The pressures are similar. The context is different.
Financial pressure quietly reduces performance in any organisation. How it shows up, and how a programme is best delivered, depends on how you are structured. The Workplace Review adapts to both.
Businesses & SMEs
Owner-managed and mid-sized businesses with up to 250 employees, where every person represents a meaningful share of output. One disengaged employee, or an inefficient pension and benefits package, has an outsized effect on the bottom line. The programme is built around your leadership team and light in its demands on their time.
Professional practices & LLPs
Partnerships and practices with a small operational core and a workforce of qualified professionals and support staff. The workplace programme supports your people; partners typically access financial planning separately through Aetas Wealth. The two often run alongside each other.
What an engagement covers
Three pillars, introduced only where they earn their place. The Workplace Review identifies which combination is right for your business or practice.
Benefits Review
A review of your pension, benefits, and financial support arrangements. Identifies gaps, inefficiencies, and spend that is not performing. Most SMEs find that this pillar alone covers the full programme fee through identified savings.
Employee Education
Practical financial workshops covering budgeting, debt, pensions, and planning. One-to-one access to a regulated Independent Financial Adviser at no cost to staff. Communications and scheduling managed entirely on your behalf.
Ongoing Support
Continued access to tools and guidance. Annual review of impact. Sustaining the gains made in years one and two and reinforcing the employer proposition over time.
A hands-on partner. Not a benefits platform.
Most wellbeing and benefits solutions are designed for large corporate HR teams. They rely on broad platforms, generic content, and the assumption that employees will engage independently. Uptake is low, impact is hard to measure, and the organisation is left wondering whether any of it made a commercial difference. In a smaller business or practice, where every person and every pound of overhead matters, those assumptions do not hold.
Commercially grounded, not sentiment-led
Every recommendation has a commercial rationale. If the numbers do not justify it, we say so. Fees are presented alongside the savings we identify.
Managed on your behalf throughout
Aetas coordinates delivery, handles employee communications, and oversees implementation. You retain full visibility without managing providers yourself.
Regional engineering firm, 85 employees
A mid-sized engineering business operating across two sites in the south of England. The leadership team came to Aetas with a broad sense that "something needed to change" but no clear view of where to start. The Workplace Review identified material inefficiencies in the workplace pension and benefits package, alongside a workforce reporting significant financial uncertainty.
"We knew something needed to change, but we did not know where to start. The improvements to the pension alone justified the engagement many times over."
Senior leader, regional engineering firm
A four-step process. No commitment until you decide to proceed.
From first conversation to written proposal. Designed for your size and minimal in its demands on your leadership team. Most clients reach the proposal stage within four to six weeks.
Initial conversation
A short introductory call to understand your business and what has prompted you to look at this. A brief pre-meeting questionnaire focuses the time.
Discovery
A deeper conversation that identifies where financial pressure may be affecting performance, and what is already in place to support your people.
Options
We review and discuss options together, designed for your size, practical to implement, and built around your situation.
Proposal
A written proposal setting out exactly what is recommended, the costs, and the expected return. The first point at which commitment is invited.
What businesses and practices typically ask
How is this different from an EAP or benefits platform?
An EAP is a reactive helpline. A benefits platform is a self-service portal. Aetas Workplace is a proactive consultancy: we start with the employer, understand where pressure is affecting performance, and design a response. We can also offer regulated financial advice through Aetas Wealth, which an EAP cannot provide.
What does it cost?
Per-employee pricing, agreed in writing before any work begins. Indicative full programme rates range from £140 to £165 per employee per year depending on headcount band. The Workplace Review is always free. See full pricing.
How long does an engagement take?
The Audit runs across four short stages from initial conversation to written proposal, typically reaching the proposal stage within four to six weeks. From decision to first workshop is a further two to four weeks. Annual programme review at the end of each twelve-month term.
What if our team is too small for this to work?
The programme is designed for organisations with 10 to 250 employees. Below 10, the conversation usually focuses on financial planning for founders and directors rather than a full workforce programme.
Two ways to take the next step
Both are free and carry no obligation.
Book a call
A focused conversation with Matthew Steiner to identify whether financial pressure is affecting performance in your business and what it may be costing.
Run the ROEI calculator
A short interactive tool that estimates the annual cost of financial pressure in your workforce. Useful before any conversation.
Where this fits in the Aetas Workplace System
For businesses and practices alike, the Performance System measures where value is being lost across your investment in people, fixes the cause with the right drivers, and proves the return.
See how the Performance System works →