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Elan Computing is one of the largest information technology and telecommunications recruitment companies in the world. Its current annual turnover is £500 million. Elan believed that its benefits package was a generous part of an approach to total reward which stresses investment in people, recognition, the quality of life and fair and competitive reward.
However, staff opinion was different. They simply did not understand or appreciate the benefits available to them and consequently take up was low. These issues came up at the organisation's annual staff conference and in the yearly people survey. There was a general view that employees wanted more benefits, but that was mostly because they were not sure what they had at the time.
In making changes, Elan's ultimate aim was to get better value from its benefits spend in terms of recruitment, retention and employee satisfaction. The company was also keen to reduce the administrative burden of running the benefits scheme and wanted to ensure that the appropriate management information was available to support and develop its reward strategy. Elan decided to rebrand the existing benefit package and deliver it differently.
The company wanted the new arrangements to be accessible and flexible, so an online system that employees could access whenever it suited them was chosen. These decisions have significantly improved take up and satisfaction and further changes are being planned to increase flexibility.