With rising inflation putting a financial strain on all of us, the leadership team here at Aira has decided to give all employees—regardless of length of service—a £2,000 cost of living contribution, spread across a 12 month period.
The cost of living contribution will take effect from 1st July 2022 and remain in place until 30th June 2023.
We’re very aware of the current cost of living issues in the UK and, unfortunately, do not see this slowing down any time soon. At Aira, we’ve always tried to do the right thing by our team and to support all of our employees however we can. With this in mind, it only felt right to look into what we could do to help, and the Leadership Team (Matt, Paddy, Shannon and MK) have been discussing various options recently. The Cost of Living Contribution feels like the best thing that we can do to make a difference.
Below, we’ve outlined the details of the contribution, along with some of the thinking behind why we’ve chosen to do things this way. We hope that it reenforces our commitment to build a great place to work and to support our team the best that we can.
Does this impact pay reviews at Aira?
No. This is completely independent from regular performance-related pay reviews. For employees due a review soon, this will still take place as usual.
Why did you choose £2,000 across the board and not a % of salary?
We modelled lots of options here, both in the amounts that we can give and whether it should be a fixed amount across everyone or whether it should be a percentage of salary.
We decided on £2,000 because, from our research, this appears to be a meaningful amount (even after tax) that will make a difference and help to offset a good chunk of the costs that we’re all experiencing at the moment. It is also an amount that Aira can afford to pay without putting ourselves at risk—our costs as a company are also increasing, so we do need to be careful here—but we know that we can afford this.
We chose a fixed amount rather than a percentage because this will have the biggest impact for those on lower salaries. Inflation and the cost of living increase hits those people hardest, so we decided that a fixed increase is the fairest, most effective way to help the Aira team as a whole and make the biggest difference to those that are likely to need it the most.
Why are you spreading this over 12 months as opposed to giving it to us in one go?
This isn’t a bonus, and it’s genuinely meant to help with the increased cost of living that we’re experiencing, such as increasing energy and fuel prices.
By spreading the £2,000 out over 12 months we wanted to ensure it can be used to support our team in paying for rising household bills. If we gave it as a lump sum, it’s more likely to be treated as an actual bonus and spent quickly, and this isn’t the intention of what we’re trying to do.
Will you do this again?
We hope that things settle down and that we don’t need to! We don’t have any plans to do this again, but we’ll continue to do what we can to support all of our employees and balance this against the long-term financial stability of Aira.
What about new starters? Will they get this too?
The Cost of Living Contribution is available to all new starters we hire between 1st July 2022 and 30th June 2023, although it will be prorated based on their start date. For example, if someone starts in September, they will get ten months of the increase (September 2022 - June 2023).
If you’re interested in finding out more about our Culture Code and what it’s like working at Aira, check out our Careers page.
