FLEXIBLE BENEFITS
Chrysalis Group tunes into flexible benefits
The Chrysalis Group, well known for its radio stations, music and book publishing interests, has launched a new flexible benefits scheme for its 700 employees.
The initiative was prompted after a staff survey showed dissatisfaction with the original benefits offering. Employee benefit specialists 4th Contact is working alongside PwC's human resource services division, which is designing the flex plan. 4th Contact's online system is being integrated with Snowdrop Systems human resources software.
Employer of choice
Craig Warden, human resources director for the Chrysalis Group, explains: "Our aim is to be an employer of choice and to do that we need to understand our employees very well. A work-life balance survey, however, showed that our benefits offering did not reflect our employee's lifestyle and was therefore undervalued."
"Employees didn't, for instance, rate private medical insurance or private health insurance, yet these are typically very expensive benefits to provide. The staff appreciation didn't match the company expenditure," adds Warden.
Flexible benefits were Warden's first choice to rectify the problem, as he believed that flex would enable employees to make significant benefit choices to suit their individual lifestyles. In turn, flex makes benefits highly visible so employees can value their total reward fully, ensuring each staff member knows just how much the company provides for them.
Online flex system
After researching the market, Chrysalis decided that launching straight into online flexible benefits with 4th Contact was the best route forward. The company expects to see some cost savings in the first year, even taking into consideration the implementation expenditure, with more significant savings in the second year.
Says Warden: "It's important for us to prove we've listened to our employees and tell them how we’ re responding. The new flex implementation is creating a real buzz, employees are very excited about its launch and we are confident that the flex scheme will bring increased employee satisfaction."
Want to know more?
PricewaterhouseCoopers provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services for public and private clients. It employs more than 120,000 people in 144 countries. To find out more visit www.pwc.com/uk
4th Contact specialises in helping mid-sized organisations through the full online flexible benefits process and can advise on all elements of creating a flex scheme. Further information is available at www.4thcontact.co.uk
Posted 21 January 2005