15 Mar 12 76 Percent Of Employee Rewards Watch Respondents Rate Pension Reform As Their Key Benefit Challenge Over The Next Twelve Months
Thomsons Online Benefits has published its annual Employee Rewards Watch report today for an incredible ninth year, with 76% of respondents rating pension reform as their key benefit challenge for the next twelve months.
Chief Executive of Thomsons Online Benefits, Michael Whitfield, commented: “During the last 30 years, there have been many changes in the world of pensions – some positive, some negative – but no change as significant as the introduction of National Employment Savings Trusts (NEST) and the accompanying application of auto-enrolment. Everyone should prepare themselves for a roller coaster of a pensions ride over the next few years as we respond to the staging dates and then the subsequent phasing dates which occur all the way up to October 2018. Respondents to Employee Rewards Watch this year have given a very clear indication that this issue is now very firmly on their radar.”
The Employee Rewards Watch (ERW) survey was first launched in 2004. This year, some 430 organisations took part making it the UK’s most authoritative benchmark of employee reward, benefits trends and industry practice. Respondents answered a structured series of questions on pensions, salary sacrifice, reward strategy and governance, flexible benefits, health & wellbeing and employee engagement.
Key findings
• Unsurprisingly, 76% of respondents cite changes to pension legislation and regulation as their key benefits strategy challenge, although only 24% are compliant and 43% won’t be ready until September 2012. Just 19% are already using auto-enrolment to enrol eligible employees into their pension schemes. Affordability (55%) and a lack of understanding (41%) were reported as the main reasons why employees don’t engage with, or take up, their pension benefits.
• 45% state that controlling employment costs is their top concern yet there is an 18% decrease in companies that can report on their total reward costs and 59% still don’t have a written reward strategy.
• 51% will look for other cost savings in their businesses as a result of mandatory employer pension contributions, although many will look to reduce other benefits (16%) rather than cut headcount (3%) or freeze recruitment (2%).
• 40% of companies now offer <a href=”http://www.thomsons.com/what-we-do/flexible-benefits”>flexible benefits</a> schemes with 56% reporting that improved employee engagement is the greatest benefit of implementing such schemes.
• 62% of organisations are not yet aware of the Government’s ‘Healthier Workforce’ pledges and, although 11% provide health and wellbeing benefits primarily to reduce levels of sickness absence, 38% do not know if their absenteeism levels actually reduced in 2011.
Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive, added: “When we first started to conduct this survey, we really wanted to make sure that our finger was on the pulse of benefit change. Almost ten years later, those intentions have never been more relevant as we approach compulsory group pension schemes for all, no set retirement age and the dismantling of public sector pensions. Throughout 2012, HR professionals and other Board Room Executives will need access to the most relevant, up to date information on a diverse range of benefit and reward topics and trends to enable them to manage their talent pools even more effectively and appropriately. We look forward to sharing the findings of this report with them and we will be hosting a number of briefings and seminars throughout the year and engaging not only in the debates but also developing the solutions.”
Employee Rewards Watch 2012 Fact File
Employee Rewards Watch, first launched in 2004 and now in its ninth year, is the UK’s most authoritative employee reward and benefits survey.
• Report publication date: March 14th 2012.
• 430 organisations took part between September and November 2011.
• 62% of respondents employ more than 1,000 people.
• 40% are located throughout the UK.
• 21% were Director level respondents.
• 53% employ people in Europe and 44% in North America.
• Respondents answered questions in six sections depending on their area of expertise. These included Pensions, Salary Sacrifice, Reward Strategy and Governance, Flexible Benefits, Health & Wellbeing and Employee Engagement.
Twitter hashtag: #ERW 2012
To download a copy of the full report including expert commentary and full analysis go to: www.thomsons.com/erw2012.
To register for Employee Rewards Watch launch events and free seminars go to: http://www.thomsons.com/events-and-knowledge/thomsons-events.
About Thomsons Online Benefits:
Thomsons Online Benefits help businesses gain maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes at minimum cost. With their unique consulting methodology Intelligent Reward™ and their award winning benefits administration technology platform, Darwin™, organisations the world over trust Thomsons Online Benefits with their employee reward programmes.
Thomsons Online Benefits has won 49 awards including ‘Firm of the Year’ and ‘Best Use of Technology’ in the 2012 Corporate Adviser Awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients that includes Cisco, the Ministry of Defence and RBS.
