According to recent research highlighted by HR News, living costs have increased for 96% of employees, while 70% have started fretting more about money. 

If you run a business, you will already know what a crucial asset its employees are. However, if you leave them to entirely fend for themselves on the financial front, their work productivity could suffer, as it noticeably has for a fifth of employees studied in other research undertaken recently.

Fortunately, you could financially assist your employees by offering them the following…

Free breakfasts or lunches 

As a result of inflation, even a sandwich can be a major cause of financial worry for employees these days.

It would therefore be convenient for your workers if your business is able to offer them free breakfasts or lunches. Funding these doesn’t have to be as tricky as you might have thought, as you could make savings by buying the food in bulk and leveraging resulting discounts. 

Reimbursement of employees’ spending on fuel 

In the UK, this is just one way in which businesses would be able to subsidise travel costs for employees. Companies can claim HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) mileage rates if employees spend on travelling in their vehicles for business reasons.

Car and van drivers can claim back as much as 45p from HMRC per mile journeyed for business — up to a limit of 10,000 miles.

Cycle to work scheme

This is another good example of subsidising travel costs. In the UK, the scheme would involve the business purchasing a bike that the employee will subsequently ‘hire’ through sacrificing some of their salary.

However, the worker won’t be required to pay tax and National Insurance contributions on the monthly fees. Furthermore, according to one statistic shared by the Startups. website, staff members will be saved at least 26-40% off the cost of a bike and cycling equipment.

Income protection insurance

This works by paying an ongoing monthly income to employees who are rendered physically incapable of working. If you are eager to make this particular benefit available to your employees, you could opt for group income protection insurance from YuLife. 

If an employee who opts into the policy is prevented from being able to work as a result of ill health or injury, a proportioned salary replacement will be provided for the employee until they return to the workplace.

Parent and carer support 

If any of your employees include parents and carers, it is important that you understand the pressures placed on them. Through providing specialist support and flexibility to these members of your team, you can assist them in getting underway with work effectively.

One reason why this support and flexibility is crucial from a financial perspective is that women are likelier than men to leave work or accept lower-paying jobs due to caring responsibilities. 

Therefore, your business can play a crucial role in helping to address this gender inequality. Consequently, you can also help yourself to open up a wider pool of talent to choose from.