E.On relaunches flexible benefits

More than a third of staff at energy company E.On have made chosen options from the organisation’s relaunched flex programme – a more than 7% rise on the same time last year.

The energy firm’s latest flex scheme went live on 1 April following a three-week enrolment period from 17 February to 12 March.

In all, more than 70% of the firm’s workforce now has a benefit administered through flex, and 350 employees have just joined its defined contribution (DC) pension scheme.

A new addition for this tax year is total reward statements. Ant Donaldson, senior specialist, employee benefits at E.On, said the statements provided staff with a holistic view of their benefits.

“It gives people a fuller picture of their benefits than they have ever had before,” he said.

E.On has switched flex provider to Benefex and added perks to its flex package, including Incorpore’s salary sacrifice gym membership, Virgin experience days and ProjectLink’s retail cashback cards.

In all, across both flex and voluntary, E.On now offers a suite of 17 benefits, under the firm’s branded benefits portal, My Choice. This is split into three sections: My Choice Everyday, for voluntary benefits; My Choice Flex, for flexible perks; and My Total Reward, for total reward statements.

Donaldson said: “Of the 17,000 eligible staff we have got, 5,000 staff are not in an office and 5,000 staff are in a call centre and we want to reach those people.

“We have had roadshows which the providers have attended too and we have tried to make the subject [benefits] approachable. For example, with gym membership we say ‘who wants to get fit?’ rather than saying ‘it’s a salary sacrifice scheme’, which can be a bit dry.”

Among other methods, E.On uses a network of 100 ‘champions’, who are current employees, to communicate the value of benefits offerings to staff across company sites.

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