Job Satisfaction
Respondents to WLinY were asked to use a scale of 1-7 (where 1 represents completely dissatisfied, 4 represents neither satisfied/dissatisfied and 7 represents completely satisfied) to note how satisfied they were with a range of aspects of their current job at CYC, JRF/JRHT or YSJU. Table 8.1 below reports these for each of the three employers and for the LW workers across the sample.
Table 8.1: Satisfaction with current job at CYC, JRF/JRHT or YSJU Respondents
Respondents that replied ‘Don’t know’ in relation to each question are excluded from the above table.
From the above table we can see that the JRF/JRHT employees appear the most satisfied, followed by YSJU, then by all LW and then CYC. Within the CYC employees the actual
18 See WLinY questionnaire Section 11 pp.65-69
work and hours provide the highest levels of satisfaction followed by job security and ‘total pay’ the greatest “neither satisfied or not”. For LW workers this is the same (though note that the majority of LW are CYC employees).
Employee Benefit Scheme Uptake - CYC
In Table 8.2 below column 2 the proportions of the CYC sample that know about the scheme listed in the left hand column (column 1) are shown. Column 3 then gives the proportion of those CYC employees that know about the scheme and uptake it. The final column gives the most frequent type of reason given by those CYC employees who know about the scheme but do not uptake it.
These figures are interesting. Overall there seems to be a picture of staff being largely unaware of the benefits that are available to them (though there are notable exceptions such as the Cycle Scheme and Discounts). Of the staff that do know about the benefits the uptake can be quite low – some of the more frequently reported reasons for this are “Have no need, not relevant to me” which if you are being offered (for example) childcare vouchers and you have no school/nursery aged children is quite a reasonable response.
Other responses though might offer CYC with some opportunities to increase the uptake of these benefits, for example:
- I have just not got round to it or keep forgetting – maybe CYC could have an extra push to get employees engaged with, or sharing among colleagues the benefits of these schemes (e.g.
lunchtime road shows or ‘champions’ within workplaces sharing this information/benefits of these schemes or working with the local unions reps to promote these benefits?)
- It is not valid in the places I use or do not eat out much – maybe CYC could reconsider what is being offered? Are you offering the discounts that ‘Vectis’ gives you to offer or do you base the discounts on where your staff actually go to shop? Maybe a greater range of shop types should be considered, maybe even asking staff where they shop? Maybe also a greater consideration that some activities are not open to all staff due to income levels (e,g. don’t go out to eat, or out to the cinema etc.)
- Not interested, do not want to use it – again could this be that you are offering things that staff do not actually want, if so then such benefits are unlikely to be considered positively by staff as part of their ‘pay’.
Employee Benefit Scheme Uptake – JRF/JRHT and YSJU
In Tables 8.3 and 8.4 below the equivalent figures are presented for awareness and uptake of the benefit packages at JRF/JRHT and YSJU. Contrasting these with the CYC findings above does tend to show some slightly higher awareness and uptake though the small sample size (for YSJU in particular) does need to be kept in mind. Interestingly even though JRF/JRHT does have seem to have better awareness and uptake there are some schemes that are employees are clearly not aware of e.g. only 12.8% of the JRF/JRHT employees report that they are aware of the ‘Season ticket loan’ scheme and slightly over 40% are unfamiliar with the online shopping discount scheme.
Table 8.2: CYC Employee Benefit Scheme Uptake
Health and Well-being 55.53% 211 of 380 (40.46% 70)
Childcare vouchers 41.58% 158 (32.95% 57)
5.06% 8 1.75% 1)
Have no need, not relevant to me (83) Staff lottery 61.32% 233
(49.13% 85 Vectis cashback 17.89% 68
(13.87% 24)
Gift vouchers and Vectis discount cards 31.32% 119
(28.90% 50)
Table 8.3: JRF/JRHT Employee Benefit Scheme Uptake JRF/JRHT employee scheme Q1 Are you
aware that
Health Shield: Cash back health scheme that allows staff to claim back costs for dental optical and some medical costs [All staff after 5 months] wide range of advice including legal financial and access to counselling [All staff]
63.95%, 55 of 86 16.36%, 9 of 55 I have no need for it (39)
Salary sacrifice schemes to reduce the cost of childcare, bicycle purchase and pension contributions [All staff after 5 months]
59.30%, 51 of 86 19.61%, 10 of 51 I have no need for it (30)
Asperity: online shopping discount scheme that allows staff to access a wide range of
discounts at major retailers [All staff after 5 months]
can nominate an employee to receive a £50 shopping voucher for going the extra mile etc. [All staff]
48.84%, 42 of 86 21.43%, 9 of 42 I have never qualified for it or received it (19)
Free meals for staff working in our care homes [Care staff only]
46.51%, 40 of 86 75.0%, 30 of 40 I do not qualify for this (6) Season ticket loan for annual bus
or train passes, loan is recouped through payroll deductions [All staff over 1 years’ service]
12.79%, 11 of 86 9.09%, 1 of 11 I have no need for this (8)
Buying or selling holiday:
Employees can purchase up to 5 extra days or sell 5 days for cash [All staff over 1 years’ service]
70.93%, 61 of 86 14.75%, 9 of 61 I have no need (31)
I have enough holiday already (8)
Table 8.4: YSJU Employee Benefit Scheme Uptake Question Employee Benefit YSJU employee scheme Q1 Are you
aware that YSJU lead a healthier lifestyle through free staff health checks including cholesterol and blood pressure checks, free exercise classes, free early morning fitness suite access, free nutritional advice workshops, monthly seminars focused on health, wellbeing and physical activity, and weekly
Occupational Health support 60% 13.33% 2 I have no need for it (11) Staff Healthplan: providing cash
back on health costs such as dental and optical and other treatments such as physiotherapy
Discounts covering (any of the following) e.g. Holiday & travel;
Shopping; Eating out & leisure;
Health & well-being; Home &
electrics; Motoring; Insurance;
Scheme for Childcare Vouchers (providing for tax and NI savings) and tax-free savings on bicycles
92% 17.39% 4 I have no need Up to 100% fee remission on
study programmes to support well for some CYC employees but other methods might be needed by other groups.
Additional pathways investigated to support low-paid employees included consideration of the remuneration packages or employee benefit schemes run in the organisations. There was compelling evidence that the composition of the benefits under these schemes, the methods of communication internally around them, and the confidence employees had in accessing them significantly reduced the value of the benefits for the lower-waged groups in the sample.