Countrywide: Implementing a cost-effective benefits strategy

Property services company, Countrywide, has developed a two-phase approach to developing and implementing a cost-effective benefits strategy over the past two years, including the introduction of a new benefits portal hosted on its social intranet. The organisation has diversified and grown quickly in recent years from an estate agency into the largest full-service property organisation in the UK – bringing challenges in terms of legacy terms and conditions and inconsistent reward and benefits. Our case study examines how it has aligned benefits with employees’ preferences and designed a benefits strategy fit for a diverse 11,000-strong workforce across more than 1,000 locations in the UK.

CONTENTS OF THIS FIVE-PAGE CASE STUDY

• Organisation profile
• Who E-reward interviewed
• Benefit challenges
• “Making more of what we have”
• Promoting Countrywide products and services
• Leveraging existing partnerships
• Maximising salary sacrifice savings
• Share incentive plan
• Phase 2: benefit strategy design
• Metrics and evaluation
• Lessons learned