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Business Performance Consultancy for SMEs

Help Organisations Build Higher Performance

Improve business performance through better leadership, employee wellbeing, financial wellbeing, employee benefits and practical business improvement.

Your people are your most significant investment. Aetas Performance helps you get more from that investment — through a structured, commercially grounded approach that measures the return at every stage.

We help organisations improve productivity, engagement, retention and long-term commercial value.

No cost · No obligation · No commitment until proposal stage

About the ROEI Framework →

What the work delivers

The numbers behind a recent performance engagement

Figures from a single 85-employee engagement. Every organisation is different. The types of return are consistent.

£45k
Saved annually in pension charges
60%+
Attended financial resilience workshops
£120k
Increase in annual pension saving
50–200%
Typical cost of replacing a skilled employee
The challenge

The performance gaps most organisations recognise but rarely measure

The challenges are consistent across sectors. The commercial cost is rarely quantified. That is where Aetas Performance starts.

📋

Absence and presenteeism

UK businesses lose an estimated £51 billion per year to stress-related absence and presenteeism. For a 50-person business, that is a material number — and almost none of it appears on a management report.

👥

Recruitment and retention

Replacing a skilled employee costs between 50 and 200 per cent of their annual salary. A 15% turnover rate in a 60-person business means losing nine people a year. Most organisations have never calculated the actual invoice.

🌐

Benefits spend with no return

The average UK employer spends over £800 per employee per year on benefits. In most organisations, roughly 15% is unused or poorly understood. That is £12,000 wasted annually in a 100-person business.

📈

Leadership and management gaps

Poor management is the single biggest driver of employee disengagement. Every hour a senior person spends managing a people problem that a better-developed manager could handle is an hour not spent on the business.

👜

Culture that doesn't scale

What worked at 20 people rarely works at 80. Culture gaps become visible as recruitment problems, rising turnover, and declining engagement scores — by which point they are expensive to fix.

🎯

Employer brand falling behind

In a competitive labour market, the quality of candidates you attract reflects how your organisation is perceived. Organisations that invest in their people demonstrably attract better talent and retain them longer.

Return on Employee Investment

Your people are your largest investment. Are you measuring the return?

Most organisations invest heavily in their workforce — and rarely measure what they get back.

What you invest in

  • Salaries and bonuses
  • Pensions and contributions
  • Employee benefits
  • Recruitment and onboarding
  • Training and development
  • Wellbeing and support

The question

Are those investments generating the maximum return?

What Aetas measures and improves

  • Employee engagement and focus
  • Productivity and output
  • Retention and recruitment cost
  • Absence and presenteeism
  • Benefits utilisation
  • Employer brand strength
ROEI Calculator

See what financial pressure may be costing your workforce specifically , before any conversation takes place.

Use the ROEI calculator

Learn more about the ROEI Framework →

How it works

The Business Performance Review

A four-stage process. No cost or commitment until you decide to proceed.

Every engagement begins the same way. Four short stages, light on your time, with full visibility at each point. Nothing is recommended, costed, or committed to until you have seen exactly what we propose and why. Most clients reach the proposal stage within four to six weeks.

01

Initial conversation

Getting to know your business

A short introductory call, supported by a brief pre-meeting questionnaire that focuses the time.

30 minutes · Video or phone

02

Discovery

Identifying where the pressure sits

A deeper conversation that identifies where financial pressure may be affecting performance, and what is already in place to support your people.

45 minutes · Video or in-person

03

Options

Shaping the right approach together

We review and discuss options together, designed for your size, practical to implement, and built around your situation.

45 minutes · Video or in-person

04

Proposal

Where you decide whether to proceed

A written proposal setting out exactly what is recommended, the costs, and the expected return. This is the first point at which commitment is invited.

Written document · Reviewed together

Book a Performance Review

No cost · No obligation until proposal stage · Full programme from £140–£165 per employee per year · See fees

Where there is an issue, we fix it

What the programme delivers

The Audit identifies whether action is needed. Where it is, a three-part programme addresses the root cause, built around your organisation, your workforce, and your constraints. Each pillar is introduced only where it earns its place.

01

Clarity

Understanding what you have

A review of pensions, benefits, and financial support, identifying gaps, inefficiencies, and spend that is not performing. Employees start to understand and value what is already in place.

Business outcome Improved return on existing spend. In one recent engagement, pension charge reductions alone saved £45,000 per year.
02

Confidence

Helping employees feel financially in control

Practical financial education for employees (covering budgeting, debt, pensions, and planning), designed to feel achievable, not overwhelming. One-to-one guidance available where needed.

Business outcome Reduced financial anxiety. Higher daily focus and engagement. A workforce that is present, not distracted by money worries.
03

Stability

Ongoing support and resilience

Continued access to tools, guidance, and ongoing support. Sustains the gains and builds financial resilience across your workforce.

Business outcome Improved retention over time. A stronger employer proposition. Reduced pressure on leadership from people-related issues.

