WEBVTT - Make The Most Of Your Work Perks 0:00:01.139 --> 0:00:04.830 Kia here, and this episode we're chatting about all things work. 0:00:04.980 --> 0:00:08.099 It's so easy to think that workplace benefits start and end with 0:00:08.099 --> 0:00:11.099 your salary, but if you're lucky, sometimes there's much more 0:00:11.099 --> 0:00:13.049 to it than that. You might be sitting on a 0:00:13.049 --> 0:00:15.720 huge pile of benefits that you had no idea about. 0:00:16.170 --> 0:00:18.150 This is getting a bit clickbaity, so I'm going to 0:00:18.150 --> 0:00:20.820 jump right into the episode. Joining me is Rebecca Moore 0:00:20.820 --> 0:00:23.610 from Liaise, a healthcare and specialist support service. So let's 0:00:23.610 --> 0:00:26.790 do it. I feel like I'm missing out here. What are some 0:00:26.790 --> 0:00:29.340 of the common benefits you might get if you're working 0:00:29.340 --> 0:00:30.330 for a company, Rebecca? 0:00:30.690 --> 0:00:33.750 Workplace benefits go beyond salary, so you should really do 0:00:33.750 --> 0:00:36.930 your research into what's on offer. Things to look out for, 0:00:36.930 --> 0:00:41.909 things like health insurance, pension schemes, paid leave. Some companies 0:00:41.909 --> 0:00:45.150 go the extra mile to offer extra perks like flexible 0:00:45.150 --> 0:00:49.799 working programs, opportunities for professional development and wellbeing programs. So 0:00:49.799 --> 0:00:53.760 you've got your employee assistance programs and even flexible pay 0:00:53.850 --> 0:00:54.540 and things like that. 0:00:54.870 --> 0:00:56.970 Should our listeners be looking at more than just a 0:00:56.970 --> 0:00:59.790 salary when they change jobs, because people are looking at 0:00:59.790 --> 0:01:03.148 different jobs - is it just the money? Or if not, 0:01:03.150 --> 0:01:05.098 what other things should people be looking at? 0:01:05.370 --> 0:01:07.830 Yeah, absolutely, salary's just one piece of the puzzle. That's 0:01:07.830 --> 0:01:09.599 not the be all and end all, especially in this 0:01:09.599 --> 0:01:11.279 day and age where we can feel the pinch in 0:01:11.279 --> 0:01:14.280 lots of different areas. When evaluating job offers, you need 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.289 to look at the other things that are on offer as well. 0:01:16.290 --> 0:01:21.119 Things like healthcare coverage, life assurance, staff discounts. These all 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.000 compound towards your financial wellbeing, so you should make sure 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.730 you're taking advantage of all those things and research what 0:01:26.730 --> 0:01:28.919 the company's got o n offer for you, because you can 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.319 absolutely save a lot of money over time. Even things 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.840 like free car parking, it all adds up. 0:01:34.380 --> 0:01:35.460 That's a big one. It definitely does help. 0:01:35.459 --> 0:01:35.820 Yeah, yeah. 0:01:36.300 --> 0:01:41.880 So when it comes to factoring in benefits, what would 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:43.919 you say would be important? I know for me, when 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:45.690 I was working and had one of my first jobs, 0:01:46.500 --> 0:01:48.930 healthcare was not something that I knew was important to me, 0:01:48.930 --> 0:01:53.640 but having access to people who could help me, doctors 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.250 on tap, and being able to access things like counselling 0:01:56.639 --> 0:01:58.260 or things that I didn't realize were good benefits, but 0:01:58.260 --> 0:02:00.720 what should people really have a look and consider? What would be 0:02:00.780 --> 0:02:03.360 some key ones that you'd say, make sure that a 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.010 company has X, Y, and Z. What would you say? 0:02:05.250 --> 0:02:07.920 I think when you talk about that, about those benefits to 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.190 do with healthcare and counselling, most companies