Thomsons Online Benefits Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for business conducted in the UK.
Contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Communications Director
Gordon House
10 Greencoat Place
London
SW1P 1PH
T: 020 3328 4003
E: press@thomsons.com
15 Feb 12 City & Guilds Wins Pay & Benefits Award ‘Team of the Year’
Thomsons Online Benefits client, City & Guilds, won the ’Team of the Year’ Award’ at the Pay and Benefits awards dinner in London on February 9th
City & Guilds is the biggest name in UK vocational education, with 2 million learners working towards one of their qualifications every year. Chris Coyne, Head of Reward & HR Services commented: “I am delighted that the wider Reward team at City & Guilds has been recognised by winning the ‘Team of the Year’ award at the Pay & Benefits Awards 2012. The work we have done over the last two years to integrate health and safety, HR operations, employee wellbeing and the more traditional compensation and benefits functions into a true ‘total reward’ offering has certainly paid off. An important part of this has been working in partnership with Thomsons Online Benefits to communicate the range of reward on offer to our staff and to drive improved employee engagement through the ‘Imagine’ benefits brand and platform. To be recognised by our industry peers with this award is great recognition for a fabulous team!”
Pay & Benefits is a monthly magazine that provides a comprehensive and reliable news summary and a detailed analysis of the latest payroll and benefits developments. The ‘Team of the Year’ category is awarded to the payroll or benefits team which has worked consistently well to offer exceptional service to its customers, whether internal or external. The judges looked for examples of how the winning team pulled together to produce maximum results and were obviously impressed by the City & Guilds team and their partnership with the Thomsons Online Benefits team to deliver the ‘Imagine’ programme.
Chris Bruce, Managing Director, Thomsons Online Benefits added: “It is so gratifying to see the City & Guilds team recognised for their achievement. Chris Coyne gave an inspiring keynote address at our December Reward Club conference for clients and we had every confidence that they deserved to win this award. They are definitely on a winning streak as they also won the award for ‘Most Effective Benefits Strategy for Organisations with Fewer than 1000 staff’ at the 2011 Employee Benefits Awards.”
Led by Chris Coyne, the City & Guilds team includes HR Operations Manager, Derek Seume, Occupational Safety and Wellbeing Manager, Jem Sarna, Benefits Specialist, Mike Reed and Compensation Specialist, Sangeeta Mistry. As a registered charity operating in a commercially competitive market, efficiency is everything. HR had to lead the change process by adding value while reducing costs. Their new brand identity needed to be communicated and the business needed a vehicle for this – the employee benefits re-launch was a perfect opportunity. Getting this right on the basis of evidence from benefits enrolment data would ensure that City & Guilds continued to attract and retain the right individuals to deliver their agenda for the future.
The highly branded ‘Imagine’ portal powered by Thomsons Online Benefits Darwin™ technology platform and a sophisticated range of communications vehicles such as informative e-booklets written in accessible language, a telephone helpline, launch drop-ins run by Thomsons and themed benefits windows on topics such as pension and financial awareness and health & wellbeing all contributed to it being voted a roaring success by employees.
About Thomsons Online Benefits:
Thomsons Online Benefits help organisations gain the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes with the minimum of expense. With a unique blend of brokerage, consultancy and technology services, Thomsons creates Intelligent Reward™ solutions with schemes such as flexible benefits and salary sacrifice, amongst others.
Thomsons has won almost 50 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients, thanks to a combination of innovation and service quality.
Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Media relations contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Director
Tel: 020 3328 4003
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: City & Guilds, flexible benefits, salary sacrifice, Thomsons Online Benefits
15 Feb 12 Thomsons Online Benefits Goes For Gold
Thomsons Online Benefits Wins ‘Corporate Adviser Firm of the Year’ and ‘Best Use of Technology by a Corporate Adviser’ At The 2012 Corporate Adviser Awards.
Thomsons Online Benefits, the market leader in flexible benefits and benefit administration, has come straight out of the starting blocks to win its first clutch of gold medals in 2012. Thomsons picked up the prestigious ‘Corporate Adviser Firm of the Year’ award as well as ‘Best Use of Technology by a Corporate Adviser’ for the second year running at the Corporate Adviser Awards held at the Grosvenor House hotel in London’s West End.
