HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Spreading Joy: Sharp Consultancy’s Annual Easter Egg Drive

At Sharp Consultancy, our annual Easter Egg Drive has once again brought together our team, clients, and community to support local charities and spread a little cheer. As a finance and accountancy recruitment business rooted in Yorkshire, we’re proud to use our network to give something back—and this year has been no exception.Led by Tom Davage, Senior Consultant in our South Yorkshire office, our team has been out and about collecting Easter egg donations from our fantastic clients. The generosity shown has been incredible, especially given the ongoing challenges many continue to face. Thanks to everyone who contributed, we were able to deliver meaningful support to three wonderful charities in our region: Paces, a specialist centre supporting children with cerebral palsy and motor disorders; St Luke’s Hospice, which offers compassionate end-of-life care; and The Family Works, a trauma informed, family support project working alongside underprivileged families.Tom, who organised this year’s initiative, shared: “When you hear the stories from the people working within these charities, it really opens your eyes to the challenges others face. If we can bring a smile to someone’s face—even through something as simple as an Easter egg—it makes it all worthwhile. Every bit of support counts.” Seeing familiar donators from past years and welcoming new ones has been truly heart-warming. It’s a testament to the kind and community-minded nature of the businesses we work with. To all our clients who donated, thank you. Your kindness and continued support make this initiative possible and help us make a real difference. If you’d like to get involved next year or learn more about the causes we support, we’d love to hear from you. Together, we can keep making a positive impact—one small gesture at a time.

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When you receive a new job offer and need to establish whether the package you are offered is attractive, it can be hard to look beyond the salary and traditional benefits such as an annual bonus and company car or car allowance.

Many employees neglect to attribute ‘value’ to other – perhaps softer – benefits which are available or fail to take full advantage of potential incentives which are available when circumstances change. Here’s our advice on how to make employee benefits work for you.

Try to establish a ‘value’ to each benefit

Sometimes employees overlook individual benefits without weighing up what value they add to their package so it’s often helpful to try and equate a financial value to each. For example, if you have the opportunity to work from home how much could be saved on travel costs and commuting? Could this potentially off-set a slightly lower salary or lack of annual bonus? Could having the flexibility to set your one working hours pattern outside of the usual 9-5 potentially allow for savings to made on childcare arrangements?

What are your priorities?

It’s important to look at which priorities mean more to you depending upon your stage in life. A more generous employer contribution to your pension may hold more value to you now that it would have done previously. Or the opportunity to ‘buy’ more holidays could very valuable if you want to spend more time with your family.

Look at any discounts or incentives that are offered

As part of a company’s employee wellbeing strategy, you may find that you are entitled to a number of subsidised incentives and discounts. These can include gym and health club memberships, travel season tickets as well as money off at a number of retail, hospitality and leisure operators. Over time, these can add up to a fair amount of cash saved, particularly on items that you already regularly use.

Regularly review what options are available to you

Just because you can’t see a value in a particular benefit or incentive at the current time, it doesn’t mean that won’t change as your circumstances adjust over time. Make sure you regularly review which company benefits are available – many companies offer the option to tailor your own package so you may find that whilst private health care wasn’t a priority for you when you joined, it could be something which would now be very useful.

Seek out benefits that are advantageous to your career

A number of companies will include a provision for training or annual membership to a professional body which gives access to CPD resources as part of an employee’s package. The opportunity to develop your professional knowledge and expand your skill set could be invaluable as you look to build your career.

Make use of your benefits

It is important to ensure that you make use of the benefits which are available to you; and whilst there may be some which you feel are not especially relevant or useful to you currently, it is vital not to dismiss something which you may find valuable as your circumstances or priorities change.

Sharp Consultancy specialises in the recruitment of temporary, interim and permanent finance professionals. With offices in Leeds and Sheffield our highly experienced team of consultants recruit for positions throughout Yorkshire and beyond. CONTACT UStoday to discuss your recruitment needs with a member of our team.