HR myths busted: “Cost of living support – all staff, must be treated the same”

What is the difference between treating people equally and treating people fairly?

HR myths busted: “Cost of living support – all staff, must be treated the same”

What is the difference between treating people equally and treating people fairly?

Doing the same for everyone means you are treating people equally. But your people are not all in the same position. Treating people fairly means that you do the right thing for that person, so you are meeting their individual needs. Giving everyone the same may feel fair, but it isn’t.

The cost of living crisis will not impact all your people equally. Higher earners will be better insulated to survive. How do you, as a CEO, implement support that helps the people that need it, without ostracising the people that don’t?

What is the difference between treating people equally and treating people fairly?

Doing the same for everyone means you are treating people equally. But your people are not all in the same position. Treating people fairly means that you do the right thing for that person, so you are meeting their individual needs. Giving everyone the same may feel fair, but it isn’t.

Equal treatment (i.e. the same) doesn't always produce an equitable outcome

One off payments may benefit higher paid staff more than lower paid colleagues

There’s been a lot of publicity about one-off ‘cost of living payments’. Barclays, Co-operative Bank, Sky, Nationwide, Virgin Money, NatWest and HSBC are amongst many big brands that have decided to pursue this path.
We urge you to think carefully before paying staff bonuses or making ‘cost of living’ payments.
When you calculate a % of salary, or a cash lump sum remember that some formulas benefit higher-paid staff more than lower-paid staff. This defeats the object of financial support. Same goes for staff who earn commission and are on a relatively low-base pay, will you look at total earnings?

One off payments may increase your gender pay gap

If you’ve got a gender pay gap (and you probably have) and/or an ethnicity pay gap (which you also probably have and may not even measure) take care not to increase inequality through your actions.

Don’t assume low use of an existing benefit means it’s not valuable

You may inadvertently create a wider gender and ethnicity pay gap

If you’ve got a gender pay gap (and you probably have) and/or an ethnicity pay gap (which you also probably have and may not even measure) take care not to increase inequality through your actions

Not every benefit needs to have majority use to be valuable. Removing a low-use benefit might have a significant impact on some team members.

For example, a health cash plan, which gives cash back for dental, optical, and other routine health appointments, might be disproportionately beneficial to working families or those with long term health needs.

Be sure to check the impact of your decisions with a formal Equality Impact Assessment and by listening to your team before you act.

Don't know where to start when it comes to supporting your team through the Cost of Living Crisis?

We are passionate about finding ways to help bosses do the best they can to look after their people.

Some of what we’ve outlined here is simple, but implementing activity that’s targeted to help those that need it most often gets businesses in a pickle. Primarily because they get bogged down about treating all employees the same.

If you need help to work how to support those that need it in a way that’s fair and legal, then please drop us a line. We’d be happy to talk to you.

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