EXCLUSIVE: Bibby Financial Services has achieved a 99% employee engagement rate with its flexible benefits programme.
Just seven of the organisation’s 763 employees did not make any changes to their flexible benefits package during its most recent window, which ran from 17 November until 6 December 2015.
To achieve this level of engagement, Bibby introduced three new benefits for its staff: cancer screening, provided by Bluecrest Wellness, a will writing service and a money saving tool, Money Boost, both provided by Sodexo.
Thus far, 60 employees (8%) have taken up the cancer screening benefit, 3% have utlised the will writing service, and 5% have opted to use Money Boost.
The new benefits were introduced following staff feedback received through focus groups and the organisation’s employee engagement survey.
To communicate the benefits to staff, Bibby utilises webinars, road shows and its intranet. To demonstrate the value of the cancer screening benefit, the communications highlighted that the benefit cost less than the price of a takeaway pizza each month.
The flexible benefits package, Bibby box of benefits, provided by Thomsons Online Benefits, is made up of 17 benefits. Bibby Financial Services also offers its employees eight core benefits and five voluntary benefits.
Bibby aligns its employee benefits with its goals as an organisation; rewarding and recognising employees to retain them and supporting business growth.
Vicky Smith, reward manager at Bibby Group, said: “This was Bibby’s fifth annual window, so we set ourselves the target of it being our best ever. And it was; with increased selection rates on every single benefit, exceeded targets on take up of the new benefits and an amazing 99% of eligible employees choosing benefits in the window, the HR team’s hard work paid off.
“Every year the annual window becomes a real focus in the world of Bibby. Staff start asking in the summer what the new benefits are going to be. We put up posters and invite colleagues to road shows to fuel the excitement.
“Then the HR business partners conduct ‘reward clinics’ at all 20 offices around the UK, and there’s a real buzz about the benefits.”