How to Choose the Right Employee Benefits for Your Business

Over 80% of employees say benefits are a key factor in staying — yet most small businesses offer packages that go unused or weren't designed around what people actually want. Getting benefits right is about choosing deliberately, not adding more.

In this episode: where to start with benefits strategy, why focus groups beat surveys, why employees often value time over perks, the case for critical illness cover in small businesses, why EAPs rarely deliver, and how demographics should shape the approach.

• Ask people what they want before introducing any benefit. Claire's team scrapped a healthcare cash plan and gave more annual leave instead — because they ran a focus group first. The insight saved budget and landed far better.
• Time and flexibility consistently rank above perks people have to claim. Cash plans and discount schemes look good on paper but have low uptake. Employees who have to take an action to access a benefit often don't bother.
• Personalisation is the gold standard — but hard to achieve at small scale. Flexible platforms that let people choose their own package are genuinely valued, but most are built for 250+ staff. Smaller businesses need creative workarounds.
• Know your workforce demographics before approaching a broker. Age, family status, and life stage all shape which benefits get used. This work upfront prevents expensive mistakes and makes the broker conversation more productive.
• Critical illness cover is underrated in small businesses. Many offer minimal sick pay. Critical illness insurance is relatively affordable and provides real protection when employees need it most — even if they hope never to use it.
• EAPs are widely offered but rarely used. They tend to appear on invitation letters as a tick-box exercise. Proactive mental health support — counselling packages, for instance — is typically more effective.
• Benefits tied to the business create the strongest loyalty. Hotel discounts in hospitality, holiday concessions in travel — when benefits connect to the business's purpose, they become a genuine retention tool rather than just a contractual line item.

• [00:49] Where to start with benefits
• [02:02] Cash plan vs annual leave
• [04:31] Focus groups vs engagement surveys
• [06:28] Flexible benefits platforms explained
• [07:23] Critical illness cover for small businesses
• [08:24] Family-friendly benefits and flexibility
• [12:12] How demographics shape benefits
• [13:02] Why EAPs rarely deliver

Resources Mentioned

1. EAPs — commonly offered but low-uptake; discussed as ripe for replacement by proactive mental health support
2. Flexible benefits platforms — most currently suited to 250+ staff

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Do Employee Appraisals Still Work? A Practical Guide

Only 14% of employees find appraisals motivating. Yet businesses that replace them with nothing lose the thread entirely — no visibility on performance, no development conversations, no link to pay or progression.

In this episode: how appraisals work in practice vs theory, why linking performance to pay gives the process meaning, why personal development plans are almost universally absent, the 70-20-10 model in smaller businesses, and what a simple appraisal process looks like from scratch.

• Yes — you do need some form of appraisal. Without it, there's no structured way to understand how the team is performing or where to invest in development. Informal feedback alone isn't enough.
• Continuous feedback improves performance by 39% — but most businesses aren't doing it. The annual review is only as useful as the one-to-ones throughout the year. The review should be the summary, not the surprise.
• Linking appraisals to pay, bonus, or progression is what makes them feel worthwhile. Without that connection, employees struggle to see the point. The link doesn't have to be salary — bonuses and promotion conversations work too.
• 95% of HR professionals don't have a personal development plan. That figure is from Claire's own conversations. If the people managing HR don't have one, teams almost certainly don't either. Appraisals without development goals are half a conversation.
• The 70-20-10 model is underused, especially in small businesses. 70% of development comes from on-the-job experience — which smaller businesses often provide without labelling it as such. Helping employees recognise what they're gaining is part of the manager's job.
• Don't overcomplicate it when starting from scratch. Weighted scoring and complex frameworks are barriers. Something simple that captures what was agreed, why it matters, and what the outcome was is perfectly sufficient.
• Tracking appraisals on spreadsheets and emailed forms is where the process falls apart. An HR system with a performance module makes consistency far more achievable — and smaller business options now exist.

• [00:58] Why only 14% of employees find appraisals motivating
• [02:30] Annual cycles vs continuous feedback
• [04:37] Linking appraisals to pay and meaning
• [05:22] Bonus vs base pay for performance
• [08:41] Why personal development plans are missing
• [11:38] 70-20-10 in small businesses
• [14:12] One-to-ones and year-round communication
• [18:10] Keeping the appraisal process simple

Resources Mentioned

1. 70-20-10 learning model — 70% experiential, 20% relationships, 10% formal; referenced as underused in development conversations
2. CIPD — appraisal formats and performance management: cipd.org

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Can You Make Your Team Return to the Office? What UK Employers Need to Know

The return to office debate is back. Amazon, Dell, and others have mandated it. Some businesses are going fully remote. Most are in the middle and not sure where they stand legally or practically.

