Rewards and benefits

Competitive pay

Our aim is to be an employer of choice and for our organisation to be a great place to work.

We continually complete market research and benchmarking exercises to ensure our pay remains competitive in the economic environment. 

Pension scheme

As part of our reward package we operate a defined contribution pension scheme. Our colleagues are auto enrolled into this scheme (subject to government auto enrolment pension legislation). We will contribute a minimum of 6% and a maximum of 9% depending on the amount of colleague contributions. 

How much the member gets when they retire depends on how much is paid in, how much the charges are, how well the investments do, and the choices they make when they retire.

Colleagues also have the option to make contributions via salary sacrifice.

Loyalty awards

We value our colleague’s commitment and promote the celebration of key milestones in their careers. Our managers are encouraged to recognise and acknowledge their team members' work anniversaries. We recognise anniversaries from Year 10 onwards with a monetary payment. The scheme continues for every five years of service.

Car travel allowance

Some of our roles which require travel are eligible for a car allowance. If a role is eligible for a car allowance colleagues will receive this based on the correct level for their role. Colleagues with car allowances can claim essential user mileage. 

We encourage car sharing and want to reduce the number of unnecessary multiple journeys for business related travel. This supports our environmental responsibilities and reduces our carbon footprint, which is in line with our travel strategy. Our passenger allowance is in place to support this.

Death in service benefit

We offer a death in service benefit to colleagues once they start their contract. There are two schemes in operation. As a member of our defined contribution pension you are provided with death in service benefit amounting to three times your pensionable salary, which will be payable to your named beneficiary/ies. If you choose to opt out of the pension, you will be provided with the same benefit under our separate insurance policy.

Colleague discounts

You will have access to the Wider Wallet portal offering everyday lifestyle discounts. You can make some great savings on everyday shopping, from fashion and electronics to travel, leisure and days out. There are discounts available via our Health Cash Plan for gyms and wellbeing products and services.

Colleagues also have access to our internal supplier discounts including local gyms, computer and phone technology, kitchens, building and DIY supplies.

Car scheme

Our car benefit scheme is available to permanently employed colleagues who meet certain eligibility criteria. The scheme is facilitated through a salary sacrifice arrangement where colleagues give up part of their gross salary in exchange for the non-cash benefit of a brand new car. There are other benefits such as maintenance, roadside assistance and vehicle tax included in the agreement.

Cycle to work scheme

The cycle to work scheme enables our colleagues to buy a bike tax-free, saving at least 23% of the cost. It is completely hassle free with 12 or 24 months of payments coming directly out their monthly salary through salary sacrifice.

26-30 days holiday programme

Annual leave helps our colleagues to achieve a good work-life balance.

In addition to eight bank holidays throughout the year, our colleagues start off with 26 days annual leave and this increases with length of service, going up to 30 days a year.

Annual leave is pro-rata for part time colleagues and calculated in hours.

Buying annual leave

Our colleagues can also buy additional annual leave. This provides them with the even more flexibility for planning time off work.

Medical cash back plan

We provide a health care cash plan to all colleagues to help them cover the costs of their day to day healthcare and support them in leading a healthy lifestyle. We believe that looking after your health is the most important thing you can do to achieve your full potential and feel your best both at home and in work. The plan is designed to help with everyday health care costs and offer cash payments for a variety of health care needs such as dental, optical and physiotherapy. All colleagues are automatically enrolled into the plan on commencement.

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) scheme provides a confidential counselling and advice service available 24/7 to provide practical information, useful resources and guidance where needed.

Our EAP is here to help our colleagues and their families to balance family, work and personal life. The service offers diverse support from counselling, legal, financial, childcare and consumer experts. 
Examples of issues covered by the EAP include:

• Marital, family and relationship difficulties.
• Financial information and guidance.
• Child/dependent care information.
• Health and wellbeing information.
• Personal and professional skills.

Enhanced sick pay benefit

Our sickness absence allowance allows us to provide support to those colleagues who are unwell or unfit for work due to health reasons. In addition to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), we will pay Company Sick Pay (CSP) to colleagues. Your eligibility for paid sick leave is determined by length of continuous service. 

Private medical insurance

After two years of service, colleagues are entitled to the benefit of a contributory private medical insurance scheme. Colleagues with two years’ service or more can opt to join the scheme during the enrolment windows which occur twice yearly. We will contribute towards 35% of the cost of single membership for colleagues with two years' service and 50% for colleagues with five or more years' service. This subsidy means colleagues only pay 65% or 50% of the total annual premium, payable via net monthly salary deduction, and we will pay the remaining balance directly to the insurer.

