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Jo Lund
Protection Consultant Pangea Life
For more info: www. pangealife. co. uk
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As a business protection specialist, one of my roles is also advising on employee benefits. With summer coming up, and things generally slowing down a little in most businesses, I always recommend using these quieter months to take a step back and ask: Are your benefits still working for your people and your business? Here are a few quick questions to guide your mid-year review: 1. Are you listening to employee needs? What feedback or usage trends have you seen lately? Taking the time to send a short survey around to your team can highlight where you are gaining, or potentially losing, value in the benefits that you offer.
2. How do your benefits compare? Are you keeping up with what others in your industry are offering? Falling behind could cost you talent. Do some research into what your local competitors are offering.
3. Are your benefits understood and used? If some perks are underutilized, it could be a communication issue— not a benefits problem. As an employee benefits advisor, I always like to ensure that I offer the opportunity for a group, or one-to-one product info session, to discuss what benefits your provider offers and ensure that all team members are happy with them. There is no point in paying for something that you aren’ t utilising properly!
4. Is your spend delivering value? Are there underperforming benefits eating up budget that could be better spent elsewhere?
5. Is now the time to add something new? From mental health support to financial wellness tools, summer gives you the breathing room to explore new options.
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Paul MacKenzie- Cummins
Founder & Managing Director Clearly PR
For more info: www. clearlypr. co. uk
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We see it every year – organisations let their foot off the proverbial PR gas in the belief that everyone switches off from consuming business news during the summer. They are wrong. The summer months may have‘ slow news’ days, but they represent a golden opportunity for businesses to get their stories out there. And we have the evidence to support this.
Clearly PR surveyed over 3,600 business leaders to find out if they do actually‘ switch off’ during their summer break, as popular assumption would have us believe. The results surprised all of us.
One in four( 27 %) said they would continue to consume business-related content to the same degree as they do during the rest of the year. 29 % said they would continue to do so, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. In other words, more than half of all business leaders we surveyed actively read, watch, and listen to business-related news content throughout the so-called‘ summer slowdown’.
This presents a unique opportunity for businesses. That’ s because media outlets( such as the one you are reading right now) still need to fill pages and airtime. They may also have more time to consider pitches, too. With fewer competing stories, there is a greater chance for coverage of valuable and relevant news that might otherwise be overlooked during busier times.
To maximise the chances of securing media coverage, businesses should not hold back their communications during the summer, as timely and relevant stories will still reach and resonate with the right audience.
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