Before you issue a policy, there's a lot to work through: what your contracts say, whether custom and practice changes things, how to handle flexible working requests alongside a mandate, and whether a one-size-fits-all approach actually serves your culture — or just makes communication easier.

• Whether you can mandate a return depends on the employment contract. If someone was hired as fully remote, you can't require office attendance without a change of terms process. Custom and practice matters too — a long-standing arrangement may have become an implied term.
• There's often a gap between the stated reason and what employees suspect. Culture and collaboration are what businesses say. Employees often assume cost-cutting or quiet restructuring. Being honest about your reasons goes a long way.
• Flexible working requests don't disappear with an office mandate. Employees have a statutory right to request flexible working, and those requests must be properly considered alongside any blanket policy you introduce.
• A blanket approach is the lazy option — and usually backfires. Customer-facing and back-office roles have different requirements. A role-based hybrid approach is harder to design but produces better engagement and fewer grievances.
• The commute is the real sticking point, not the office. Most employees don't object to being in — they object to losing an hour or more of personal time they didn't used to lose. That's a legitimate concern worth factoring in.
• Disability and mental health considerations are a legal obligation. Some employees rely on home working as a reasonable adjustment. Any return-to-office policy must account for this individually, not as an afterthought.
• For early-career employees, in-person time has a real development case. Learning by osmosis — hearing how senior colleagues handle situations — is harder to replicate remotely. Worth weighing that against flexibility.

• [02:15] Why businesses mandate office returns
• [04:10] What employees are actually losing
• [06:00] Contractual and legal position
• [09:20] Disability and reasonable adjustments
• [11:30] In-person development argument
• [15:45] Blanket vs role-based hybrid policy
• [18:30] Flexible working requests and mandates
• [21:00] Questions to ask before announcing

Resources Mentioned

1. Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 — statutory right to request from day one: gov.uk

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Why Can't We Just Fire Them? A Practical Guide to Employee Dismissal

"Why can't we just fire them?" is one of the most common questions HR gets — and it almost always comes from genuine frustration. The answer isn't always no. Sometimes you can. But there are three types of cost — legal, cultural, and moral — and most business owners only consider one of them.

In this episode: your real options when you've reached the end, the low/medium/high-risk framework, when short-service dismissal works, and the honest conversation about what firing someone actually costs.

• You can fire them — but there are three types of cost. Legal exposure is only one. Cultural impact on your remaining team and the moral weight of removing someone's livelihood are just as real. HR's job is to help you understand all three.
• HR professionals are not the HR police. Present low, medium, and high-risk options and let the business decide. If the founder wants the high-risk route, HR can support that — with eyes open.
• By the time it reaches HR, the documentation is usually missing. Managers believe they've had formal conversations when the employee experienced something much more informal. Without documented warnings, you're starting from scratch.
• Short-service dismissals are a real tool — for now. For employees with under two years' service, dismissal risk is significantly reduced. Used more heavily in small businesses than large. The Employment Rights Act will narrow this window.
• Conduct issues and third-party pressure can justify faster action. If a client demands removal or an incident is severe, quicker action is sometimes possible. The question is risk appetite and length of service — not whether it's possible at all.
• Doing nothing also has consequences. If behaviour is clearly out of line and everyone knows it, tolerating it damages trust just as much as a badly-handled dismissal. The people watching are drawing their own conclusions.
• Involve HR as early as possible. By the time a founder escalates, weeks of undocumented informal conversations have already happened. Earlier involvement keeps more options open.

• [01:30] Why this question arrives too late
• [03:10] Small vs large business dismissal process
• [05:45] Why HR shouldn't be the blocker
• [07:20] Low/medium/high-risk options framework
• [09:00] Short-service dismissals explained
• [11:15] Moral and cultural cost of dismissal
• [14:30] Conduct dismissals and third parties
• [17:45] Why documentation is the problem

Resources Mentioned

1. ACAS dismissal guidance — basis for most small business policies: acas.org.uk

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