offer something called 0:02:11.190 --> 0:02:13.650 an employee assistance program. It's probably one of the main 0:02:13.650 --> 0:02:16.349 benefits that people tend to offer. On that, you normally 0:02:16.349 --> 0:02:19.020 get a few free counselling sessions, and it's good to 0:02:19.020 --> 0:02:21.059 have access to those things, because sometimes the NHS can 0:02:21.059 --> 0:02:22.559 be a bit slow. You want to talk to someone 0:02:22.559 --> 0:02:25.140 straight away. Normally with your EAP, you've got someone on 0:02:25.169 --> 0:02:28.410 hand 24/ 7 that you can call them, have a 0:02:28.410 --> 0:02:31.680 chat - it's not just about mental health and things like that, 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.099 but also financial counselling. Sometimes they put you in touch 0:02:35.099 --> 0:02:37.559 with people that might give you just a bit more 0:02:37.559 --> 0:02:39.419 of an insight into where you need to go, pinpoint you in 0:02:39.419 --> 0:02:41.699 the right direction. You can even call them to ask for... 0:02:41.940 --> 0:02:43.410 like if you've got something going on at home, like 0:02:43.410 --> 0:02:46.320 legal problems or something, you could maybe get some advice 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.120 and they'll point you in the right direction there. So 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.030 that's really a good thing to have for employees. 0:02:51.270 --> 0:02:53.669 I think that's a key one. I think even just sitting 0:02:53.669 --> 0:02:56.729 down with your manager at work and saying, " What is 0:02:56.730 --> 0:02:58.739 available to me?" I know I've definitely done this a 0:02:58.740 --> 0:03:01.530 fair few times and said, " There's so much out there, 0:03:01.530 --> 0:03:04.740 what exactly is available to me as an employee?" And 0:03:04.740 --> 0:03:06.480 then you can have a look at that list and 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:07.740 figure out what's going to work for you. 0:03:08.190 --> 0:03:10.860 There's some other ones which are really good to have 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.230 where you can have access to a GP online where 0:03:13.230 --> 0:03:15.629 you can ask them questions. It's difficult to get a 0:03:15.630 --> 0:03:17.730 GP appointment when you want one sometimes, so it's good 0:03:17.730 --> 0:03:19.560 to have that on hand where if you're just a bit 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.630 worried about something, you can have a little chat with 0:03:21.630 --> 0:03:23.970 them. But that's a really good benefit to have. Not 0:03:23.970 --> 0:03:26.370 all companies would offer that, but it's definitely something to 0:03:26.370 --> 0:03:27.180 look out and ask for. 0:03:27.300 --> 0:03:30.360 I completely agree. Let's talk about a few other benefits. 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.250 We covered some of the main big ones, but what 0:03:32.549 --> 0:03:36.029 maybe perhaps smaller ones are available to employees maybe when 0:03:36.029 --> 0:03:38.250 it comes to their finances or things that they can 0:03:38.250 --> 0:03:40.800 have a look at to make maybe the financial burden 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:42.330 a little bit easier if they're feeling that pressure? 0:03:43.020 --> 0:03:46.320 Something very high up on the employee benefits agenda at 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.630 the moment, and something that I'm definitely looking at for 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.320 my colleagues at my company, is having access to flexible pay. 0:03:52.889 --> 0:03:55.770 And I think probably for the younger generation as well, 0:03:56.070 --> 0:03:59.460 having access to your earned wages before payday, can sometimes 0:03:59.490 --> 0:04:02.250 ease that financial burden. If you've had something emergency come 0:04:02.250 --> 0:04:05.130 up that you need a bit of extra cash for, 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.289 it's good to be able to access your earned wages 0:04:07.290 --> 0:04:09.809 before payday, and it stops you going to things like 