At Honda's factory in Swindon, staff can access benefits to help them make their money go further. The main offerings in the company's "What if..." scheme are a pension plan, which has the option of additional voluntary contributions, childcare vouchers and a cycle-to-work scheme.
All employees are also offered private medical insurance, subsidised canteens, laundered uniforms and voluntary benefits that include a healthcare cash plan, dental plan, retail vouchers and online discounts through the Perkz-provided website.
Because of the recession, the plant did not operate for four months in 2009, and employee morale was low. But people were still in work, and the company introduced a working time account which enabled it to pay its employees consistently, 'banking' hours that either the individual owed or Honda owed if staff had worked overtime.
Honda sought to introduce benefits that helped to make employees' money go further, says Judy Luckins, section manager, payroll and benefits. "During that period, people were obviously feeling the pinch, so that is when we focused on retail vouchers and Perkz, a scheme that we bought in January 2010," she adds.
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