Debt management business Arrow Global has made use of three data sources to try to perfect the right mix of benefits for its staff: its online flexible benefits package provided by Aon Employee Benefits, a national pay and benefits survey in late 2015, and an organisation-wide engagement survey in mid-2016.
The exercise helped in a number of areas, including identifying a gap in its benefits provision. Paul Longfield, head of HR, says: “One thing which came across was that we were well covered from an insurance perspective, with products like life assurance, [group income protection] and healthcare products, but people wanted more of a lifestyle range.”
The insurance benefits are provided as standard for allArrow Global employees, as well as 24/7 access to an employee assistance programme (EAP) Employees can also access further benefits through the flex platform: they are able to flex up the coverage on their life assurance; join the private medical insurance (PMI) scheme, for which the the premium is employer-paid; health screening, dental insurance and health cash plans.
As a result of the employee research,Arrow Global introduced a gadget scheme, giving staff the option to purchase technology and spread the cost interest-free over a 12-month period.
Arrow was also able to identify discrepancies that existed within its provision, following its acquisition of Capquest in 2014. Consequently, it increased its life assurance provision and introduced a group income protection policy for former Capquest staff.
The organisation also used the national pay and benefits survey to see how it compared it to its peers in the financial sector. “We had already developed a reward philosophy where we wanted to be at least market-medium, but where the part of the organisation was adding value to the bottom line we wanted to be more geared towards the upper quartile, cross-sector,” says Longfield.
Since it started to analyse the data at its disposal, take-up has increased in nine out of 11 benefits, says Longfield. It is hoped that this will be reflected in higher engagement scores when it runs the survey again later in the year. “That’s the key one; the engagement survey,” he says. “Just because people have taken [a benefit] up doesn’t mean they’re feeling engaged.”