Over the last couple of years, you may have heard of a phenomenon in business circles referred to as “The Great Resignation”?
Beginning in 2021, this event predicted unhappy employees would leave their current employers en masse unless their working conditions and benefits were improved. These demands were anything from increased flexibility around working hours, choice of where they work from, better work-life balance, considerable pay rises or extra fringe benefits. While the outcome in Australia hasn’t been a mass exodus of employees, it is an indication that good staff is going to be harder to find. And once you find them, how do you keep them?
Here are a couple of pertinent stats for you:
- A 2021 global survey by Microsoft found that 41 per cent of the entire global workforce were considering resigning in 2022, with many people planning to move because they can now work from their chosen location.
- The Reserve Bank expects the unemployment rate to be a little below 5 per cent at the end of 2021 and will continue to fall to around 4 per cent by the end of 2023.
It has been well-reported that there are significant labour shortages in some industries (health, farming, manufacturing, etc.) and businesses Australia-wide will soon notice the lack of qualified talent.
A NAB Business Report released in 2021: Labour Shortages Through The Eyes of Australian Business: How Prevalent Is it, Expectations & How Might It Be Resolved reported that ‘labour shortages are considered “moderately” problematic for Australian businesses over the last 3 months, but the situation is expected to worsen over the next 12 months.’
Cost-free Carrots
You’ll need some seriously tasty carrots to dangle if you want to attract and retain good people. As an employer, you already know that you need to offer more than just employment if you want to attract the best staff for the job. Given the predicted shortages, all industries are becoming increasingly competitive to sign the right talent. Unfortunately, recruitment carrots don’t always come cheap, with employers often forking out extra incentives that ultimately hit the bottom line.
Salary packaging helps you with the three R’s – Recruit, Reward and Retain, without putting a big dent in the budget. Some staff have even come to expect these savvy tax savings as part of their standard employee agreement. If you’re an employer in healthcare, education or the not-for-profit industries, your staff could enjoy the rewards and benefits of saving on a range of expenses such as:
- Rental Payments
- Mortgage Repayments
- Childcare Payments
- Energy and Utility Bills
- Loans
- Aged care
- Property Rates
- Insurance
- Self-education
- Memberships
- Holiday Accommodation
- Meals & Entertainment
Supercharge Their Super
We’re always being told to boost our super by our fund of choice, but few of us find the time or extra cash to do it. As an employer, you can help your staff give their super a cost-effective boost by accessing their pre-tax salary. Put simply, employees can nominate extra payments into their chosen super fund as concessional contributions.
This way they can top up their super over and above the super guarantee and reduce the tax on their take-home pay. Plus, if they pay more of their salary into their super, it will lower their taxable income for the financial year.
If you are an employer with even just one employee, attract them with a shiny new car. By offering novated leasing as part of your onboarding incentives, you’ll be seen as a more generous prospective employer. Your employee will save GST on the vehicle purchase as well as running costs amounting to thousands of savings annually. There’s also no extra work in it for your payroll department when you outsource to a reliable salary packaging provider.
Drive Their ambition
If you are an employer with even just one employee, attract them with a shiny new car. By offering novated leasing as part of your onboarding incentives, you’ll be seen as a more generous prospective employer. Your employee will save GST on the vehicle purchase as well as running costs amounting to thousands of savings annually. There’s also no extra work in it for your payroll department when you outsource to a reliable salary packaging provider.
Attract staff with The Salary Packaging People
If you want to be an employer of choice, we can help you attract and retain the staff you need with a range of salary packaging and novated leasing solutions for employers and employees. Contact us or call 03 5229 4200 and talk to someone today.