Inflation or not, be creative with employee plans and win.

Yes, current inflation provides a big competitive advantage for your company if you are creative. You see, most companies will immediately head to the tried-and-true tool for their employees and that is wage increases.  Well at least the companies which have the funds.  You should look at your options with wage increases but only as a part of a complete inflation beating, culture growth, productivity strategy.
 

So if you want your organization to stay competitive and attract and retain top talent, it's crucial to review your compensation plans and make any adjustments necessary to ensure your employees are receiving wages that make sense for today's economic climate. (lattice.com)
 

In the job market we know there is a demand for employees.  This provides employees with the options to move to other companies which is really bad news for your company.  Traditional companies will only use wage increases to keep employees.  So, if this is the only thing you are doing too it means that you are still likely to lose employees to other companies as it is an easy change for employees, “I can make the same over there.”

 

Canadian workers are fast becoming hot commodities in a tight labor market and companies are increasingly forced to raise wages to fill jobs - and retain existing staff - a factor likely to complicate the Bank of Canada's efforts to tame inflation. (reuters.com)

 

Employers are having to be very agile." Digital marketing professional Riley Haas started looking for a new job in August and signed on with an internet marketing company within weeks, earning about 30% more than before, plus benefits. "I was blown away by the number of opportunities that were out there, as well as some of the remuneration being offered," Haas said. "I have never had a job-hunting experience like this in my life." (reuters.com)

 

A quick look at inflation.  You will find a good calculator for inflation in terms of a “basket” of items purchased by consumers, HERE. According to the Bank of Canada website, these basket items include food, shelter, furniture, clothing, transportation, and recreation. An increase in this cost is called inflation.
 

In October, the Canadian inflation rate increased year over year by a record 4.7 per cent, the largest increase since February 2003, according to Statistics Canada. (benefitscanada.com)

 

So, lets look at some opportunities you have in terms of smacking down inflation for employees, building culture and increasing productivity all at the same time.  To start we need to think in terms of projects and teams of employees and stay away from focusing on employees as individuals.  Focusing on teams helps to address the needs of more of your employee base. Thinking in terms of projects means a beginning and end of a project with a scope and goals.
 

Let’s brainstorm the basket categories a little:
 

Food – so increased prices of food consumed at home by family and at work by your employee. Canadian food prices expected to rise 5-7% in 2022, report says (cbc.ca)

• The goal may be to help save an employee from bringing or buying lunch while at work every day
• More food options provided at work for employees at discount (based on bulk) or free from the you the hero
• Potluck events to bring employees together and trying different foods
  • Your company could cover the costs of the ingredients
  • This could be rotating to different employee volunteers
  • You could focus the food on different regions of the world
• What about a cooking class with the food supplied by your company
  • Instead of eating this food at work, package it up for employees to take home for the family dinner
  • Don’t worry I am bringing dinner home tonight plan…
  • Don’t have cooking facilities, everyone loves foot long sandwiches and side salads
• What about one department cooks the lunch for another department
  • Your team can decide the logistics and what it needs from the company to make this happen
• How about a soup swap where soups created by employees are brought in to be swapped with other employees soups
• Task a working group to flush this out
• Don’t forget to communicate the savings to all employees as this goes
  • We saved $235 in lunch costs yesterday and $3500 this month for all the employees who took part the program
  • This will bring other employees into the programs
  • More employees together mean stronger employee bonds and communication
     

Shelter – increase to your employees’ shelter cost including heat, hydro, repairs, etc…

• Create a socks and blankets program with a challenge to lower your heat by 2 degrees
  • Branded socks and blankets provided by the company
  • Calculate the inflation savings and communicate it
  • Set a goal of savings
• Your employees have many talents, so create an intranet board where people can publish the repair jobs they need help with
  • Have the employees estimate the savings from the job done by a colleague
  • Create an award for the handy person in your company
• The food category could help with the hydro of there is a take it home meal and no need for cooking. Win-win

 

Furniture / Clothing – we can group these together as they are similar in terms of retail purchasing.

• How about the great company accessories swap?
  • Tired of your old watch take it to work and swap out for another employee watch
  • Create plans for specific items (purses, hats, coats, etc…)
• Blind swap, general comments on a bag with stuff in it to take home
  • If the clothes don’t work when they are home, simply donate them win-win
  • Perhaps weigh the bags and communicate the lbs/kg of clothes swapped each month
• Similar to the intranet board where people can publish jobs, put up something for furniture

 

Transportation – commuting cost is one of the largest costs for metropolitan centred businesses for employees who are commuting longer distances. Canada Transportation Consumer Price Index is [up] 8.17% from one year ago. (ycharts.com)

• Create flexible working hours so commuting can be done off hours
  • Or better work at home plans when needed
  • If your company hasn’t already been working virtual look for technology to help
• Flexible working hours can also assist with childcare issues
• Help by facilitating car pooling by deploying technology for employees to use
  • Perhaps extend this to other near by companies to be included (careful with this as employees may find the other company employees are happier…)
• Perhaps more local companies can pool together for transportation of the last mile/km commute

Recreation – entertainment and other recreational activities certainly impact the well-being of your employees

• Many companies have already jumped on subscriptions for employee’s wellness apps. You may want to go further with this into VR wellness
  • In VR you can enable employees to play ping pong or golf with other employees while in the comforts of the employee’s own home
  • The company could provide the devices which are now less than a cheaper laptop
     

YOU get the point!

Build fun into these activities and pull your employees together.  All while smacking down inflation.  Keep communicating to bring more employees into the plans.  More employees together open communication and builds culture.

You take the ideas and then build them into projects:

• Project sponsor – the company
• Project lead – an enthusiastic employee
• Project goal – an attainable goal to reach
• Project Timeline – with a scheduled beginning and end date
• Project Budget Requirements – from the employees and from the company
• Planned celebrations on project goals achieved

 

Perhaps take your plans to the next level:

Once your project plans are humming, have the same groups create plans which can be implement for your customers and suppliers.

• Can you just imagine your customer’s employees surprise when they receive 200 sandwiches from your company employees?
• What about your customer receiving branded socks and blanket with a note that this saved our employees $23,000 in heating costs, you should try it with your employees
  • Here is the plan we used, good luck and maybe we can challenge you to a heating savings challenge between your employees and ours

 

Of course, all these plans will have to fit into regulations and corporate procedures but be creative first then make them fit!  They also don’t have to be extras and depending on the type of your business they can be integrated directly into the processes of your work.

 

Remember the time to celebrate is at each accomplishment

Make celebration part of your project planning. Plan things like, what are we going to do if we reach $2000 in employee food savings? The celebration also signals the end of the project which can always been started again with a twist or even the same goals.

 

If you would like to discuss this topic further or dive into some other techniques which may assist you and your business regarding your employees and corporate culture, we are here to help!