Feature insight - digital benefits
two years of employment are in retaining a new member of staff, the university aims to take every opportunity to remind individuals just how good it is as an employer. “We know how important this is to motivate and engage,” Hodson adds. “We simply would not be able to do this as well without a digital platform that also serves as an advert and communication tool.” Making digital work in practice The university’s Linc-On reward platform is a bespoke site accessible on the web that hosts all aspects of the employee package, from recognition rewards to lifestyle benefits and onsite discounts. It means individuals can find everything they need in one place, rather than having to go to several different sources. “It is important to us to make sure employees engage with our offering and having a single ‘one-stop’ site means that everyone always knows where to log on to in respect of their benefits,” explains Hodson. In terms of the digital benefits available, the university has tried to develop this offering over the last few years to support the blurred line of individuals using home devices for work activities. It gives employees the chance to purchase computer software and virus protection software to support them with their home computing systems. They can also purchase discounted IT products through national benefits providers. Other benefits that are offered on a digital basis include healthcare support, and the university is also looking at how it can offer GP (general practitioner) services online to address the way in which it supports its international workforce. According to Brian Hall, chief commercial officer at health and wellbeing benefits provider BHSF, buying and selling holiday, salary sacrifice pension schemes, employee assistance programmes and legal services are among the most attractive benefits that are delivered digitally, but 24/7 access to GPs has seen the biggest rise in popularity. “Nowadays people don’t tend to live and work in the same place so having access to a GP online means time off work is minimised,” he says. “People are also getting more used to accessing what they want when they want it – they are less inclined to plan time commitments and want services
discounted price. The cost is minimal and there are no administrative implications,” explains Shirley Harris, head of human resources, payroll and cash management at CIPP. Improving accessibility The ways in which digital benefits are communicated is just as important as the methods used to promote non-digital offerings. The message has to be clearly conveyed to staff and employers must ensure they are consistent. The best way to do so is by using digital methods such as e-campaigns, intranet campaigns, text campaigns. The employer needs to be engaged with the communications and if they get it right take-up of the digital benefits can be as high as sixty to seventy per cent. According to BHSF, the two key advantages of digital benefits are that they make it easier to keep provisions up to date and they are readily available at the time they are needed. “We’re trying to make it as easy as possible to make benefits accessible at the right time, for example, giving employees the opportunity to access them when they’re at home for themselves or for a member of their family,” says Hall. “If they are on tap at the point of need this leads to higher levels of engagement, as well as having a deeper and broader reach into the employee base.” For this reason, the University of Lincoln is equally committed to the cause. “We will continue to offer benefits through a digital platform and continue to broaden our offering of digital benefits encouraging suppliers to support engagement and accessibility this way,” explains Hodson. “Accessibility remains a big driver in all we do and digital is the main way we can achieve this. The more we can offer digitally the more time we can spend as a team promoting engagement, raising awareness and communicating.” The challenges of moving online Although there are several advantages associated with digital benefits, it would be naïve of an employer not to consider the potential pitfalls. “Everything has to be online now, which is a good thing but can create challenges,” says Staehr. “From a processing point of view, the main hurdle is interfacing since digital benefits
instantly. This can only be delivered digitally.” Cost and administration According to BHSF, going digital has driven down the cost of benefits for employers. One reason they have made cost savings is because it’s no longer a case of printing material but rather about making pdf files available. “Benefits that used to cost hundreds of pounds now costs tens of pounds,” says Hall. “Costs have fallen dramatically since there are no distribution or print costs, now they are much more manageable.” He adds that in the current climate employers are facing increased costs due to rising pensions contributions, minimum wage rates and the apprenticeship levy, so any savings they can make in the benefits area are welcome. However, this means that they can simply continue to provide them rather than reinvest the savings in new provisions. ...take-up of the digital benefits can be as high as sixty to seventy per cent... University of Lincoln built a bespoke platform with a third-party provider and ensured its benefits site reflected exactly what it wanted and reflected the ethos of the charity. “We were very lucky to find a supplier who shared in our vision and was keen to create a site with us as almost an experiment,” says Hodson. “To this extent our Linc-On site was built based on the cost of a little development time and we now just pay a small fee for hosting.” He explains that it was important that the university was able to adapt the site as it wanted and remained in control of the content, updates and engagement tools such as newsletters and the tickertape alerts. “This keeps down our admin costs and keeps us as self-sufficient without needing any external expertise to update the site,” Hodson adds. The CIPP’s digital benefits are offered via a platform that provides discounts for services including shopping, holidays and cinema trips. “The key benefits are to provide employees with the opportunity to purchase products and services at a
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 38 | March 2018
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