Benefits Connection: Issue 5

Insight, strategy and best practice in employee bene�ts from Asperitybenefitsconnection

• Getrecognitionright,ordon'tdoitatall

• Who'ssellingwhattoyouremployees?

Issue9June2010

Reward & Recognition in

RealTimeReward™

02Free,fullyfunctionaldemoofRewardGatewayforallreadersatwww.asperity.co.uk

11.

Welcome

Why is it that children love stickers? It’s got a lot to do with instant recognition and tangible reward. These types of rewards are a great tool to motivate children and recognise good behaviour. They work best when there is clear understanding and communication about what behaviour warrants a reward, when the behaviour is instantly praised and recognised and when the award mechanism is applied consistently. A simple but well implemented scheme can transform a classroom or a tricky home routine.

Adults have more sophisticated requirements of reward; a Beckham sticker isn’t likely to cut much dash. But employees do like to be noticed and appreciated for a job well done and employers get significant value from a well-constructed recognition scheme. Scheme construction and delivery are really important. Too often the mechanisms employers put in place with the best of intentions don't succeed. Failure may come from rewarding the wrong (or just ordinary) behaviours, poor timing, management inertia or lack of consistency, poorly thought out rewards or a lack of communication. There is danger that the awards or the whole scheme fall into dis-use or ill-repute, becoming a disincentive rather than a motivator.

As with any business policy or investment, management teams need to regularly assess whether the investment is delivering a satisfactory return, helping the business meet its strategic aims. If you have a Reward and Recognition scheme, is it working for you or against you? Now might be a good time to learn a few key lessons from the classroom.

GlennElliottMD,[email protected]

Visitwww.asperity.co.ukformoreinformation,exclusiveaccesstoouremployer’sVIPwebsiteandtorequestournewEmployer’sInformationPack.

Allinformationcorrectatthetimeofwritingandsubjecttochangewithoutnotice.

AsperityEmployeeBenefitsLtd,90WestbourneGrove,London,W25RT.Tel02072290349www.asperity.co.ukemail:[email protected]

©AsperityEmployeeBenefitsLtd2010.

Contents

02.

03.

04.

06.

08.

10.

Editorial

Reward and Recognition: the RealTimeReward™ approach

Who's selling what to your employees?

Sharing the spoils: Benefits across borders

Watch out for the small print

Thought Leaders: Interview with Sarah MacKenzie, McGraw-Hill

Get recognition right, or don't do it all

BenefitsConnectionfromAsperity03

concerns, combining a robust, tested delivery platform with a tailored specification for each employer.

Cost is always a tricky issue but the salient point about recognition is that very low cost awards can have really high value. High cost awards are also very valuable, but it is in the area of low cost recognition that most organisations are failing to leverage an advantage. The most obvious low - make that no - cost recognition is a verbal ‘thanks very much’, especially powerful from the employee’s manager’s manager and heard by a few colleagues. A company ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’ card, used thoughtfully and not just to tick a box, is another good tool.

Moving up slightly, a tiny budget makes available a wide range of awards which are much appreciated. How about an award to buy a magazine of the employee’s choice from the newsagent next door, two cinema tickets or a plant to reward exceptional customer service, for example - all made available on the recognition platform. In terms of budget percentages, many organisations run excellent recognition schemes which include ‘big ticket’ awards such as weekends away and company sponsored events for .002% of the payroll. Much less than this would finance a highly credible scheme with smaller awards, so it is easy to see how a tiny amount of money can be harnessed to make a real difference.

The platform will have in-built guidance on what to recognise and at what level, distilled from the employer’s values and requirements and the type of behaviours the recognition scheme is designed to encourage. It would be configured to allow peer or manager nominations - or both - and for recipients to be advised, choose and receive their award in the same day. The RealTimeReward™ approach has arrived.

“Averycloselinkintimebetweenthe

nominationandtherecipientchoosingtheawardtheywantisimportant”

It’s a long-standing truism that ‘no-one ever died saying I wish I’d spent more time at the office’. It’s probably also true that no-one ever died saying "I wish I’d said thank you less often”. And ‘thank you’ is what recognition is really all about.

