Barcan+Kirby launches Cost of Living Response Plan

The increased cost of living is a challenge that we are all facing, as individuals, as families and as businesses. As employers, we want to prioritise our employees, in line with our people-centred value.

Much of our workforce face a hard winter, with rising energy prices and high inflation rates. That’s why, last month, we launched our Cost of Living Response Plan to help our employees as they prepare for a challenging Winter.

So what’s the plan?

Our plan is ever-evolving, but some measures have been put in place with immediate effect. The plan includes:

• Reviewing salaries: we have reviewed salaries earlier than usual and everyone will receive an increase with immediate effect to help with the rising cost of living.
• A cost of living intranet hub: we are developing an internal hub of information where our employees can share their money saving tips and ideas, as well as discuss their thoughts and worries in a safe and secure environment.
• A staff survey: we have asked our colleagues to submit their ideas about what we can do to help further over the coming months.
• Benefits review: we have asked for feedback on our current benefits package. This is to help us understand where our workforce’s priorities lie and how we can best support that.
• A further pay and rewards review: we plan to review salaries again in March 2023.

In addition to the above, we are signposting our colleagues to our Employee Assistance Programme. This not only provides access to virtual mental and physical health support, such as counselling and second medical opinions, but financial guidance, too. This includes one-to-one advice on reduced outgoings, budgeting and debt management.

We do not yet know what the next few months hold for us, but what we do know is that we still strive to support our employees as best we can and hope that what we have put in place can make a small difference.