0:04:09.809 --> 0:04:11.730 loan sharks and things like that where they're going to 0:04:11.730 --> 0:04:15.240 give you massive interest rates, so that's a good benefit 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.310 to look out for. For the company I work for 0:04:17.310 --> 0:04:19.740 at the moment, we've introduced something called Wage Dream where 0:04:19.860 --> 0:04:22.440 colleagues can go onto an app - they have good visibility 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.349 of the wages that they've earned so far, and also 0:04:25.349 --> 0:04:27.270 if they do overtime or something like that, they can 0:04:27.270 --> 0:04:29.669 have access to that money quicker than having to wait 0:04:29.670 --> 0:04:32.430 till payday. So if they wanted to go out next week, 0:04:32.430 --> 0:04:34.109 maybe they'll pick up a few extra hours this week 0:04:34.110 --> 0:04:36.928 and then they can access those funds to get that 0:04:36.930 --> 0:04:38.190 money quicker without having to wait. 0:04:38.460 --> 0:04:39.809 I think that's a good thing to have access to, 0:04:39.809 --> 0:04:42.360 especially as an employee. It's a good oversight and it 0:04:42.540 --> 0:04:45.870 feeds into that money management. We tend to focus on 0:04:45.870 --> 0:04:48.659 budgeting when it comes to the final stage once it 0:04:48.660 --> 0:04:50.219 gets paid into your account and what am I going 0:04:50.220 --> 0:04:52.770 to budget my money for? But if you know during 0:04:52.770 --> 0:04:55.680 the month how much you've currently earned, and maybe I'm 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:56.970 going to do a few more hours, like you said, 0:04:56.970 --> 0:04:59.009 to be able to have a bit of extra money, it's a good way 0:04:59.010 --> 0:05:00.178 to keep on top of your money. I think that's 0:05:00.178 --> 0:05:00.990 a good point you made there. 0:05:01.020 --> 0:05:02.789 Yeah. One good thing about these apps as well is 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.420 sometimes they allow you to put money away before you 0:05:06.450 --> 0:05:08.700 get the money into your bank account. So you don't 0:05:08.700 --> 0:05:11.040 really notice it as much when you're trying to save 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.469 that 50 pounds or 10 pounds you might put away 0:05:13.470 --> 0:05:15.750 every month that you won't even realize that's come out. 0:05:15.779 --> 0:05:18.359 When you look in your saving pot, then it grows 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:19.890 quite quickly. You don't even notice it. 0:05:19.890 --> 0:05:22.920 I think that's great. Exactly. Anything that we can do to make 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:24.659 everything feel a little bit easier, but we're still planning 0:05:24.660 --> 0:05:27.000 for our finances, is a win in my books. That's 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.940 what I think, for sure. So Rebecca, are there any 0:05:29.940 --> 0:05:31.740 traps to be aware of when it comes to taking 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.700 advantage of workplace benefits? Like for example, is there something 0:05:35.700 --> 0:05:37.439 that's likely to be cheaper elsewhere? 0:05:37.950 --> 0:05:40.678 Yeah, that's a good question actually. While workplace benefits do 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.740 offer convenience, it's important to compare cost and coverage. I'd 0:05:43.740 --> 0:05:47.850 definitely say that. So maybe healthcare benefits might not cover 0:05:47.850 --> 0:05:50.760 everything, and you might need to just assess if it's cost- 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.328 effective, compared to maybe getting private cover. And then just 0:05:54.330 --> 0:05:57.389 make sure you're looking at potential tax implications for benefits 0:05:57.389 --> 0:06:01.050 like healthcare, because sometimes that might add onto that. It 0:06:01.050 --> 0:06:04.470 might not make it beneficial for you. So it's worthwhile 0:06:04.470 --> 0:06:06.210 doing your research around those points. 