Incentives, bonuses, targets, commission are important mechanisms in the employer’s armoury and central to the reward strategy in most organisations. Even those employers that don’t set out their reward strategy in a formal manner are likely to use various forms of payment additional to salary for at least some sectors of the workforce, although it may be confined to sales rather than being widespread. These types of payments fall under the heading of ‘reward’ because, although many are not contractual and do vary in a way that salary payments do not, they are expected and, in general, do get paid to employees if the sale or target is achieved.

Recognition, on the other hand, is so delightful because often it comes without pre-set expectations, is not even quasi-contractual and is quite distinct from ‘reward’ or ‘benefits’. Long-service awards or ‘employee of the month’ may be aspects of recognition programmes which employees do expect, but the scope to include more of the workforce more of the time in a recognition programme is under-exploited by employers.

There are several reasons employers perhaps feel shy about introducing a recognition scheme. The common stumbling blocks, broadly in the order that anecdotal research suggests employers perceive them, are:

1. too complicated

2. how to deliver the service in a way that enhances the employer’s reputation

3. cost

4. how to decide who gets what

5. what to recognise

The first two obstacles are overcome, essentially, by the right technology solution. A streamlined process for nominations, approval, redemption and reporting which is made easy for all participants is the key. A very close link in time between the nomination and the recipient choosing the award - and the ability to choose an award they want - is also very important. Asperity’s RealTimeReward™ scheme is designed to meet both these

Reward&Recognition:theRealTimeReward™approachLowcostandhighlyeffective.ByRossMusgrove,HeadofProductOperationsatAsperityEmployeeBenefits.


Getrecognitionright,ordon'tdoitall.ChoosingtherightReward&Recognitionprogrammeforyourstaffisadecisionnottobetakenlightly.ByLeanneBroadbent,FreelanceJournalist.

If not personally, most of us probably have a friend or family member who would identify with this employee’s recent experience of his workplace recognition scheme, in this case for long service. Having clocked up 15 years of continuous service with his employer, Jim was allowed to choose a long service award. He chose a watch. A nice gift to recognise his time with the company? Well, he did appreciate that his employer valued his loyalty and hard work for a long period, some of it during really hard times for the company, but further discussion revealed that much of the good feeling generated by the recognition was undone by poor execution on the part of the company.

Firstly, his manager didn’t seem to know exactly how Jim set about getting his long service award and took quite a few days to find that out and then let Jim know. Jim was then directed to an online catalogue listing a selection of around 20 seemingly random gifts ranging from vases to picture frames, cordless phones to watches. It looked a bit outdated - full of things manufacturers might want to shift because no-one would buy them. In the end, he chose a watch he didn’t need or particularly want but then he didn’t want a vase, picture frame or cordless phone either. When the gift did arrive some weeks later, he had been sent a vase instead!

This, like so many other Reward & Recognition (R&R) schemes across industry, demonstrates a lack of strategy, indifferent communication and poor implementation. Rather than supporting the business, the chances are that this R&R scheme was actually working against the employer. A poorly implemented scheme results in high administrative costs, which are often hidden, and undermines the perception of employees of the employer brand. The rewards themselves can become the source of workplace jokes which discredit the organisation rather than promoting it. At their worst, R&R schemes achieve the exact opposite of their intention.

In the CIPD’s 9th Annual Survey Report looking at Reward Management1, it was found that around 40% of businesses polled use employee recognition, and around 50% of private sector firms make long-term service awards. A further 30% plan to introduce a reward and recognition strategy. If you are one of those companies about to embark on the R&R journey, or perhaps already have a scheme in place, take some time out to assess what you need to do to get it right.

As with any business investment it is important when implementing a R&R scheme to define your strategy and understand what you hope to achieve. Be clear that your R&R scheme is different to performance incentives, such as bonuses or commission, and understand that a scheme should be inclusive, enabling recognition of the contribution of different departments across the business. Never lose sight of the fact that while reward benchmarks may be different for different departments, they should all be pulling towards the same overall company objective.

Don’t get hung up on the expense of the awards - much of the value comes from well-timed, well-executed, sincerely meant ‘thank yous’ or other recognition, and the award value may be small in monetary terms but significant in employee value.

