Tesco has sent total reward statements to staff who have been with the retailer for less than a year for the first time. The move is a bid by the supermarket giant to cut employee turnover by promoting future entitlement to benefits.
Tesco is also using its total reward statements to flag up to all its staff what they could receive on retirement if they joined the company defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.
Until now, employees who are not members only received direct marketing about the DB scheme with their statements. The pension plan is open to all staff, irrespective of when they join, and requires members to contribute 4.75%, while Tesco pays about double that in contributions.
Previously, Tesco only sent total reward statements to staff with more then one year’s service. But last month, it produced an extra 40,000 statements for staff with less than a year’s service, making a total of 220,000 statements. Also, this year, the statements are printed on environmentally-friendly FSC paper.
Michael Poulton, benefits manager at Tesco, said: "In any retail business, there will be a proportion of staff who won’t stay for 12 months – that’s a pattern across retail. We want to send the message out to those staff that if they realise what benefits they will get from 12 months onwards, it might incentivise them to stay on further."
The statements sent to staff who have yet to clock up one year’s service make it clear that they will be entitled to a ‘Privilege’ discount card and free shares through the retailer’s Shares in success scheme, as well as the chance to participate in its Save as you earn share scheme if they stay on longer than a year.
They also point out that employees who have worked for more than three months are eligible to take part in the Buy as you earn share scheme.