"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, Bristol-based organisation

Case studies

See the outcomes in practice

  • Three pillars delivered: workshops, pension review, and ongoing governance
  • Business Performance Review provided at no cost to the organisation
  • Two new employee benefit services introduced (Shop St and online wills) at no additional employer cost
  • Pension improvements being implemented. Ongoing engagement in place.

Bristol case study UK retail group case study

Why Aetas Performance is different

A Commercial Performance Intervention.

Most wellbeing and benefits solutions are designed for large corporate employers. They rely on broad platforms, generic content, and the assumption that employees will engage independently. Uptake is low. Impact is hard to measure. The organisation is left wondering whether any of it made a difference. In a smaller business, the stakes are higher.

01

The Audit comes first, always

Nothing is introduced without first understanding your organisation, your workforce, and where the pressure sits. No two programmes look the same.

02

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.

03

Managed on your behalf throughout

Aetas coordinates delivery, handles employee communications, and oversees implementation. You retain full visibility without managing providers yourself.

04

Built for organisations where every person matters

One disengaged person in a 30-person team is more than three percent of your entire workforce. Smaller organisations cannot absorb quiet underperformance the way larger ones can.

The Aetas Performance Methodology

The Business Performance Framework

A repeatable five-stage process that turns investment in people into measurable business outcomes.

Stage 1

Measure

Business Performance Review and ROEI Calculator establish the baseline.

Stage 2

Diagnose

Identify where financial pressure, benefits gaps and planning needs are affecting performance.

Stage 3

Recommend

A written proposal with clear commercial rationale. Nothing is introduced without one.

Stage 4

Implement

Aetas coordinates delivery across all three pillars , managed throughout on your behalf.

Stage 5

Measure Again

Ongoing review tracks improvements in ROEI, engagement, retention and business performance.

Get started

The next step is a short conversation. No cost, no obligation.

Book a Performance Review directly with Matthew Steiner, or join one of our upcoming sessions to hear the thinking first. Both are provided at no cost and carry no obligation.

A

Book a Business Performance Review

A focused, no-cost conversation with Matthew Steiner to identify where performance can be improved in your organisation and what the gaps may be costing.

  • No cost and no obligation beyond the conversation itself
  • You come away with clarity, whether action is needed or not
  • Available by video or phone, at a time that suits you

Book an Audit

B

Business Performance: A Leader's Briefing

A 45-minute webinar via Zoom for MDs, FDs and senior leaders on how to measure and improve the Return on Employee Investment in your organisation.

  • Speakers: Matthew Steiner and Daniel Cottam
  • Regular sessions throughout the year
  • No cost and no obligation

See upcoming dates

Related

The team

The people you will work with

Aetas Performance is built around senior relationships, not account managers. You will deal directly with the people responsible for your programme, from first conversation to ongoing review.

MS

Matthew Steiner

Managing Director

Matthew founded Aetas in 2022 following more than 20 years in financial services. He leads every Business Performance Review personally and takes direct responsibility for each client engagement, from initial conversation through to ongoing programme delivery.

PR

Peter Rose APFS

Chartered Financial Planner & Pensions Specialist

Peter is a Chartered Financial Planner with over 50 years of experience in financial services. He provides specialist pension and financial planning guidance for employees, covering retirement strategy, pension consolidation and pre-retirement planning.

DC

Daniel Cottam

Financial Planner

Daniel delivers the employee-facing elements of the Aetas programme, including one-to-one financial guidance sessions and group workshops. He works with employees at all stages of their financial life, from early career planning through to pre-retirement.

The Aetas Group

One group. A wider ecosystem of specialist expertise.

Aetas Performance sits alongside Aetas Wealth, Aetas for Charities and Aetas Impact within a broader group. Whether the need is personal financial planning, organisational performance, charity governance or purpose-led strategy, the Aetas group covers the full picture — supported by the Competitive Edge partner network.

Wealth

Aetas Wealth

Personal financial planning for directors, business owners and senior professionals. Retirement, inheritance, investment and protection, delivered through the Lifetime to Legacy framework.

Visit Aetas Wealth
Charities

Aetas for Charities

Financial wellbeing, governance, pension oversight and trustee support for charities, not-for-profits and their leadership teams.

Visit Aetas for Charities
Impact

Aetas Impact Coming soon

Helping purpose-led organisations, social enterprises and mission-driven businesses maximise their impact. Strategy, governance, and performance support built around the organisations that are trying to do things differently.

In development
Edge

Competitive Edge

Access to a curated network of specialist delivery partners across leadership, HR, technology, legal, and commercial strategy. Where the performance opportunity requires a specialist beyond the Aetas team, Competitive Edge provides a trusted introduction.

Via Aetas Performance
Get started

Book a Business Performance Review

A focused conversation with Matthew Steiner, at no cost and with no obligation. Thirty minutes to understand where your organisation stands and what, if anything, would make a measurable difference to performance.

30

minutes

No

cost or obligation

Clear

next steps either way