“Apoorlyimplementedschemeresultsinhigh

administrativecostsandunderminesemployees'perceptionoftheemployerbrand”


For a R&R scheme to be successful, it needs to engender support from staff and managers, nominees and recipients, and have credibility. It is therefore essential that your R&R scheme is sustainable with realistic rewards and a consistent approach based on your available budget. Transparency is important, with clear information about what recognition is designed to reward - more than just the day job - and how the process is implemented. Consider some of the knotty questions: should only line managers have the opportunity to nominate or should peer and cross department nomination be facilitated too? And how will your nomination and approval process work to make it easy for all?

R&R can work really well. The Marketing and Communication Manager of a utility company said of their new R&R scheme, “The business strategy clearly defined the personal attributes we had to demonstrate to differentiate our service from our competitors. The management team made it clear that it wasn’t just the responsibility of the customer facing departments but fed through both middle and back office functions. They implemented a reward scheme that enabled online peer and manager nomination for actions and service that demonstrated the core attributes the business was keen to promote. The website gave clear information about expectations and the rewards were exciting. The process was fun and captured the imagination of staff across the business helped in part by a communication campaign celebrating the successful nominees each month.”

Having defined your strategy and devised a business plan, make sure that when implemented, the actual scheme doesn’t let you down. One of the common pitfalls of internal as well as 3rd party provided reward schemes is timeliness. Often the lead times between the positive behaviour (whether that’s long service or outstanding service delivery) and reward giving are too great because the nomination process is complicated or because the resultant administration is cumbersome. Another common failing is the reward itself caused by a lack of choice, unattractive reward options or complicated points systems that make appreciating ‘worth’ difficult.

Developments in the R&R market have provided some exciting solutions. Asperity recently launched its innovative RealTimeReward™ programme which not only addresses the issues of timeliness but also introduces some exciting reward options. Ross Musgrove, Head of Product Operations for Asperity, 1 CIPD annual survey of Reward Management: February 2010

said “We’ve built some really fantastic technology as the enabler for this product, which allows employers to speed up the whole process. It’s so easy and fast, we’re seeing a real uplift in the results we get from R&R programmes that have moved over. Compared to the traditional points and catalogue schemes which have become discredited over the years, the ability to have an e-voucher – or with some retailers, an SMS text – sent in real time is a massive improvement. And, uniquely, we can offer the employee an almost unlimited choice of vouchers, including local retailers. So if a recipient wants a manicure from the nail bar in the high street or an employer wants to have a ‘coffee and doughnut at Cafe Nearby’ for small, instant reward, we can do that.”

The ability to make small awards is highly attractive to employers, opening up an easy, cost-effective way to recognise the right employee behaviours, and sitting well with CSR and initiatives to support local business.

The technology that Asperity has developed enables an employee to be nominated for an award, have approval given and the award despatched all in less than an hour. The option of e-voucher or even SMS text as the reward is a far cry of the traditional points and catalogue schemes which have become stale over the years.

So there really is no excuse now for a failing R&R scheme. Employer value from a well planned and executed R&R scheme is significant. Get it wrong and the result may be a very costly wooden spoon - or a vase you don’t want.

“Oftentheleadtimesbetweenthepositive

behaviourandrewardgivingaretoogreatbecausethenominationprocessiscomplicatedortheadministrationtoocumbersome”


Who'ssellingwhattoyouremployees?Saleschannelorgenuinebenefit:employeediscountsschemescangoeitherway.ByHelenCraik,OperationsDirectoratAsperityEmployeeBenefits.

A clear divide

Paraphrasing Sir Isaac, if everything in life has an equal and opposite reaction then every discount has a cost to someone. The crucial question for employers is ‘who should bear that cost?’ and the surprisingly popular answer is ‘us’.

Why are many employers apparently so keen to pay for a service which, on the face of it, they could have for free or at a very low cost? Maybe because what you see is not always what you get. It is clear that while some employers don’t want to pay a fee to external providers of employee benefits packages, or want the fee to be less than the cost of a take-away coffee per employee per year, many are prepared to pay a bit more to be certain their scheme is independent.

Employee Benefits magazine reported that: “Attitudes around the cost of offering a voluntary benefits scheme have also changed. Back in 2005, 54% of respondents said it was important that the voluntary benefits they offered didn't cost them anything. This year1, the figure has dropped to 39%2." It is very likely that this trend has accelerated since the research was commissioned. Perhaps among those that currently pay a couple of pounds or

less, there is a lack of awareness of how low the fees for a truly independent scheme can be.

