, and I think I would
Rebecca Moore: definitely encourage that.
Kia: I completely echo that. I've definitely taken advantages of all
Kia: of those that you've mentioned when I've been in different jobs before.
Kia: So thank you so much, Rebecca. These have been some
Kia: amazing gems that you've given to all of our listeners here,
Kia: and it's been incredible. So thank you so much. Some
Kia: great tips for saving money there, and you're going to
Kia: need them, because next week I'm talking about a big one.
Kia: It's something that's on a lot of people's minds a
Kia: lot of the time, and that's a buying a house.
Kia: Is it a pipe dream if you're a Gen Z or millennial?
Kia: Come back next week to find out. And if this
Kia: podcast has connected with you, then you know the score
Kia: by now - hit follow, tell your friends, and keep on
Kia: getting to grips with your money.