David Cox – The Cost of Living – Employee Reward and Benefits

David began by giving us an insight into his education and career background. Having attained a Masters degree in system engineering, David became a systems engineer on board the Royal Navy. He then moved to work as part of the Royal Navy’s redundancy program. Following David’s time at the Royal Navy, a member of Oakleaf Partnership placed him as a Rewards director at Banquet Group, where David could share his passion for professional and personal development.

Moving onto the leading topic of cost of living, David outlined the main reasons for the current crisis, with the inflation rate currently at 8.7%. Firstly, Brexit could be to blame for dragging down the country’s growth potential and costing workers hundreds of pounds a year in lost pay. Other possible causes include rising interest rates and the gas and oil crisis.

Despite everybody experiencing the effects of the rising cost of living, David highlighted that low-income households are the ones most impacted and suffering greatly. This left us wondering, is there a solution to this global issue? If so, what are the solutions? Is there anything we can do to improve our own financial situation? David enlightened us with potential answers, with our attendees pitching their thoughts and varying opinions on the effectiveness. From a business perspective, flexible working could help to cut down commute costs and reduce necessary office space. But are most companies already implementing hybrid working post-C-19 pandemic? Alternatively, providing financial education in schools and workplaces may help people to budget themselves and stop falling for loan shark scams. However, setting up courses and getting information into school curriculums could take a long time, whilst many people are overwhelmed by their finances and need urgent help. There is also the option to hand out lump sums of money, raise wages, or offer to pay pension benefits. But should everyone receive the same amount of money? Who needs or deserves a pay rise? Should employees on the highest salaries get their pension benefits paid? Then there is the even larger debate around whether employers should help at all, as this could create an expectation that employers will continue to give handouts whenever times get tough.

As we wrapped up the fascinating discussions between our attendees, David finished with some final tips for career development. David initially highlighted that networking is an essential part of professional development. Additionally, seeking an internal mentor can be a great way to understand your business and learn how to progress within the company. Finally, learning to articulate your points well (not just hiding behind spreadsheets!) can prove to be an invaluable skill.

Following David’s insightful advice, our attendees continued their engaging debates and networking over drinks late into the evening.

We would like to express our gratitude to David Cox for being such a fantastic guest speaker. Furthermore, thank you to all our attendees for providing incredible insight into such an intriguing topic. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone at our next event! For more information regarding our future events please reach out to Cathrine below.