Some providers of employee discounts used to offer their product for free or at very low cost, making a return by pushing their own financial products to employees (although all of the big players with a direct link between themselves and the products on offer have withdrawn from the market in the last 3 or 4 years). This leaves two distinct business models and employers with a clear choice.

Some context

Asperity’s own model is to be independent of retailers, with employer fees covering the full cost of the discounts service, helpdesk, communications, offers, the lot. So that’s the declaration of interest out of the way.

Schemes funded in whole or in part by retailers might be a different business model, but they do have a place. The argument isn’t that they should be banned or they are the source of all that is evil in benefits, just that employees are often not aware of how their discounts scheme is constructed or funded, and responsible employers have a duty to consider that aspect.

In broad terms, employee discounts schemes will offer a mix of employee purchase programmes, discounted retail vouchers and reloadable cards, online, offline and instore discounts and online and offline Cashback.

“Employeesareoftennotawareofhow

theirdiscountsschemeisconstructedorfunded-responsibleemployershaveadutytoconsiderthataspect.”


Fully employer funded schemes which are independent of retailers

From the scheme provider’s viewpoint, the main advantage of full independence is the ability - this time borrowing somewhat grandiosely from the judicial oath - to operate without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. More straightforwardly, if it’s a good offer, an independent scheme will feature it.

An independent scheme has the ability to arrange a discount at competing retailers, not just one. Unless the provider is employer-funded and independent of retailers, the ability to feature multiple, competing retailers is severely restrained because in supplier-funded schemes suppliers can buy category exclusivity, blocking out their competition. This reduces choice for employees, devalues the scheme and leads to lower employee engagement.

For employers who fund their scheme, there is no danger of being seen to push a particular product or service provider, and complete control over what gets listed. Employees get maximum choice and maximum savings - leading to high use and therefore high employer value

Retailer-funded schemes

Retailers, understandably enough, expect something in return for paying a benefits provider for a slot on a discounts scheme. The payment might be split between the provider and the employee, impacting the amount of saving available to the employee, or it might be a fee for priority listing or exclusivity.

Where a scheme is supplier-funded, the provider is keen to get the supplier’s advertising money, so there is a temptation to list low quality offers, damaging the schemes (and the employer’s) reputation. Some highly popular offers on employer-funded schemes have apparently low savings rates (e.g. 2% on eBay) but that is quite distinct from a low quality offer, e.g. £15 off a scuba diving course in the Maldives. People use eBay all the time and sometimes for quite large transactions. A regular 2% saving adds up and is simply money they would not otherwise have. Most of us rarely take scuba diving courses and a £15 saving would not tip the balance.

Supplier-funded schemes need to retain commission from the retailer, generally reducing the discount to the employee. This makes it much more difficult to provide benefits that are better than a consumer can get in the normal course of things. The client of these schemes is the retailer and not the employee. Providers operating a retailer funded model will position this to retailers this along the lines of:

• lower cost of advertising

• targeting profitable consumers

• more predictable conversion rates1 20072 http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/3637/pg_dtl_art_news/297/pg_ftr_art3 http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/pay/empbnfts/volben.htm

This leaves the interests of the employee very much a secondary consideration, if indeed it is a consideration at all.

Alternatively or as well, supplier-funded schemes may charge a monthly listing fee to the retailer which can be thousands of pounds. Most suppliers therefore need to generate very large sales volumes to justify this cost and if they do not, they have to withdraw. This “offer drop out” can be very disappointing for employees.

3 choices

A little over a quarter of employers3 in the UK offer voluntary benefits including employee discounts in one form or another, although this figure hides a wide variation in content and style of scheme. The market has taken a new shape in the last 2 or 3 years, and the most fundamental question employers need to address is ‘who pays?‘ Essentially, your choices are as follows:

1. With supplier-funded schemes, employers can be seen to be endorsing a particular product, allowing their employees to be used as a sales channel under the guise of ‘discounts’ rather than offering a genuine benefit. Transparency could be served by a statement on the site making clear that the retailers featured may have funded the provider to some extent.

2. Run a supplier funded scheme with no disclaimer.

3. Pay a few pounds a year per employee for an independent scheme.

The Recommendation?