The Corporate Adviser Awards, which acknowledge excellence in the provision and communication of advice and financial products through the workplace, are now in their fifth year. The Awards celebrate those advisers and providers that have brought real innovations to the field of workplace financial services that have been shown to be valued by both employers and employees.
Chris Bruce, Managing Director, Thomsons Online Benefits, commented: “We are so very proud of what we have achieved in the online benefits technology space with our DARWIN™ platform. Being recognised by the industry and winning it two years in a row is absolutely fantastic news. We certainly haven’t rested on our laurels since we won last year either. We have invested heavily in DARWIN™ throughout 2011 and evolved its capabilities even further. Innovations such as introducing the first 100% paperless pension transfer solution for Cisco as well as integrating new and sophisticated pensions modelling tools and video content help make the user experience at every level both intuitive and engaging”.
Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Winning ‘Corporate Adviser Firm of the Year’ is absolutely the jewel in the crown for us. We don’t just invest heavily in our technology but also in the services and professional experience that we provide to our clients. Just to give a couple of examples, we have introduced Pensions Governance to all the pensions clients we advise because whilst governance in pensions is not compulsory we believe it will be in the future. We also run a constant stream of free educational events for our clients and this year we will be focusing heavily on the challenges posed by auto-enrolment’.
About Thomsons Online Benefits:
Thomsons Online Benefits help organisations gain the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes with the minimum of expense. With a unique blend of brokerage, consultancy and technology services, Thomsons creates Intelligent Reward™ solutions with schemes such as flexible benefits and salary sacrifices, amongst others.
Thomsons has won almost 50 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients, thanks to a combination of innovation and service quality.
Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Media relations contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Director
Tel: 020 3328 4003
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: flexible benefits, salary sacrifice, Thomsons Online Benefits
17 Feb 11 Thomsons Online Benefits Wins ‘Best Use of Technology by a Corporate Adviser’ at the 2011 Corporate Adviser Awards
Thomsons Online Benefits, the market leader in flexible benefits and benefit administration, has already scooped its second award of 2011.
As well as making its very first appearance in the prestigious Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 league this year, Thomsons also picked up the trophy for ‘Best Use of Technology by a Corporate Adviser’ at the Corporate Adviser Awards held at the Grosvenor House hotel in London’s West End.
The Corporate Adviser Awards, which acknowledge excellence in the provision and communication of advice and financial products through the workplace, are now in their fourth year. The Awards celebrate those advisers and providers that have brought real innovations to the field of workplace financial services that have been shown to be valued by both employers and employees.
A panel of respected senior industry figures judged entries from advisers using specially commissioned market research and feedback from the readers of ‘Corporate Adviser’.
Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “It’s a fantastic accolade to be recognised for the innovation that we have led in the corporate adviser market. Since its inception, technology development has been one of the cornerstones of our business. We pioneered technology integration with benefit providers, and we were the first to drive through the acceptance of signature-free online pension enrolment. Last year we launched Darwin, the only ‘third generation’ employee benefits technology platform in the marketplace. It enables our clients to implement their reward strategies intelligently by reducing the administrative burden, at lower cost and with total control at every level. Whether you are an employee, an administrator or an HR Director, Darwin technology adds a terrific amount of value”
Scott Heyhoe, Commercial Director with responsibility for product development, added, “We are very proud of the current Darwin platform and it’s great to win this year’s award. We’ve already got our sights on winning again in 2012 and a series of further enhancements and new capabilities is planned this year. So, watch this space!”
About Thomsons Online Benefits
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits aims to help businesses get the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes. With a unique blend of consultancy and technology, Thomsons creates Intelligent Reward™ solutions with schemes such as flexible benefits and salary sacrifice, amongst others. This allows businesses to reward employees, without the administration and communication headaches often associated with running such schemes.
Thomsons has won more than 28 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients, thanks to a combination of innovation and service quality. Thomsons Online Benefits currently takes care of its clients globally from their offices in the UK, Asia and the USA. Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Media relations contact:
Janet Davies
Marketing Director
Tel: 020 3328 4003
Email: press@thomsons.com
Further information and a short video featuring DARWIN technology can be found at http://www.thomsons.com/our-solutions/darwin-technology
Tags: Darwin technology, employee benefits, flexible benefits, Thomsons Online Benefits
17 Feb 11 Thomsons Scoop their First Award of 2011 in Buyout Track 100
Thomsons Online Benefits, the market leader in flexible benefits and benefit administration, has made its very first appearance in the prestigious Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 listing compiled by Fast Track.
The Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 mid-market private equity-backed companies with the fastest-growing profits over their latest 2 years of available accounts. This is the first time that Thomsons Online Benefits has appeared in Buyout Track 100, although they have featured in the last five Tech Track 100 league tables ranking Britain’s 100 private tech (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over the latest three years. Thomsons became only the fourth company to have been listed for five consecutive years.
In a league topped by online DVD rental provider Lovefilm.com, Thomsons was ranked 34th, just ahead of popular fashion retailer Jack Wills. Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are absolutely delighted to receive this accolade. It’s a really great start to 2011. The current business environment is still very challenging nevertheless we are continuing to invest heavily in both our people and our services to ensure that we deliver the very best solutions for our clients. Our systems enable employers to both cut costs and engage their staff and that’s a very attractive proposition in any marketplace, let alone todays.”
Michael founded Thomsons Online Benefits with Chris Bruce in 2000. The idea for Thomsons evolved over a number of years from working with clients who were increasingly frustrated by the growing administrative burden and who wanted to find a more effective way to both run and empower their employees to take control of their benefits. When he met Chris Bruce, the final piece of the jigsaw fell into place and a formidable new partnership was created. A year later, Thomsons Online Benefits was born with the foundation of the Benefit Express Ltd in December 2000. In 2004 pi Capital bought a 48% stake for £4m. Profits grew by 50% a year, from £1.5m in 2007 to £3.4m in 2009.
About Thomsons Online Benefits
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits aims to help businesses get the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes. With a unique blend of consultancy and technology, Thomsons creates Intelligent Reward™ solutions with schemes such as flexible benefits and salary sacrifice, amongst others. This allows businesses to reward employees, without the administration and communication headaches often associated with running such schemes.
Thomsons has won more than 26 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients, thanks to a combination of innovation and service quality. Thomsons Online Benefits currently takes care of its clients globally from their offices in the UK, Asia and the USA. Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Media relations contact:
Janet Davies
Marketing Director
Tel: 020 3328 4003
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: flexible benefits, online benefits, salary sacrifice, Thomsons Online Benefits
03 Dec 10 Azzurri Communications Wins Award for Reward and Benefits
Azzurri Communications won the “Award for Reward and Benefits” at last night’s Personnel Today awards, following the implementation of their flexible benefits scheme, “The Benefits Network”, in conjunction with Thomsons Online Benefits.
The Personnel Today awards are one of the most prestigious events in the HR calendar, and set out to recognise businesses that have made an impact with their people policies, successfully managing change, and delivering great bottom-line results.
Azzurri Communications was founded in 2000 and is a leading managed services company delivering flexible voice, data and mobile communications. The company has grown rapidly over the last 10 years, partly through the acquisition of 16 companies, and as a consequence had a lack of unity.
From a benefits perspective, bringing together so many companies resulted in an inefficient and confusing assortment of benefit entitlements and providers. Azzurri appointed Thomsons Online Benefits to harmonise their employee benefits, including 17 pension schemes, and to create a unified benefit brand to satisfy their key business objectives to:
- Install equality by introducing a harmonised benefits scheme post acquisitions;
- Improve employee engagement and increase retention;
- Reduce administrative inefficiencies and costs, reduce benefit premiums and increase salary sacrifice;
- Create an accessible communications strategy for office based and non office based workers;
- Offer a competitive package.
This required a flexible online benefits system that could be easily communicated to all sectors of the workforce with easy access and engaging offerings.
Thomsons Online Benefits created a flexible benefits scheme informed largely by results of a survey undertaken to assess employee needs, and feedback from the employee representative forum ‘Voice of Azzurri’.
The introduction of the Benefits Network has delivered impressive business benefits to Azzurri including:
- Improved employee engagement, reduce staff turnover and attract new employees;
- Improved employee perception – 89% of employees now think Azzurri is an excellent place to work (previously 56% before scheme implementation);
- Reduced sickness absence from an average of 7% to 2% a saving equivalent to 38 man days per year or £20k;
- Reduced staff turnover – it is down from 28% to 8.9% which represents a saving of £1.3million per year in recruitment, training and time. Reduce administration of existing benefit schemes saving approx £100k pa;
- Reduced the number of pension schemes from 17 to 1 saved £35k pa in premiums, plus £15k pa savings on advisers’ fees. Increased use of salary sacrifice bringing a saving of £45k pa.
