Cost of Living Support

Cost of living and inflation are both increasing and we therefore considered how we can help support our much valued workers.

Pay and reward people fairly and transparently

• We ensure all worker payments and benefits are fair and transparent.
• We have reviewed our pay policy and carry out periodic benchmarking exercises to understand where we stand in the market.
• We make all workers aware of opportunities for progression and how to access these. When upward promotions are not possible, we support workers to progress horizontally by providing opportunities for training and skills development.
• We regularly consider benefits such as flexible working and uncapped time off and make sure that good performance is recognised and rewarded.

Help with big costs

We try to support our workers to manage big costs but given the climate and limited funds, we have implemented some low or no-cost measures such as:

• Minimised out-of-pocket expenses by providing fast reimbursement of expenses, cash advances for work purchases, and the ability to buy work related items, hotel accommodation, and travel centrally through GPS.
• Supporting workers to implement cost-reducing activities, like walking groups for leisure and exercise, swap-shops for clothes and household items. We also provide coffee, tea, and biscuits on-site.
• If required, we offer pay advances on 8 occasions per annum.

Promoting financial wellbeing and education

Financial worries can have a negative impact on the wellbeing of our workers and affect wider performance and morale, so we have therefore:

• Made financial matters a part of everyday conversations using our GPS intranet chat forum.
• We have appointed financial wellbeing champions accessible to all workers.
• We have mental health support services for those suffering from financial worries.

Flexible working

Access to flexible working patterns is highly rated and can help reduce expenses like travel, food, and childcare.
We have therefore:

• Allowed people to work from home, change their working hours or travel to site off-peak where possible.
• For roles that cannot be completed at home or that have set hours, we now consider measures including extended vacations and allowing workers to swap shifts.
• Become clearer on the forms of flexibility that can be considered and how workers can access these. We have also developed a flexible working policy to provide reassurance and ensure consistency.

Savings

Many people are having to dip into savings or have stopped saving to manage rising costs.
We have therefore introduced weekly webinar sessions called ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ with a particular on the following:

• We focus on bridging the gap between the ‘why’ and the ‘how’. Most people understand the importance of saving but need support with developing practical ways to do it.
• Saving education resources and encourage workers to share stories and tips among themselves.​