Midas gives one-off cost of living payment to help staff through ‘uncertain economic times’

Cultural communications agency Midas PR offered staff members a one-off cost of living payment in October, joining a raft of other organisations in the book trade doing so.

Chief executive of the 25-employee company Jason Bartholomew told The Bookseller the £750 payment was offered to everyone except him and George Lossius, chairman of the board.

He said: “Midas is a privately owned small business where each of our employees plays a vital role in our collective success. It is therefore vital we continue to look for ways to offer the best types of benefits we can afford.”

Amelia Knight, director, said of the one-off payment: “At Midas, we are keenly aware of the stress and anxiety caused by these uncertain economic times. Households across the country are feeling the impact of shocking energy price rises and high inflation, and as our staff’s wellbeing is of paramount importance, we wanted to offer extra assistance this year.

“Midas is a small company, but we have prioritised our response to this cost of living crisis and are pleased to be able to offer all staff £750 as extra support this winter. We will reassess this in early spring and, along with everyone in the industry and beyond, we hope for a brighter economic outlook in 2023.”

Hachette UK, Simon & Schuster, Canongate and Faber have all also offered their employees a one-off cost of living payment to, in the words of a Faber spokesperson, “help mitigate the impact of the economic environment”.

Knight continued that the agency has an “open-door culture, where staff can always feel free to speak to anyone on the management board directly about concerns and worries such as these”, adding that “we’re also pleased to be able offer staff an employee assistance programme, delivered by the UK and Ireland’s leading wellbeing provider.”

“This will provide counselling support and advice, along with an app and a virtual library of wellbeing information, to help staff deal with any personal and professional problems that could be affecting their home life or work life, health and general wellbeing,” she said.