Noel McGonigle, HR Director at Azzurri, who on the night was also shortlisted for HR Director of the Year, and the HR Team of the Year awards, comments: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award, which really cements the outstanding success of the introduction of the Benefits Network. By working closely in partnership with Thomsons Online Benefits, we have delivered a scheme which works at all levels – for our employees, for our HR team and for the business. It is testament to the hard work put in by ourselves and Thomsons and we look forward to continuing to develop it.
About Thomsons Online Benefits:
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits aims to help businesses get the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes. Using a unique blend of consultancy and technology, Thomsons creates Intelligent Reward™ solutions with schemes such as flexible benefits and salary sacrifice, amongst others. This approach removes the administration and communication headaches often associated with running such schemes.
Thomsons has won 26 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients, thanks to a combination of innovation and quality. Thomsons Online Benefits currently services clients globally from their offices in the UK, Asia and the USA. Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Director Tel: 020 3328 4000
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: employee benefits, flexible benefits, salary sacrifice, Thomsons Online Benefits
04 Oct 10 Employee Benefits Return-On-Investment High on the Agenda for FTSE Companies
The latest research released from the reward experts at Thomsons Online Benefits, Employee Rewards Watch: FTSE 350 2010, shows that Top FTSE companies are more positive about the coming year for their business performance compared to other key markets.
Half of respondents (51.28 percent) cite they are more optimistic about the coming year for their business performance than the wider market, suggesting they may be coming out of recession sooner than smaller companies. This optimism is perhaps a result of adopting a stronger stance to protect their profits throughout the recession.
These are just some of the newest industry insights revealed in the first Thomsons “Employee Rewards Watch: FTSE 350”, in which 39 FTSE listed organisations took part. This is the second of three reports for key market segments.
Key findings for 2010 include:
· In 2009, the majority of FTSE-listed companies reduced their headcount (71.79 percent) and introduced pay freezes (66.67 percent) to reduce costs;
· FTSE-listed companies envisage twice as many mergers and acquisitions than the total market (41.03 percent) and over half are looking at restructuring or outsourcing (56.41 percent);
· Significantly more FTSE-listed companies (51.28 percent) feel it is important to measure the return-on-investment for their reward and benefits than the rest of the market (30.05 percent).
Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer of Thomsons Online Benefits comments “FTSE-listed organisations have shown a stronger stance to protect their profits throughout the recession, and this stance seems to have paid dividends, with more business activity planned for the coming year compared to the rest of the market. The impact of this is likely to include harmonisation and integration of businesses, and generating cost savings by improving business systems and processes.
With increasing pressure being placed on HR teams to control and manage their reward schemes, it is surprising then that only a quarter of FTSE companies know how much they spend on benefits (25.64 percent).
And with many ‘corporates’ needing to demonstrate better governance of risk and cost to their shareholders and other stakeholders, surely this needs to be a priority for HR professionals looking ahead.”
About Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd:
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits aims to help businesses get the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes, without the administration and communication issues that can arise from running them. Using a unique blend of consultancy and technology, Thomsons can create Intelligent Reward™ solutions, such as flexible benefits, salary sacrifice and many others.
Combining the highest standards with innovation, Thomsons has won 26 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients including Betfair, Cisco, Getty Images, GlaxoSmithKline, the Ministry of Defence, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Smith & Nephew. Thomsons Online Benefits currently services clients globally from their offices in the UK and Asia. Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Further information can be found at www.thomsons.com
For more information contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Director Tel: 020 3328 4000
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: employee rewards, flexible benefits, salary sacrifice, Thomsons Online Benefits
20 Sep 10 Thomsons Online Benefits Celebrates 5th Consecutive Listing in Sunday Times Tech Track 100!
Thomsons Online Benefits, the market leader in flexible benefits and benefit administration, has been listed for the fifth consecutive year in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100.
The Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track is the prestigious league which ranks Britain’s fastest growing unquoted technology companies and Thomsons has became only the fourth company to have been listed for five consecutive years.
