As a company, we are very aware of the Cost of Living Crisis and how it can affect our team on a day to day basis.
I gave a full team presentation recently , which aimed to remind our team of how we can support them, beyond the salary that we pay them.
The key drivers today causing the Cost of Living Crisis are a perfect storm of
As a company, we offer a number of items that can help our team get through the crisis :-
We work with a company called "Perkbox" which gives an app that all our team can use to gain discounts and special deals on all sorts of things! Our reporting shows that this is a very underused resource.
But the benefits it gives can significantly offset inflation.
So, for example, our our team can get an unlimited 4% off any purchase at Tesco (or Sainburys and other supermarkets). This is on top of any special deals or any other vouchers that may be used with the shopping
or, 10% of anything bought at Currys.
Fancy a new IPAD at Christmas - yep, 10% off that!
and hundreds of other discounts on things you buy daily, cinema tickets, restaurants etc.
I'd never really calculated how much this could save (I've been historically one of the poor users of this benefit) - I saved £50 in one weekend alone by simply doing my weekly shop and some DIY purchases on my Perkbox account!
We have run a Salary Sacrifice scheme for a few years here - supported by Pink Car Leasing. It was originally set up to support our move towards Carbon Zero.
However, in a cost of living crisis this can be a significant benefit free from the taxman!
I delivered an example how a brand new MG4 could have a salary sacrifice cost of under £230 per month. This may well be less than an existing HP deal that many will have on their cars - especially older ones which may need regular maintenance as well.
To the Salary Sacrifice scheme, we've also added a new EV Fuel Scheme! This is run un associate with Mina - who allow us to pay for all the electricity used - both on the road and at home for all company owned cars (so company supplied and Salary Sacrifice scheme cars). We then take this cost in a similar way to a salary sacrifice deduction - saving 40% of the cost of Electricity to charge the car.!
I did a calculation, comparing an EV with a 60MPG diesel - showing that over 8,000 miles pa this can save £75 per month!
Add this to the Salary Sacrifice scheme and this starts to be significant!
Ok ok... all the above is all well and good, but at the end of the day it's pay that counts!
Our company policy is that pay must keep up with inflation
It's also company policy that our team should not need to ask for a Pay Review.
In the past 12 months or so, we processed an across the board Pay Review of 3% in Dec 21.
We added a further 5% in Aptil 22
We have now added a further additional 5% pay review applicable from Dec 1, 2022
We are really aware that the cumulative stresses and strains of the past few years are being felt by many, including some on our Team.
I reinforced a number of Mental Health Support schemes that we have available to us, from our Occupational Therapy team and also from our 3 qualified Mental Health first aiders!
All in all, we are doing everything and more we can to ensure that our team don't have to worry about paying the bills this winter.
Find out whether Navigator is a good fit for your dealership. Spend 30 mins with one of our Consultants in a no pressure environment. Click the button to book a Zoom Call
Book a Discovery Call
