Working within a small company

[SophiaLarsen]

Hi all,

Posting here for traffic. If you work within a small company (but with good turnover) would you mind answering some questions?

I ask because I work within a small company. The pay is good and employment is flexible but I receive no benefits other than normal expenses accrued in the course of my work and government NEST pension. My pay is also fixed meaning I become gradually worse off over the years.

I would like to know what, if any, benefits do you get from your employers?

Do you get an annual cost of living pay rise?

Many thanks in advance.

Tiny company here, 6 people - I love it!

Friendly, flexible, limited 'rules.' We have a flexible sickness policy because we're so small i.e. You'd have to be off for quite some time before you went onto SSP, for example if you broke your leg, it would be no problem to work ftom home on full pay and that sort of thing.

We get a 2% annual pay increase and pension contributions in line with government guidelines. Everything is done with a 'they work hard do don't try to screw them over' attitude from the management.

About 15 of us here, including the owner/partner and his wife.

No set out benefits as such, standard Gov't pension, SMP, however though the contracts state SSP they will pay you at their discretion. 25 days holiday plus Bank Holidays, Closed Xmas eve, the big thing for me here is the flexibility - Hours are 9-5 and it is VERY rare anyone stays later. I can leave early, come in late take longer/shorter lunches, really family friendly and this is worth a lot more to me than the fact I could go and earn 5-10k more elsewhere, especially while my DC are preschool age.

Yes I'd agree, we get 30 days holiday, plus bank holiday, you can take them when you want. No problem to flex around school assemblies etc, we're very lucky!

10 people in the company I work for; similar experience as above. SMP, SSP (although people are paid for ad-hoc days off, would need to be completely incapacitated for weeks to get sickness pay), ability to work from home as & when required. Standard pension contributions. Able to leave early if school calls etc. Great flexibility and reasonable attitude - aka they treat us like adults and we don't rip the piss.
We get annual salary increases each year after appraisal; I got 5% last year and I know another staff member got 10% - it's all based on your value to the company here and what is a reasonable salary expectation for your field of work.

Generally small businesses don't have the manpower or HR dept required to adequately monitor stringent rules and processeswhich is why the flexibility works well for both employers and employees i.e. I don't mind working 15 minutes late if something crops up, as I know they wouldn't haul me over the coals if my bus is late next week. As a company we did explore potential for providing an employee life insurance benefit but after checking out the tax benefits for us, it just wasn't viable. And that's the crux of it; small businesses can't often provide you with the "added extras" than multi-nationals can, so they give you the "pros" of flexibility and personal approach.

Thank you, interesting.

I thought there would be tax implications on things like life insurance. I've just been told they don't give cost of living payrises as the salary is competitive and they are a small company. However they offer flexibility. But you all say the same as me that he flexibility works both ways. I often work a day I am meant to not be (0.8 FTE) to meet urgent needs of a client. I also swap days about to meet company needs so we can have a meeting, that kind of thing. This gets me thinking that their much touted flexibility is mutually beneficial but they get more out of the deal than us.

My contract does not mention no adjustment of pay or anything like that.

@SophiaLarsen I've just been told they don't give cost of living pay rises as the salary is competitive and they are a small company

They won't find that the salary stays competitive for long if they offer NO salary increase in line with annual inflation; they will ultimately lose good staff as after 5 years, what was once a good wage, will be a "fair" wage. But, as we so often see with the NHS and civil service careers etc, an annual increase inline with inflation doesn't happen for all and shouldn't be expected as standard (unfortunately).

Also, majority of contracts won't mention anything about adjustments to pay, as it would legally obligate the employer into doing so on an annual basis, even if your performance doesn't necessarily merit it. My contracts DOES mention potential for annual bonus, if merited (I had to negotiate to get his added though, its not standard).

I work for a small company, there are 3 of us. I get private health insurance but no other benefits although I get a good bonus (depending on how much money we have made) and a payrise each year, usually 1.5k or something. we are very flexible in terms of holiday allowance but then I have been here for over 20 years, we've all been here a long time. It's a specialised business though usually located in London so I know I am very lucky to have this job.

very small - x 3 of us here & I really love it but no extra's. Also don't really get pay rises but I earn commission & receive a great Christmas bonus so it evens out really