The Employee Benefits Awards 2008 have been inundated with more sparkling entries than ever, making it the most popular year yet. The finalists are unveiled below, leaving the winners of each category to be announced at a gala lunch on 18 June at the London Hilton on Park Lane. Click here to book your place.
Most effective company car strategy
• Henkel (entered by Provecta Car Plan)
• 20:20 Mobile Group
• Microsoft
• Shell International (entered by Alphabet(GB))
Most effective healthcare and wellbeing strategy
• Danone
• Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education
• IPC Media
• Px
• Towry Law Financial Services
• UBS Most effective sickness absence management strategy
• Aspire Housing
• Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education
• Queen Mary Sidcup NHS Trust (entered by FirstCare)
Most effective pensions strategy
• Cheshire Building Society
• FirstGroup
• GeoPost UK
• RPM (entered by Foster Denovo)
• Tesco
• Xyratex Technology (entered by Secondsight)
Most effective motivation and incentive strategy
• ASDA Stores
• Best Deal Insurance
• Barclays Bank (entered by Grass Roots)
• Boots UK
• DSG international
• Punch Taverns
• Thomson Holidays (entered by Michael C Fina Worldwide)
Most effective use of a flexible benefits plan
• CPM UK
• HBOS
• ICI (entered by Watson Wyatt)
• Lloyds TSB Group
• O2 (entered by Towers Perrin)
• Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (entered by Thomsons Online Benefits)
Most effective use of a voluntary benefits plan
• Buckinghamshire County Council
• gem
• Kent County Council (entered by Asperity Employee Benefits)
• The Moray Council (entered by icom Works)
• Oscar Mayer
• Specsavers Optical Group (entered by Personal Group)
• Transport for London (entered by Watson Wyatt)
Most effective all-employee share scheme strategy
• BAE Systems (entered by Equiniti)
• Drax Group (entered by Capita Share Plan Services)
• easyJet (entered by Yorkshire Building Society)
• Henderson Global Investors
• Punch Taverns
• Sainsbury's (entered by HBOS Employee Equity Solutions)
Most effective use of financial education in the workplace
• Henderson Global Investors
• The Capita Group (entered by Capita Share Plan Services)
• GlaxoSmithKline (entered by JPMorgan INVEST)
• Reuters (entered by Watson Wyatt)
• RPM (entered by Foster Denovo)
• United Utilities†
Most successful new benefits launch
• BAA (entered by Yorkshire Building Society)
• Credit Suisse (entered by Hewitt Associates)
• iris Nation
• Kent County Council (entered by Asperity Employee Benefits)
• McDonald's Restaurants
• Nottingham City Council (entered by P&MM)
Communications strategy of the year for organisations with fewer than 5000 employees
• Cancer Research UK
• Carlsberg UK (entered by Buck Consultants and Talking People)
• Fujitsu Siemens Computers (entered by Benefex)
• Getty Images (entered by Thomsons Online Benefits)
• Kwik-Fit Financial Services (entered by You at Work)
• Norwich Union Healthcare
Communications strategy of the year for organisations with 5000 employees or more
• AstraZeneca (entered by PensionDCisions)
• BAE Systems (entered by Equiniti)
• Lloyds TSB Group
• McDonald's Restaurants
• O2 (entered by Caburn Hope)
• Sainsbury's (entered by HBOS Employee Equity Solutions)
• Unilever (entered by Hewitt Associates) Most effective use of online media
• British Sky Broadcasting (entered by Caburn Hope)
• Cancer Research UK
• McDonald's Restaurants
• O2 (entered by Caburn Hope, Towers Perrin and ExcelerateHRO)
• Reuters (entered by Watson Wyatt)
Most effective application of tax-efficient benefits
• Amadeus Services (entered by You at Work)
• British Sky Broadcasting (entered by Grass Roots)
• Henderson Global Investors
• Kent County Council (entered by Asperity Employee Benefits)
• Nottingham City Council (entered by P&MM)
Most effective use of reward as part of a corporate social responsibility strategy
• British Sky Broadcasting
• KPMG
• Northgate Information Solutions UK
• Norwich Union
• Nottingham City Council (entered by P&MM)
• Scottish and Southern Energy
Most effective benefits strategy for working parents and carers
• Hertfordshire County Council
• IBM
• South Tyneside Council
Most effective employer and adviser partnership
• BMC Software and Secondsight
• Henderson Global Investors and Hargreaves Lansdown
• Kent County Council and Asperity Employee Benefits
• O2 and Caburn Hope
• Reed Smith Richards Butler and PIFC Consulting
• RPM and Foster Denovo
Most effective benefits strategy for organisations with 1,000 or fewer employees
• IRI (entered by Secondsight)
• Iris Nation
• Prodrive
• Towry Law Financial Services
Most effective benefits strategy for organisations with more than 1,000 employees
• IBM
• ICI (entered by Watson Wyatt)
• Informa
• O2 (entered by Towers Perrin)
Benefits Team of the year
• Aegon UK
• Barnardo's
• Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education
• Informa
• Kent County Council
• O2 (entered by Towers Perrin)
• Towry Law Financial Services
Compensation and benefits professional of the year
• Peter Barnard, director of personnel, Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education
• Neal Blackshire, benefits and compensation manager, McDonald's Restaurants
• Dr Graham Brown, head of people support services, Barnardo's
• Euan Hutchinson, EMEA rewards director, Hewlett-Packard
• Jane Vivier, reward adviser, Kent County Council
• Chris Wilson, former benefits director EMEA, Oracle Corporation
Tables are selling rapidly for this prestigious event (in previous years all places sell out well in advance) as the Employee Benefits Awards of the key networking events of the year for benefits professionals. Click here to book your place.