Parental Choice have launched an Employee Care programme, dedicated to supporting employees within SMEs.
Parental Choice’s corporate programmes have always had employees’ wellbeing at its heart, with a focus on working parents.
When Sarah-Jane Butler, founder of Parental Choice, won the WeAreTheCity’s Rising Star Champion award in 2019, she was determined to continue making a difference to working women and their families. 2020 has brought its challenges and no more so than in ensuring the wellbeing of employees working through this crisis. In particular the wellbeing of those employees who work for SMEs who have less of the resources available to larger organisations that has focused the minds of the team at Parental Choice.
Wellbeing in SMEs
There are nearly six million SMEs in the UK. Collectively they are the largest employer, with 16.6 million people employed in businesses with up to 250 employees.
An overview:
- 24 per cent of employees have experienced job-related stress or anxiety.
- Only 15 per cent feel their organisation’s culture supported mental health.
- 46 per cent admitted to working when they felt unwell.
- 18 per cent feel guilty taking time away from their desk for lunch.
- 27 per cent send and receive emails outside working hours.
Bearing all this in mind Parental Choice has discovered, that more than four fifths of SME employers do not have a health and wellbeing strategy. That is a lot of businesses who could be running at reduced productivity and therefore less than optimum profitability due to poor employee wellbeing.
The same study by AXA PPP Healthcare found that employees of SMEs of up to 250 staff said if their employer introduced a health and wellbeing strategy that it would:
- Improve productivity of 39 per cent
- Improve the job satisfaction of 35 per cent
- Encourage 22 per cent to continue working for the business
By comparison, 65 per cent of people working for SMEs where there was a wellbeing strategy believed it improved their health and wellbeing.
Employee Care for SMEs
PC Employee Care launches on 19 October, offering SMEs with up to 100 employees a simple, yet comprehensive online wellbeing platform of support for their staff. Over lockdown, they have developed the website and resources available with the help of subject matter experts, including a few from the Goldman Sachs small business programme. The unique portal is self-service, so once an employer buys a package all their employees can individually access the portal and have access to a vast range of support and information, thereby saving business owners and HR teams time and money.
The foundations of the support are the four pillars of wellbeing:
- Mental
- Physical
- Social
- Financial
Our content, which includes factsheets, videos, podcasts, signposting and blogs is split into six easily navigable categories all designed to help employees as they carry on life’s journey:
- Adult wellness, wellbeing & happiness
- Child wellness, wellbeing & happiness
- Childcare & schooling
- Elder & dependent care
- Family matters & employee financial wellbeing
- Work:life wellbeing
Affordable for all
Parental Choice understand that how SMEs allocate their expenditure can often be tricky, with margins tight and demonstrable ROIs for every penny needed for investors. The PC Employee Care wellbeing programme has been designed with this in mind.
There are three levels of service designed to help those with up to 100 employees, with different price points for up to 25, 50 and 100 employees. The most comprehensive package, Thrive, provides benefits for employees and employers, costing from just £4 per employee each month. The Enrich package offers great value from just £3 per employee each month and for those businesses looking to dip their toe in the employee wellbeing water our Enhance package starts at just £2 per employee per month.
Huge thank you
The development of the PC Employee Care programme would not have been possible without the inspiration of WeAreTheCity and the great work that it does recognising the achievements of some truly inspirational women out there.
Sarah-Jane and Parental Choice would like to say a huge thank you to all those at WeAreTheCity. If any SME would like to know more about the employee care programme and offering our services to employees, please could they contact us at [email protected].
Finally, we would like to offer a five per cent discount to any SME member of WeAreTheCity. The discount code is WATC5.
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