CASE STUDY Alfresco
How we saved Alfresco nearly £100,000 per year without reducing employee benefits.
BACKGROUND Alfresco are a Global technology Company employing over 500 staff Worldwide. I head up the HR team based in Maidenhead where we are responsible for just over 230 employees.
We have worked with the Benefiz team over the last 12 months. We initially hired them to carry out a review of our existing flexible benefits package which had been in place for a number of years run by a National firm of Consultants. We were becoming increasingly worried about the rising costs and the lack of engagement with our employees in our benefit programme.
MORE INFORMATION Review findings
Benefiz provided a detailed report which reviewed each benefit. In summary Benefiz identified a potential cost saving to us of over £100,000 pa by making some changes to our benefit design and providers: The most significant finding however was that we were not taking advantage of the tax and NI savings of salary exchange for our pension scheme. Benefiz estimated a total NI saving of £50,000 pa. Part of the review focused on the income of our adviser. By appointing Benefiz we have reduced our adviser costs by over £40,000 pa
THE WHOLE PROCESS Flexible benefits renewal
We appointed Benefiz in June 2017 and gave them 3 weeks to build and launch a new flex platform with new benefits and providers to take effect from 1st July 2017. The whole process was managed professionally and all deadlines were met. The review also identified a clear lack of understanding of our Pension scheme. With the help of Benefiz we have set up a Governance Committee and delivered staff pension awareness sessions. We put up posters, desk dropped A5 flyers and gave everyone who attended the session a “Pension Geeks” wrist band. As a result of this activity we now have over 40% of members registered on the provider’s website and employee contributions to the pension scheme have increased by 15% with a handful of employees sacrificing their recent quarterly bonus.
In summary
"We have been very pleased with the advice and ongoing service provided by the Benefiz team. They respond instantly to queries and are really keen to work with us to maximise our employee engagement in our benefits. They feel part of our HR team." - Simon McDougle, HR Director