Nexen wins buy-in for new flexible benefits technology

Oil and gas organisation Nexen had to get buy-in for new flexible benefits technology to help pool its benefits online for its 700 employees.

It also had to agree with directors the move to outsourcing benefits.

The moves were designed to help employees get a greater understanding of the benefits the organisation offered and to open up its benefits to be more flexible for staff, moving away from an annual flex window to enable staff to use the scheme and select benefits throughout the year.  

This was also key to reducing the administration costs for the business.

To win buy-in, Nexen focused its approach on the efficiencies the project would bring, as well as the increase in employee engagement levels.

Anish Gajree, senior compensation and benefits advisor at Nexen, says: “It was a big change for us and it was about looking at efficiencies and how we could be more cutting edge.

“We highlighted to directors that the scheme fitted in well with what the organisation was looking to do, while outsourcing made sure we were not wasting people’s time.

“We brought all this together and showcased what we would do with the rebranding of the benefits, making it more efficient and put that in front of the finance director [FD] with hard statistics to back it up.”

It launched the new scheme, which is provided by Benefex in September 2014. Since then, it has seen engagement levels increase. More than 86% of employees have interacted with the new portal and chosen benefits.

Nexen also worked with the provider during the buy-in process to highlight competitor case studies from the oil and gas industry to help win its bid.

Gajree says: “By being able to show case studies, directors [could see] that by doing this we competed with our peers and showed we were not lagging behind. It reinforced what we were trying to achieve.

“But an FD likes numbers, [demonstrating that] we did this, but for other employers it should be important to show too. It is like a Dragon’s Den moment; if the numbers are right, then you have got the buy-in.”