Thomsons was ranked 81st in the league, after ranking 72nd in 2009, 44th in 2008, 54th in 2007 and 32nd in 2006. Rankings are based on sales growth over the last three years, with Thomsons recording an impressive 41 percent annual sales growth between 2006 and 2009.
The Tech Track 100 league is compiled by Fast Track, the leading networking events and research company dedicated to ranking Britain’s top private companies.
Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer of Thomsons Online Benefits, commented, “After a few years of economic turbulence, we are delighted that our strong growth in profits and revenue has continued and been recognised for the fifth year running in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100. As we complete our tenth year of incredible growth we have established ourselves as the largest player in the flexible benefits and benefit administration market, and will continue to invest in our people and services to ensure that we have the talent that we need within Thomsons to truly drive home our competitive advantage.
Over the past year we have increased our headcount, opened a new office in New York and continued to develop our people and services to ensure that our proposition and service remain market leading. Our portfolio of clients keeps growing with increasing numbers of blue chip companies choosing us as their strategic reward partners particularly in the global rewards space.”
This year’s Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 was published in 19th September issue of the Sunday Times. More details can be found at: http://www.fasttrack.co.uk.
About Thomsons Online Benefits
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits aims to help businesses get the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes. With a unique blend of consultancy and technology, Thomsons create Intelligent Reward™ solutions, including flexible benefits, and company pensions, amongst others. This allows businesses to reward employees reward employees, without the administration and communication headaches often associated with running such schemes.
Through a combination of innovation and quality, Thomsons has won 25 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients including Betfair, Cisco, Getty Images, GlaxoSmithKline, the Ministry of Defence, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Smith & Nephew. Thomsons Online Benefits currently service clients globally from their offices in the UK and Asia. Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Further information can be found at http://www.thomsons.com
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Director
Tel: 020 3328 4000
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: flexible benefits, global rewards, Microsoft Tech Track, reward employees, Thomsons Online Benefits
02 Sep 10 Live Nation Entertainment Launches Online Employee Reward Strategy with Thomsons Online Benefits
Live Nation Entertainment has launched a new online total reward and flexible benefits scheme for all its permanent UK employees in conjunction with Thomsons Online Benefits.
Live Nation Entertainment is the largest live entertainment company in the world consisting of five businesses: concert promotion and venue operations, sponsorship, ticketing solutions, e-commerce and artist management. Consequently they employ a diverse group of employees from office workers to stage crew across a number of different sites. Acquisition and TUPE activity including the recent merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster had resulted in a myriad of different benefit entitlements and pension schemes, where there was often no consistency in provision to employees.
Following the selection of Thomsons Online Benefits, Live Nation Entertainment embarked on an ambitious journey to ensure that they delivered an Intelligent Reward strategy which would mark them out as a leader in benefits provision, in an industry sector where employee benefits are not commonly considered of high importance.
Brian Newman, International Human Resources Director, Live Nation Entertainment explains: “Previously benefits fell between HR and Finance and wasn’t a key driver in our business. As an HR team we needed to establish the business case for bringing benefits into HR to hook in Senior Management, which meant ensuring that we would derive maximum value from our reward spend and proving a demonstrable return-on-investment. In addition we needed to build an integrated approach which linked reward with our broader HR strategy – to maximise employee environment, experience and reward”.
“As well as these corporate goals, we wanted to ensure that we kept the needs of our people at the heart of what we were doing and particularly to offer them long term financial security and planning opportunities, this meant getting subjects such as pension planning onto their to do lists! At the heart of our business is an understanding of what our audiences want and my aim was to apply exactly the same principles this project for its intended audience – our hard working employees”.
In conjunction with Thomsons Online Benefits, Live Nation Entertainment established the “Live Benefits” proposition – a recognisable brand that perfectly fitted their business, and provided a backbone for employee engagement throughout a period of continuous change. As well as introducing online total reward and flexible benefits, Live Benefits also offers employees a range of voluntary benefits such as cycle to work scheme, restaurant discounts and childcare vouchers. All benefits providers were also reviewed as part of the project which provided further savings opportunities and ensured best value against our requirements.
Brian Newman continues, ”We are absolutely delighted that the vision we set out to achieve of transforming our reward strategy into something industry leading has been achieved. The launch has been incredibly well received by senior management and employees alike, with many employees making selections from the options available on the site, which shows the value it is adding to our benefits proposition; furthermore it gives us an excellent platform for future growth and change in our business. We look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership with Thomsons Online Benefits and further developing Live Benefits in the future.”
