Omar Quintero· Compensation Consultant, Cardinal Insurance
Asked in Benefits & Wellbeing ·
Australian retailer with about 5,200 employees, of whom 3,400 are part-time or casual in stores and average under 20 hours a week. Our benefits were designed around the 900 people in head office and distribution management. Store staff get the statutory superannuation, a staff discount and little else.
Turnover in stores is 54% a year and exit interviews mention feeling like second-class employees. I have a modest budget, roughly 250 dollars per store employee per year, and a mandate to make it count.
What have others found hourly and part-time staff actually value, as opposed to what head office assumes they value?
1 agree · 3 replies · 26 views · 1 following
Accepted answer· by Ulla Iversen
With 250 dollars a head I would not spread it thinly across five things. We put nearly all of ours into two: a hardship fund that pays grants of up to 1,000 dollars within 48 hours with no repayment, and a free virtual GP service extended to the employee's household. The hardship fund paid 310 grants in its first year across 2,900 staff, and turnover among recipients was less than half the store average. The GP service is used by 27% of store staff, far higher than head office. Both are available from the first shift, which matters when half your people leave within a year.
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Job Architecture Lead, Calibre Software
We asked ours, 4,000 hourly staff in hospitality, and the answers were not what the benefits team predicted. Top three were predictable rosters published two weeks ahead, access to pay before payday in an emergency, and paid time off for a medical appointment. None of those is a traditional benefit and only one costs real money.
Benefits Analyst, Silverline Media
Agree on removing waiting periods. I would add a small thing that cost us almost nothing: we raised the staff discount from 10% to 25% and extended it to one nominated family member. It was mentioned in engagement comments more than the health benefit we spent ten times as much on.
