Pay & Benefits

Pay is the primary reason your employees come to work. If salaries aren’t right, it doesn’t really matter what else you do—your staff will look elsewhere.

So how do you retain staff and attract the best talent? You keep on top of HR and pay & benefits. That means keeping up with the latest legislation changes, following best practice and conducting salary benchmarking.

Croner helps businesses of all sizes and industries do this. There’s a lot to keep on top of, including:

Gender pay

This is the difference in the average hourly wage for men and women across a workforce.

The government introduced gender pay gap reporting in 2017, with the first reporting deadline falling on 30^th March / 4^th April 2018.

If your business has 250 or more employees you must publish your gender pay gap statistics on the government’s website. And, you must do so on the same deadline each year:

• Private companies and charities: 4^th April
• Public-sector organisations: 30^th March

For more information on the pay gap, click here.

Equal pay

While there isn’t a law demanding businesses have no gender pay gap, there is a law demanding men and women receive equal pay.

You must provide equal pay for equal work. Failure to do so can result in employment tribunals, significant fines and prosecution.

For more information on equal pay, click here.

Parental pay

Similarly, maternity pay, paternity pay, and shared parental pay are rights. So long as parents meet eligibility criteria, they’ll receive a percentage of their average weekly earnings.

Rates change every April, and it’s easy to dip below the required minimum each time they do. Keeping on top of the changes is the best way to ensure you don’t make an error and end up at a tribunal. At present, the rate is £151.20 (as of January 2020).

Overtime pay

There’s no legal requirement to pay workers for overtime. There are also no rules about the minimum statutory levels of pay. But, you must keep an employee’s pay above the national minimum wage.

Then, there’s the issue of overtime in relation to holiday pay. Should you include it when calculating an employee’s entitlement?

The only way to know for sure is to stay informed about the latest case law rulings on the subject. All of which we cover. For more information on overtime pay, click here.

Employee incentives

Although pay is the main motivator for employees to come to work, perks help too.

Organisations with good benefits attract the best talent.

And, you don’t need to go all out—or break the bank—to introduce useful perks. Don’t believe us? Take a look at some of the world’s craziest employee perks (and why you don’t need them) here.

If you’re looking for information on how to fund a company car for senior staff or looking to roll out a new pension scheme, we can help.

Pay & benefits expertise

So, if you need assistance with salary benchmarking, pay rates, employee perks, or any other subject in this blog, speak to a Croner expert on 0808 145 3380.