0:06:06.330 --> 0:06:09.180 Completely agree. I think it's worthwhile just understanding and knowing 0:06:09.510 --> 0:06:12.089 what could come up, and just having a good overview 0:06:12.089 --> 0:06:12.690 over everything. 0:06:12.719 --> 0:06:16.050 Yeah. Some companies do things like cycle to work schemes, 0:06:16.109 --> 0:06:20.070 parking's paid for, or the development programs for professional development. 0:06:20.070 --> 0:06:23.730 Maybe they've got apprenticeships you can go on and advance 0:06:23.730 --> 0:06:25.620 your career that way, and then obviously you are not 0:06:25.650 --> 0:06:28.079 having to pay for those things yourself, and that will 0:06:28.139 --> 0:06:29.969 be better financially for you in the long run, because 0:06:29.969 --> 0:06:33.118 you've managed to get a qualification. Also, you need to 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.029 look at flexible working arrangements, other things they have an 0:06:36.029 --> 0:06:40.289 offer, like the employee assistance programs, maybe they've got an 0:06:40.290 --> 0:06:43.380 app where you can go on and get discounts from 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:45.539 high street stores and things, and all those little bits 0:06:45.540 --> 0:06:45.928 mount up. 0:06:46.650 --> 0:06:48.988 They all mount up. And I think what you mentioned about 0:06:48.990 --> 0:06:51.660 the employee development program, I definitely did that at one of my 0:06:51.660 --> 0:06:54.119 jobs. I used that and took advantage of it to 0:06:54.119 --> 0:06:56.488 another language, which is always useful. It's something I always 0:06:56.490 --> 0:06:58.799 wanted to do, and it's even better when my employee 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:00.210 wants to pay me to learn a language. 0:07:00.450 --> 0:07:00.450 Yeah, absolutely. 0:07:00.450 --> 0:07:01.890 So that's a very key point you made there. 0:07:01.890 --> 0:07:02.729 That's a great benefit. 0:07:03.630 --> 0:07:06.089 So for anyone listening, if you have listened to this 0:07:06.089 --> 0:07:09.990 podcast before, you'll know what's coming next. So Rebecca, I'm 0:07:09.990 --> 0:07:12.449 going to ask you a question. What are the three 0:07:12.450 --> 0:07:14.940 easy ways that people can use when it comes to 0:07:14.940 --> 0:07:17.970 workplace benefits to help them get a little bit richer? 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.130 Number one, I'd definitely say maximize pension contributions, especially the 0:07:23.130 --> 0:07:27.329 employer matched ones. Number two, utilize your wellbeing programs, gym 0:07:27.330 --> 0:07:31.230 discounts, things like that. It all adds up and contributes 0:07:31.230 --> 0:07:33.750 to your health overall. So definitely go for that. And 0:07:33.750 --> 0:07:37.920 then number three, explore your employee share purchase plans. They're 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.170 a really smart investment opportunity, and I think I would 0:07:40.530 --> 0:07:41.429 definitely encourage that. 0:07:41.610 --> 0:07:44.759 I completely echo that. I've definitely taken advantages of all 0:07:44.759 --> 0:07:47.940 of those that you've mentioned when I've been in different jobs before. 0:07:48.150 --> 0:07:50.640 So thank you so much, Rebecca. These have been some 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.070 amazing gems that you've given to all of our listeners here, 0:07:53.490 --> 0:07:56.099 and it's been incredible. So thank you so much. Some 0:07:56.099 --> 0:07:58.260 great tips for saving money there, and you're going to 0:07:58.260 --> 0:08:01.200 need them, because next week I'm talking about a big one. 0:08:01.410 --> 0:08:03.569 It's something that's on a lot of people's minds a 0:08:03.570 --> 0:08:06.419 lot of the time, and that's a buying a house. 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.520 Is it a pipe dream if you're a Gen Z or millennial? 0:08:08.700 --> 0:08:10.830 Come back next week to find out. And if this 0:08:10.830 --> 0:08:12.630 podcast has connected with you, then you know the score 0:08:12.630 --> 0:08:15.599 by now - hit follow, tell your friends, and keep on 0:08:15.599 --> 0:08:16.770 getting to grips with your money.