Construction company Rok is keen to implement a flexible benefits scheme in order to harmonise perks across the group following a spate of acquisitions. In a step in this direction, it asked four firms to tender to run a feasibility study into the suitability of launching a scheme, before settling on Thomsons Online Benefits.
Richard Sadler, reward leader at Rok, says: “We already offered good benefits, but we now have around 4,200 people yet only 3,000 are on Rok terms. We want harmonisation across the business and flex seemed like a good way of doing this as well as to encourage loyalty.”
Sadler says his experience of working for an employee benefits consultancy in Bristol before joining Rok last December, helped him determine what he was looking for in a perks provider.
“I wanted a firm that could do everything in terms of the study and that had the [flexible benefits] technology which was proven to deliver. We were also looking for assistance with focus groups so that we could find out what people wanted.”
When it came to the cost of introducing flex, Sadler says that, while he was mindful of the fact that the cheapest solutions were not always the best ones, off-the-shelf technology helped reduce the overall bill.
There were also other differences between the tenders with one consultant producing a 700-page report which he found overwhelming, compared with the simple and concise approach adopted by Thomsons.
He says: “I would also recommend an organisation visits a consultant’s office to pick up on how they run things by speaking to the people on the ground.”
It has now agreed that Thomsons will provide total reward statements for all Rok’s employees from the beginning of next year.
“Following the feasibility study, we have yet to announce who will run our flex scheme going forward, but to date, I’m very pleased with the way Thomsons has handled the project,” adds Sadler.