Magara Law has moved to a personalised employee benefits model, giving its 11 staff options such as flexible pension contributions and opt-in private medical cover, offering small employers a practical template for using tailored reward to strengthen engagement and retention without a large benefits budget.

Magara Law is an employment law firm founded by solicitor advocate Roy Magara, employing 11 staff across London, Bicester, Banbury and Reading.

The strategic logic favours tailored reward over generic perks as a lower-cost differentiator for small employers competing for talent against larger firms with bigger benefits budgets. Magara Law contributes 10% to staff pensions with the option for employees to increase their own contributions, and offers opt-in private medical insurance, provided by Vitality, covering fast-track GP access, specialist consultations, diagnostic tests, physiotherapy, mental health support, eligible hospital treatment and cancer care, with all staff eligible after probation.

Roy Magara, solicitor advocate and founder, said as we've grown, we've moved away from a one-size-fits-all approach, adding that the firm has become much more intentional about understanding what motivates each team member. He said personalised benefits show an employer has taken the time to understand the individual, which helps build engagement, loyalty and workplace culture, and pointed to enhanced maternity and paternity pay as an area the firm may extend further as it continues tailoring benefits around life stages and personal ambitions.

The structural driver is a shift from reactive to preventive benefits design. The firm's employee assistance programme provides confidential counselling, mental health support, financial and legal guidance and bereavement support, alongside regular health checks and incentives that reward healthy habits, aiming to catch problems before they affect performance. Magara said a proactive approach creates healthier, more productive workplaces, arguing it improves engagement and reduces avoidable absence and staff turnover, since prevention is almost always more effective than cure. Third-party research from Mercer found that 90% of employers plan to prioritise optimising benefits options to better meet employee needs within the next three years, indicating the approach reflects a wider reward trend rather than an isolated case.

For the sector, the case shows that personalised, preventive benefits design is becoming a practical differentiator even for very small employers, not solely large corporates with substantial reward budgets, as competition for talent extends further down the employer size scale.

Source: Employee Benefits