Donating blood

We want to make it easier for our colleagues to give blood, if they wish to do so. Giving blood typically takes less than one hour, so if roles can be flexible, then we will credit colleagues with an hour back, so they can attend these appointments.

FlexWay working

FlexWay is our approach to working in a flexible manner without the formal need to record working hours. We are keen to support our colleagues with balancing their work and home lives and recognise the many benefits of allowing them to have flexibility with their working day.

Our way of working is based on delivering outcomes rather than spending time on recording hours or completing timesheets and working to core hours.

Colleagues are expected to understand and are trusted to know when they are required to be in the business and what they need to achieve in order to ensure business needs are met but we support them in working flexibly around other commitments such as attending a doctor or dentist appointment.

Support to families

There are statutory rights for all expectant parents and we provide an enhanced package for colleagues with two or more years continuous service. This includes maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave. We also provide support for the following types of leave: 

• Dependant’s leave (unpaid).
• Compassionate leave (paid).
• Bereavement leave (paid).
• Assisted conception leave (paid).
• Pregnancy loss leave (paid).
• Gender affirmation leave (paid).

Health and wellbeing

We recognise that healthy and well-motivated colleagues have a positive impact on the productivity and effectiveness of a business, and we want to support colleagues in looking after their own health and wellbeing. At LiveWest we organise an annual wellbeing calendar of events and campaigns. These initiatives provide useful information, guidance and resources to support colleagues with their physical, financial and mental wellbeing. Our wellbeing champions actively help organise and promote wellbeing and signpost colleagues to appropriate support services. 34 colleagues, including our wellbeing champions, colleagues in our People, Facilities and Housing teams, have completed Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training to support individuals with their mental health. 

We have signed  the Menopause Workplace Pledge to demonstrate our commitment to supporting colleagues affected by the menopause.

All colleagues get access to our Wellbeing intranet hub to help to support them in keeping on top of their wellbeing. This online page gives free access to bite sized videos and articles in the areas of managing finances, healthy eating, mental health and home workouts.

Social events

We understand the importance of organising regular social events and staying connected. It is a chance for our colleagues to get to know each other better, share common interests and hobbies and build positive relationships with their team members. 

We support this by: 

• Using volunteer days to get together as a team to give back to our communities, for example beach cleans or community gardening. 
• Encouraging teams to organise activities and events throughout the year.
• Organising LiveFest, a bi-annual event for our colleagues to come together and celebrate all that we have achieved and our upcoming plans. 
• Promoting the use of internal communication tools such as Viva Engage for common interests and hobbies.
• Running regular wellbeing meet ups on various topics including men's health, menopause and the benefits of sleep

Learning and development support

Our Learning and Talent team enable all of our colleagues to choose their own adventure in our organisation. We have designed systems and tools to grow our talent and create the culture we need to succeed. Some of the tools in place are: 

• Learning bites webinars - hosted by both our colleagues and external professionals on a wide range of topics such as emotional intelligence, health and wellbeing, and diversity and inclusion. 
• Learning bites library - learning resources designed to help colleagues develop their skills and make the most of their talent, in a bitesize way that’s easy to digest.
• Podcast series - podcasts covering a wide range of topics including self-development, leadership, culture, behaviours and wellbeing.
• Coaching programme - we recently developed our coaching programme to bring out the best in people and help them to achieve their goals. 
• Leadership development - developing our leadership capability through the design and delivery of engaging and effective leadership programs and tools.
• Financial support and sponsorship for professional qualifications, continuous professional development and vocational memberships.

Volunteering days

Our colleagues are all entitled to up to four days paid volunteering a year, to support and giving something back to our communities.

We really value volunteering, as not only does it produce fantastic benefits to our communities, but it’s also recognised as a great way of improving wellbeing. It’s a great chance to do something completely different and meet our customers, new people and other colleagues from across the business.

Refer a friend scheme

Our colleagues can help someone they know start their own career at LiveWest and receive a referral payment of £250 in return.

Colleague engagement

Every year we invite LiveWest colleagues to share their views about working for us and to participate in the our colleague engagement survey. Sharing their views really helps us understand what is working well and identifies areas where we can learn and make positive changes.

We are delighted to have a colleague consultative body in place at LiveWest, Our Team Voice. The group are here to promote the views and opinions of colleagues and work together with our Executive team on matters that impact our people.

Our colleague Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group consists of colleagues from across our organisation who are passionate about equality. They aim to challenge what we do and how we do it and are always pushing to deliver positive change. Our other diversity groups include Race and Ethnicity Equality Network (REEN), Sexuality and Gender Equality group (SAGE) and the Disability group.