Brian Newman is discussing the launch of Live Benefits at the Employee Benefits Live conference on 29th September 2010.
About Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits aims to help businesses get the maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes. With a unique blend of consultancy and technology, Thomsons create Intelligent Reward™ solutions. This allows businesses to reward employees, without the administration and communication headaches often associated with running such schemes.
Through a combination of innovation and quality, Thomsons has won winning 25 awards and attracting a prestigious portfolio of clients including Betfair, Cisco, Getty Images, GlaxoSmithKline, the Ministry of Defence, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Smith & Nephew. Thomsons Online Benefits currently service clients globally from their offices in the UK and Asia. Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Further information can be found at www.thomsons.com
About Live Nation
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE-LYV) is the largest live entertainment company in the world, consisting of five businesses: concert promotion and venue operations, sponsorship, ticketing solutions, e-commerce and artist management. Live Nation seeks to innovate and enhance the live entertainment experience for artists and fans: before, during and after the show.
In 2009, Live Nation sold 140 million tickets, promoted 21,000 concerts, partnered with 850 sponsors and averaged 25 million unique monthly users of its e-commerce sites. For additional information, visit www.livenation.com/investors
For more information contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Marketing Director
Tel: 020 3328 4000
Email: press@thomsons.com
Tags: employee rewards, flexible benefits, reward employees, Thomsons Online Benefits
29 Jul 10 Mouchel Launch Flexible Benefits with Thomsons Online Benefits
Consulting and business services group, Mouchel, has launched a new benefits programme alongside Thomsons Online Benefits. Mouchel provides many of the design, managerial and engineering services that support modern society. Mouchel has run a flexible benefits programme for its c4,500 employees since 2004 and wanted to switch to a new, more proactive provider who combined leading edge consulting, technology, and communication. Mouchel prides itself on being one of Britain’s top employers, having twice been placed in the prestigious ‘Best Big Companies To Work For’ rankings, and are constantly looking to enhance their employee proposition.
Mouchel has grown substantially in recent years, both organically and by acquisition. This left the HR team with a complex challenge around communicating and engaging with employees, as well as harmonising terms and conditions of employment. Their new provider needed technology with the flexibility to accommodate a vast range of contractual terms and conditions, and the ability to drive much greater administrative efficiency with benefit providers. Following an extensive tender process, Mouchel selected Thomsons Online Benefits to partner with them on the project.
The project was split into three stages. Firstly, Thomsons reviewed Mouchel’s pension, and put it online with lower charges in place for employees. This involved engaging a population who had previously only ever received offline communication. Secondly, Thomsons undertook a market review of Mouchel’s current flexible benefits scheme and providers to ensure it remained competitive. All employees were migrated to Thomsons’ Darwin platform without disruption to the enrolment and reporting processes. New communications media were created to ensure that all employees, including those with limited internet access, received clear information and were better informed about their benefits. The third stage of the project scheduled to happen in November will be to introduce Pension salary sacrifice, and flexible benefits to another 3,500 people.
Claudia Desai, Head of HR Operations at Mouchel comments: “As part of our drive to continuously improve our ongoing HR strategy, we wanted to enhance employee understanding, participation in and appreciation of our employee benefits, as well as simplifying our administration. We are delighted with the results we have achieved and look forward to continuing to work with Thomsons Online Benefits to develop our reward programme further.”
About Thomsons Online Benefits
Formed in 2000, Thomsons Online Benefits offers a unique approach to employee rewards schemes. The company’s aim is to transform employees’ appreciation and understanding of their reward package and to remove the administration and communication difficulties that organisations can suffer as a result of running them. This is achieved by a blend of consultancy and technology, resulting in Intelligent Reward™ solutions.
Thomsons’ has achieved 24 awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients including Betfair, Cisco, Getty Images, GlaxoSmithKline, the Ministry of Defence, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Smith & Nephew. Thomsons Online Benefits currently service clients globally from their offices in the UK and Asia.
Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Press Contact:
Caroline O’Keeffe
Email: press@thomsons.com
Telephone: 020 3328 4000
Tags: employee benefits, employee rewards, flexible benefits, Mouchel, Thomons Online Benefits
