Integrating Voluntary Employee
Benefits to drive employee
engagement.
Glenn Elliott, MD, Asperity Employee Benefits www.asperity.co.uk
for the e-Reward conference www.e-reward.co.uk
27th November 2008
© 2008 Asperity Employee Benefits Ltd.
Sunday, February 22, 2009

Before we start - lets agree on
some terminology.
Voluntary Benefits :
Benefits paid for by employees out of their own money
> Could be tax efficient, such as Childcare Vouchers
> Often be at a special group rate negotiated by the employer
Flex system :
A system that allows employee to utilise a “pot” of money allocated by
an employer to spend on benefits that they choose, or a pot freed up by
trading down other paid for benefits such as PMI
Core benefits :
Benefits that are provided by the employer to the employee on a
compulsory basis and employees have no choice in them.
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

A “Benefits Programme”?
Often a combination of :
A intranet or extranet explaining benefits available and allowing
selections
Benefits book or other paper enrollment pack
Telephone helpline or enrollment line
Employee communications programme
Set of benefits arranged and provided by the employer and paid for
either by the employee or the employer. Some of them likely to be tax
efficient. All should be a better “deal” than the employee could get by
themselves.
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Voluntary benefits?
Always “employee paid” When “employee paid”
Employee Discounts Cycle to Work Dental / Optical Insurance
Childcare Vouchers Healthcare Cash Plan PMI
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Is the distinction between
voluntary and flex important?
Well - the answer is YES AND NO.
Your employees will worry less about the distinction - they’ll be
interested in the benefits that you offer not what we call them
Whether you do holiday trading or offer a funded flex pot dictates
the type of benefits system you need and the type of provider that
you choose and therefore the costs that you have to bear.
But ultimately what is important is the range of benefits that you
offer, how well you communicate them and how easy they are for
employees to access.
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

To offer these benefits do you need a Flex system or a lower-cost integrated voluntary benefits
system?
Childcare Vouchers Cycle to Work PMI Buying more holiday
4% of salary to spend on your Employee
Dental & Optical Plan
choice of benefits Discounts
Integrated Voluntary Benefits Needs a full Flex System
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

To offer these benefits do you need a Flex system or a lower-cost integrated voluntary benefits
system?
Childcare Vouchers
Cycle to Work
Group Rate PMI
4% of salary to spend on your
Dental & Optical Plan
choice of benefits
Employee Discounts Buying more holiday
Integrated Voluntary Benefits Needs a full Flex System
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

So what does IVB look like?
Your choice from : But always with :
Single Website
Employee Discounts
Single employee helpdesk
Discounted Retail Vouchers
Single, integrated
Childcare Vouchers
communications Plan
Cycle to Work
Single feed to payroll
Healthcare Cash Plan
Easy administration
Private Medical Insurance
Green Bus Travel
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

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Sunday, February 22, 2009

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Sunday, February 22, 2009

And (most importantly) what
does it cost?
Employee Discounts Voluntary :
Discounted Retail Vouchers
Childcare Vouchers Some are tax efficient and
Cycle to Work paid through payroll.
Healthcare Cash Plan
Private Medical Insurance But ALL of the benefits are
Green Bus Travel employee paid, employer
negotiated
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Can VB lead your benefits strategy?
Employee Discounts are “most voluntary” benefit of all voluntary
benefits
Easy to understand - everyone understands “discounts on
shopping”
Attractive and high profile “Save 25%” is always an attention
grabber
Universally used - from lowest paid staff to the highest
Often used very regularly -multiple times per year
The goal in benefits “get the employers benefits brand seen in a
positive light as often as possible”
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Employee Discounts
Accessible, easy
Childcare Vouchers
Healthcare Cash Plan
Green bus travel
PMI
Dental & Optical
Cycle to Work
to understand and
has the potential
to be used by
everyone
Use the interest
generated to drive
the takeup in your
other benefits
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Choosing your benefits
Whether you choose a Flex system or an integrated voluntary
benefits (IVB) solution the cost should be vastly less that the
perceived value to your employees.
A Flex system allows holiday trading and an employer funded
flex pot, but an IVB solution costs only a fraction of the cost
Both should provide you with :
Higher profile benefits, with higher employee engagement
Single website for all benefits
Single employee helpdesk
Single employee communications programme
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

So you could think about
An easy-to-use employee discount scheme being the anchor of
your benefits programme.
Use discounts and savings to bring employees to a place where
they can learn about other benefits whilst they shop and buy
services.
Get employees used to your benefits brand and the concept of
employee benefits before launching more complex messages
Then you can even communicate much more complex, but very
valuable pensions and sharesave schemes.
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Want to know more?
Glenn Elliott
MD
Asperity Employee Benefits Ltd
glenn@asperity.co.uk
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Sunday, February 22, 2009