With the declaration of interest above, a recommendation for an employer-funded scheme is hardly surprising. The costs are relatively very small indeed and the benefits, not just the discounts, are significant.


WatchoutforthesmallprintEmbraceit,orignoreitatyourperil.ByGeorgeFarrow,ServiceDeliveryDirectoratAsperityEmployeeBenefits.

The recent volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland not only led to massive travel disruption around the globe, but a forensic examination of insurance policies and small print dealing with Acts of God and weather disturbances. Not to mention EU law relating to the compensation of passengers by airlines. It is to be expected that millions were unprepared for an event that last occurred in 1821.

In the more routine world of employee benefits, there are a number of small print issues that could have explosive effects. Employers look to benefits providers to take a pragmatic approach to small print, turning it into an advantage - or at least ensuring that you are aware of its negative consequences so that you can take mitigating action.

Small print issues and headlines du jour include:

“Supplier-funded model” Most shopping discounts providers operate in this way. Broadly speaking, it means their businesses rely on retailers for their P&L. The knock-on effect is that fewer retailers are prepared to deal with them and when they do, employees suffer from reduced levels of discount. A good employee discounts provider will use a ‘supplier independent’ model; so instead of paying more money in order to be promoted on the benefits homepage, for example, retailers will be vying to provide the best offer in order to get exposure on the site. A win-win both for your employees, as they get the best offers promoted to them in an impartial manner, and for the employer as they see engagement with the site increase due to the great offers available.

“Up to...” You know the score. An offer headline with a huge discount figure and then you find there is only one product with that discount and it’s only available in green with purple spots. Many employee discounts providers will use the words ‘up to XX% off’ in their offers, in order to attract their audience and engage them with the site. The only problem is, when employees realise that this offer is nowhere near as good as it sounds in the headline,

disappointment sets in and their engagement with the scheme fades. Luckily, there are providers out there who do impart real offers with credible headlines. When choosing your provider, make sure you test the site’s offers to make sure they are genuine – and not filled with hundreds of terms and conditions telling you why you won’t be getting that amount of discount at all.

“Terms and conditions apply” Four words from which there is no escape with a shopping channel. However, to maintain employee engagement with a scheme these terms and conditions should be easy to understand and be available well before the point of purchase or commitment. Again, be sure to fully test your potential employee discounts provider’s offers so that you can see the kind of terms and conditions being used. If you see lots of “cannot be used with any other promotion” or “only for orders made on a Tuesday” then it’s fair to say that your employees are unlikely to be bowled over with the ‘offer’ available. More satisfactory would be a host of offers that are easily accessible and can be applied on top of in-store promotions, sales prices and managers’ specials.

“Open seven days a week and Bank Holidays” A headline that you won’t see often when looking into the support offered by many employee benefits providers. Surely a Helpdesk is less helpful if you can only contact them between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday – when the large majority of the working population is, sure enough, working and not shopping online or sorting out their childcare payments? Find an employee benefits provider that has Helpdesk opening hours to suit your employees, otherwise there may as well not be a Helpdesk for them at all.

“Available generally” In December 2009, HMRC “reclarified” its interpretation of cycle to work rules. Previously, the tax-efficient cycle to work scheme was “generally available” i.e. employees at or near National Minimum Wage and under 18s were excluded. Look for a provider that can offer you a fully compliant scheme that embraces these employee groups, backed up by an indemnity sourced from a credible tax advisor and the bike retailer itself to give you peace of mind.

"Consumer Credit Act 1974" According to this, making cycle to work ‘available generally’ creates a legal risk in respect of employees under 18, i.e. “a person commits an offence who, with a view to financial gain, sends to a minor any document inviting him to obtain goods (e.g. cycle to work) on credit or hire”. A good cycle to work provider will ensure you avoid that risk in a fully compliant manner..

"Smallprintissuescanhave

explosiveeffectsiftheyareignored"

Benefits Connection from Asperity 09

"5 April 2011" Take note of this date. If you run a childcare voucher scheme, higher rate taxpayers need to register before time runs out to maximise their benefit.

“ISO 27001” Does your childcare voucher provider pass the “leave on the train test?” The past few years have seen too many news stories of organisations losing sensitive data in careless ways, creating widespread security paranoia for anyone who had ever had dealings with those organisations. Employee benefits providers are nominated by an employer to be in a position of trust. The employee in turn is placing trust in their employer to choose a provider that takes extra special care over sensitive details such as childcare information and use the most advanced, secure processes possible to keep them safe and away from prying eyes.

