Alfresco is a content and business process management organisation employing around 400 people in 13 countries around the world, including the UK, where its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters are based. It provides its employees with a benefits package, including medical and dental insurance, childcare vouchers, group income protection and a health cash plan, which are available via a benefits portal.
Patti Rain-Wiffin, director, global human resources, says: “We introduced a benefits portal five years ago to make it easy for our employees to find out about the different benefits and pick the ones they wanted.
“This resulted in an increase in take-up but we still find there’s a need for face-to-face communications.”
Two groups in particular prefer the more personal approach: new joiners and migrant workers, says Rain-Wiffin. “We used to have a webinar to explain the benefits package to new joiners but we found they preferred to speak to someone about what we offer,” she explains.
“Similarly we’ve recruited a lot of migrants in the last couple of years. They don’t necessarily know our benefits systems so they often have a lot of questions that can only be answered face to face.”
The organisation also provides access to financial advisers where employees need further guidance. “Some things work much better thanks to technology but we do find there’s still a need for the personal touch,” Rain-Wiffin adds.
