An employment package fit for 2023 and beyond

Anyone who works in the digital sector will know that the fight for talent has never been tougher. Whether it’s retaining top talent or cutting through the noise of recruiters to reach new prospects, creating a standout employment package has become a huge priority for everyone in our industry.

If you’ve seen our jobs page recently, you’ll know that we’re recruiting on a huge scale. We knew we needed to try something different with our employment package to reach the best people in the industry, and we started by looking inwards.

We asked our teams what they valued in their employment package: what did they love already and what did they want to see in the future. The key takeaways for us were:

• Our teams loved the free city centre parking, Health Cash plan and Experience for Life schemes.
• 31% said a shorter working week would have the biggest positive effect on their employment at Summit.
• 64% would like to have more time off work.
• Almost 40% of female respondents chose ‘improved family leave policies’ in their top three benefits they would like to see enhanced in our existing offer.

We looked at the results, spoke to our recruitment partners, and reached out to our contacts outside of Summit for their feedback too. Pulling all this together, we put together a plan for an employment package fit for 2023 and beyond.

So, what’s changed?

We’re trialling compressed working. At scale.

All Summit employees have been able to opt-in to our six-month compressed working trial, where they can choose to compress 10 days’ worth of hours into 9 days, and get every other Friday off. A three-day weekend every fortnight seems pretty good right? We think so!

It’s great for us as a business allowing us to maintain our high standards and output to clients, but at the same time our teams get the benefit of an extra day off. We consulted with our clients and were delighted with the feedback we received; many even asked us to let them know how we found it as they were exploring similar options themselves. We’re proud to be trying something different and taking our clients on the journey with us.

Generous family leave policies for maternity, paternity, and adoption leave

We’ve taken our already enhanced maternity and paternity policy and made it even better.

We’ll top up maternity leave payments for our staff to 100% of their pay for the first 12 weeks, and 50% of pay for the next 12 weeks. That’s a whole six months of time off topped up by us. We’ve also increased paternity leave, where we’ll pay 100% of wage for a whole month.

Milestone days off, because you shouldn’t need annual leave for life’s big moments

We’re giving our staff extra days off for their wedding day, house move day, graduation and child’s first day of school without needing to take annual leave. We’re committed to supporting everyone at Summit enjoy the biggest days in their life, and look forward to seeing the pictures afterwards!

Swap UK bank holidays for alternative religious holidays

We’re committed to supporting everyone at Summit celebrate religious holidays that are important to them. Our people can swap bank holidays at Christmas and Easter for alternative holidays in the year such as Ramadan, Eid, Diwali and Pesach and more.

All of these additional elements enhance our existing package of benefits, which includes:

• Flexible, hybrid working: core hours between 10am-3pm so you can flexibly plan your week, and 40% of your time in our office at Hull’s C4DI
• 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays
• Bonus scheme
• Workplace Pension
• Healthcare Cash Plan
• 4 Study Days per year to work on personal development activities
• Clear progression plan structures
• £250 per year towards an ‘experience for life’
• Free city centre parking
• Discounts and benefits shopping platform
• Career break scheme
• Life assurance
• Company events

We want to be the best employer in the region. We’re dedicated to rewarding our talented people and helping them to grow their careers in this fantastic industry, and make sure they feel the benefits of working with us.

If you like the sound of our employment package and you’re interested in a new opportunity, check out our jobs page and apply to an individual role or our talent pool. We can’t wait to hear from you.

If you’d like to speak to us about our opportunities, please email HR@summitmedia.com and the team can help find the right role for you.