If your employee benefits provider is not accredited with the strict ISO 27001 Information Security standard, you should seriously think about finding one that is. In a world where hacking and identity theft has become all too common, there really is no excuse for not putting your employees’ details in safe hands.

“Recovery of VAT on retail vouchers” The EU Advocate General agrees with HMRC that VAT on vouchers purchased is deductible but has a corresponding output VAT liability.

The Advocate General's Opinion, which the European Court will consider before it gives a final ruling later this year, acknowledged that the European Commission may want to consider whether the UK rules are in line with European VAT law. It was also stated employers should account for VAT when they provide retail vouchers to staff as part of a salary sacrifice scheme.

Giles Salmond, a director in the tax dispute resolution group at Deloitte, said:

“This is an important step in clarifying how the complex VAT rules on vouchers should be applied. If the Advocate General’s Opinion is followed, businesses may have to revisit how they deal with retail vouchers as part of salary sacrifice schemes. Although we will have to wait for the final judgment of the European Court before the position is certain, it is likely that the VAT treatment of vouchers will have to be considered by legislators possibly at a Community level”.

If you have vouchers in a salary sacrifice scheme, it may be best to avoid the uncertainty and consider routing employees via voluntary benefits. Your employees won’t have to commit up to a year in advance and can choose what they want when they want.


SharingthespoilsBenefitsacrossborders.ByLeanneBroadbent,FreelanceJournalist.

If you’ve ever worked in an international organisation you’ll know that pay and benefits is often a ‘no go’ area of discussion when talking with colleagues from other international locations. What is widely seen as the norm in one nation may be viewed as an extravagant perk in another. Paid time off is a good example. With such variations in voluntary benefits across the world, it is no wonder that global businesses are pleased when an opportunity arises to offer a perk across the board.

Employee benefits is a widely-used concept in the western business world, describing those benefits that employers offer over and above pay to help attract, retain and motivate employees. However, while the concept may be well understood, different countries include different benefits, and the terminology is used differently by practitioners.

In the UK, HR professionals are fairly comfortable about what a benefits package may look like. Voluntary benefits (VB), that is benefits which employees pay for themselves but which they get access to by reason of their employment, are becoming increasingly popular in the UK with results from the CIPD annual reward management survey finding that around 28% of firms surveyed now offer VB in some form1. Recent focus on VB reflects the tools businesses are using to reward staff when flexibility in remuneration packages is limited.

Our colleagues in the US, however, have a head start in the employee benefits field. In a survey conducted by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans2, 84% of the companies polled offered VB with a further 5% planning to introduce them in the future. Typically, a benefits scheme in the US looks completely different to one in the UK reflecting the different employment legislation and mix of mandatory and voluntary programmes. Often referred to as ‘fringe benefits’, the cornerstone of any US scheme will almost certainly be healthcare provision. While this private medical insurance might be nice to have in the UK (where healthcare is state funded), to date it has been seen as a must in the US. How the recent healthcare reform in the US will impact the shape of US healthcare benefits going forward will take a while to digest and understand. Dental and optical insurance, life insurance or long-term care insurance also frequently come under the healthcare umbrella.

There are some examples in the US of employee discounts and these sometimes form part of a VB package. However when compared to the employee discount services found in the UK, US provision tends to be localised and supplier-funded, resulting in less attractive discounts and lack of choice. In some cases it is the employer who sources the discounts keeping a percentage of the achievable savings for themselves thereby creating an income

stream for the business, with the downside of essentially using employees as a sales channel.

Businesses in Australia have a different focus again in their benefits packages. There are no equivalents to the UK system of childcare vouchers or cycle to work but there is emphasis on Reward and Recognition (R&R) which is well established. This comes in part from the tax benefits which allow employers to give gift vouchers to employees up to a value of $300 tax free per annum. The incentive to use tax efficient benefit schemes is enhanced by the fact that benefits in kind are all taxed at the top rate of income tax regardless of personal tax rates. To date, very few if any Australian employers offer an employee discount service but this has been due to lack of choice, no credible discounts providers and low awareness. With its well-established R&R programmes, employee discounts are a natural extension for benefits in Australia.

