The onset of pandemic turned day-to-day operations into herculean tasks for the workforce. With leaders and employees bracing the frontline for damage control, the reward professionals weren’t far behind in regards to employee rewards and benefits. Given the extra efforts, time, and hard work committed to sustaining revenue growth through difficult times, several CEOs came forward to appreciate and reward their staff for their efficacy during the eleventh hour. Reward professionals left no stones unturned and continued to roll out employee rewards and benefits to keep the workforce motivated and their families secured during the pandemic.
Although it’s too early to predict when the pandemic will end, organizations elevated their employee rewards and benefits programs by offering perks as “must-haves” to hone employee experience. The pandemic brought on an onslaught in the corporate world, with employees fighting stress, tight budgets, and fatigue while still oblivious when things will return to normal. With many individuals also testing positive or losing loved ones, agencies expanded their employee rewards and benefits by including mental wellbeing, healthcare, financial support, hazard pay, medical benefits, and more, to reinforce their relationships with the employees. To name a few, companies such as Zomato, Tata Consultancy Services, MakeMyTrip, Amazon, Britannia, Loreal India, Reliance Industries, and more offered paid leaves, medical benefits, monetary rewards, and more to their staff during the pandemic.
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TVS Motors, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Flipkart, Zomato, and other companies committed to cover the vaccination costs for all their employees and families. Zomato also committed to providing 100% income to the family of the deceased employee for two years. Similarly, Paytm, Borosil Ltd, and Borosil Renewables announced in their employee rewards and benefits that the families of the deceased (due to COVID-19) will continue to receive salaries for the next 1-2 years. Tata Consultancy Services, Panasonic Life Solutions India, Big Basket, Saint-Gobain India rolled out early increments, hikes, and loan programs as a part of the employee rewards and benefits program.
Cosmetic and skincare giant Loreal India announced COVID insurance to employees who have tested positive and 3 years of salary as insurance cover to families of deceased employees. The overnight switch to remote working and burnouts were also rewarded with delicious meals by Bengaluru-based NoBroker, and Britannia went ahead and organized workshops for children of their employees.
Today, the pandemic continues to test an employee’s efforts and a company’s dedication towards their employees. Despite the workload and stressful times, the corporate world saw agencies put the mental health and wellbeing of their employees over their targets and goals to put a cohesive front against the challenges of COVID. According to Gartner’s report, 68% of the organizations increased at least one benefit to aid their staff through the pandemic. These employee rewards and benefits programs were welcomed by staff and motivated them to stay atop the monetary and healthcare predicaments throughout the year. These are indeed testing times for the corporate world and employees with both standing on one end of the scale to sustain the balance, and only together will they be able to overcome these challenges and thrive.
References:
- How India Inc. is helping employees combat COVID-19 | People Matters | Monday 03, 2021
- Many companies recognise employee efforts through rewards | The Economic Times | Rica Bhattacharyya & Sreeradha D Basu | May 06, 2021
- Employees get full marks, rewards for adapting to Covid disruptions | The Economic Times | Brinda Sarkar | December 22, 2020
- Increasing Rewards in Response to COVID-19 | Gartner
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