Kantar adds holiday trading to flex

EXCLUSIVE: Kantar has added holiday trading, enabling staff to buy and/or sell holiday in 15-minute slots, to its flexible benefits scheme.

This follows its move to monthly enrolment windows for its 3,124 UK staff.

To date, 87% of employees have logged into its flexible benefits website. Kantar has also had 10,606 logins to the site overall.

The flexible benefits plan, My Life, My Choices, provided by Thomsons Online Benefits, was introduced in January to harmonise benefits across all 12 organisations together, but also educated its employees on the true value of their benefits package.

Kantar also offers private medical insurance (PMI), income protection, a bikes-for-work scheme, childcare vouchers, a discounted gym membership, retail discounts and a salary sacrifice computing scheme.

It implemented a communication programme to reach every single member of staff through posters, brochures, emails, an interactive digital guide and screen rollers. It also offered face-to-face demonstrations, presentations and benefits fairs in each of its 15 UK locations.

As a result, an internal survey of Kantar employees found that their flexible benefits were rated seven out of ten on average.

Kath Cleary (pictured), senior HR business partner, integration at Kantar, said: “We had to harmonise all our employee benefits from the different organisations from January this year. We particularly wanted to make sure everyone had the same benefits no matter their job title or seniority.

“Every month, we send all staff an email reminder before the benefits window opens. The email also has information about some of our key benefits. So around Mothers’ Day or Christmas, something like the Gourmet Society card we offer is highlighted.

“And about a month ago, until it was delayed, we were promoting the changes to childcare.

“We’ve really tried to enhance our benefits for everyone at Kantar.”

Its approach to flex won the insight and consultancy firm ’Best flexible benefits plan – small employer’ at the Employee Benefits Awards 2015 in June.