First Bus has taken a progressive, proactive approach to Financial Wellbeing, which goes far beyond the typical offering of giving employees access to financial advisors, or pension consultants, or running a few webinars.
This is driven, in no small part, by the passion of ED&I director, Gareth Hind. While he absolutely understands the imperative of a business case and ROI, he is just as committed to the “human impact” of supporting colleagues, which sometimes cannot be definitely measured.
“The ‘human’ return is that we can have a real impact on real people,” he says. “Of course, we have to make sure there’s a financial return. But we need to be playing the long game, not just the short game. Not just grabbing headlines or a PR opportunity. In fact, if I feel it is about a headline, I will stop; I will not do things to grab a headline. We want to make a difference and ensure this difference is real and sustainable.”
In a world of PR sound bites and endless press releases, this attitude is refreshing.
So what has First Bus invested in?
One of the investments Hind describes as “most important” has been in training employees to be Money First Aiders. The concept of this is the same as Mental Health First Aiders but in relation to destigmatising the taboo of talking about money, rather than mental health.
The company started rolling out this training to 300 key members of staff in January, including all Mental Health First Aiders, Wellbeing Champions and Line Managers, following a pilot. The training is online and takes three hours.
“This is all part of our preventative wellbeing plan,” he says.
Money First Aiders
Money First Aiders signpost colleagues to resources available at the company. “They’re there to support, but they are not counsellors, just like Mental Health First Aiders aren’t,” says Hind. “We find the peer to peer approach is really powerful because colleagues are unlikely to open up to Leadership or HR.”
Another initiative Hind has spearheaded is a period positive perspective. First Bus is the first national bus operator to take this perspective and provide menstruation products in all its toilets, for colleagues and customers alike. The bus company has partnered with social enterprise Hey Girls to do this, a social enterprise that donates 100% of its profits to funding the fight to eradicate period poverty. For every product they sell, they’ll donate a product to people who need them.
Real Living Wage
A third initiative First Bus has introduced is its commitment to being a Real Living Wage employer; again this makes it the first national operator to take this step. The company signed up as a Real Living Wage employer on April 1st 2024, which meant that as a result, 1,300 members of staff received a pay increase to take them to the RLW. First Bus is committed to the scheme, and will continue to renew its accreditation this year, meaning all employees will continue to be paid the RLW.
Apprentice pay
Additionally, First Bus is also looking at the pay of apprentices, who aren’t technically covered by the Real Living Wage initiative.
“But we’ve said we’re not going to leave anyone behind and from April 1st all apprentices will be paid the RLW too. The fact that they’ll receive a decent salary from day 1 is going to have an incredible impact. They’ve told me it’ll mean real improvements to their lives like buying their first car or can move out of their parents’ home,” he says.
First Bus is not the only employer to recognise the importance of looking after the financial wellbeing of its employees, especially its lower paid workers on the coal face delivering the service. John Lewis also announced earlier this month that it would be investing £114 million in pay rises.
Employees need good (financial) wellbeing to perform
Its interim Chief Executive Jo Rackham outlined the clear business case, explaining that customer service is a differentiating factor for the retail brand, inferring that employees must be happy and healthy in order to perform best; something they can’t do if crippled by money worries.
The fact that several retailers – like Curry’s, Marks & Spencer, B&Q, Sainsbury’s and Costa Coffee – have also recently introduced inflation-busting payrises suggests they also recognise the important correlation.
Overall, employee reaction to First Bus’s Financial Wellbeing initiatives, which make a tangible difference to their finances, has been “really positive”, says Hind, adding “they make employees more loyal and have a more positive sentiment towards our business which is really important and measured in our survey.”
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