Will globalisation reach the voluntary benefits market? In lots of areas, the answer is 'no' because of tax legislation, country-specific cultures and long-established local practices. When it comes to employee discounts, however, it just might.

Asperity has established its multi-currency functionality for users of its discount platform in Ireland and Australia., and continues to look at other locations that will enable it to offer clients a truly global voluntary benefit. “While we can’t do anything in terms of variations between holiday allowances, remuneration or pension contributions, we can help clients with employees in Ireland and Australia bring some excitement and uniformity to their employee discount offerings” said Glenn Elliott, MD of Asperity. “Our product has been very well received in these new markets”.

This is surely a good thing. We don’t need to understand consumer theory to know that the world over, people like a bargain. Exclusive access to discounts, savings, rewards and Cashback will be viewed as a valuable benefit no matter where you reside.

1 CIPD annual survey of Reward Management: February 20102 Top Trends in Voluntary Benefits Survey was conducted in 2009 and included

responses from 833 individuals in US (91% of which represented corporations).


McGraw-hill have a long-standing and wide-ranging flex benefits package in place for their employees. Last year, the group decided to add a voluntary benefits element to their benefits offering and introduced Offers First, an employee discounts scheme which co-exists as an employer-paid benefits alongside the wider employee-paid flex benefits available.

Launched towards the end of 2009 to 1300 employees, the Offers First discounts package has attracted over a third of the workforce to register with the scheme provided by Asperity.

Here, Asperity's George Farrow chats to Sarah MacKenzie, McGraw-Hill's Corporate Director of Human Resources, about about managing employee confidence in an uncertain environment and how important it is to select a benefits provider that understands and can adapt to your business. In a time-poor environment ease of administration is high on Sarah’s list, as is delivering increased ROI for her company.

What are the current issues affecting HR at McGraw-Hill at the moment, and the challenges you're facing? In the present economic climate, we have to make our staff feel as secure as possible. Something that we can do, certainly through voluntary and flexible benefits, is try and do what we can for our employees - to engage them, create loyalty and retain our talent.

How does that impact on your choice of benefits provider? There are two ways of looking at it. One in terms of how easy it is for us from the back end to operate, monitor and manage, and the other in terms of what it's bringing to our employees’ lives.

So essentially you're looking for something where the employee doesn't have to change their existing behaviour? Yes, that's critical to us. We can't change their buying pattern, and nor is that our objective. Our objective as an employer is to

ThoughtLeadersInterviewwithSarahMacKenzie,CorporateDirectorofHRatMcGraw-HillByGeorgeFarrow,ServiceDeliveryDirectoratAsperityEmployeeBenefits.

provide our employees with something that they see as value that the company is giving to them. So it's important that the discounts are relevant to their lifestyle, so we can enhance the way they live instead of change it.

How important is the account manager in the provision of a benefits service?Different styles of communication fit different parts of the business. So it's very important that the account manager recognizes this and understands that what might be appropriate for one segment might not be appropriate for another. An understanding of our business is an essential part of working effectively with a provider.

Does the provider’s innovativeness matter to you in the selection process? i.e. choosing a provider capable of bringing in new ideas and working with you to solve problems and seize opportunities? Definitely. Seeing new things come up all the time is important to us, to keep our employees interested in the scheme.

Is the level of trust in your provider important to you? The sense that your provider delivers what it says on the tin?As a buyer of benefits, I think that can be a real source of frustration - where you believe you've got something, and you've got an expectation that then isn't met. It makes a real difference with a provider delivers on what it has promised.

To watch the full filmed interview with Sarah MacKenzie online, go to Ez.com/mcgrawhill.

"Differentstylesofcommunication

fitdifferentpartsofthebusiness"

At Asperity, we understand that everyone has different tastes and interests. That’s why we’ve made the latest version of our award-winning employee benefits site, Reward Gateway, completely customisable - allowing your employees to prioritise the offers they want to see the most.

So whether they’re into hiking holidays or the latest fashion trends, sportswear or just curling up in their slippers with a book, with Reward Gateway each individual can have their own personalised site tailored specifically to their needs and interests.

Employee benefits for all walks of life...

For more information contact us on 020 7229 0349 or visit www.asperity.co.uk

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Benefits Connection: Issue 5