The Employee Benefits Awards provide a great opportunity to show off the excellent work that benefits managers have done in their organisations. For the 2011 awards, employers are encouraged to enter strategies that have been proven to be running successfully.
The key is to be able to demonstrate results and how they have met objectives, so there is no restriction on how long ago the strategy was launched, as long as the quantifiable measures are from 2010.
Each year, the array of categories is assessed and 2010 saw two new categories introduced for the Employee Benefits Awards.
The first new category was 'Most effective benefits strategy in a public sector organisation', which was won by Kent County Council for its Kent Rewards scheme. The council developed a one-stop shop total reward interactive tool, which shows each employee their personal financial and non-financial benefits information. One judge said:
"This was a great example of how to use technology without over-complicating the solution."
The second new category was 'Most effective travel strategy for business and perk car drivers', which was awarded to Whitbread.
The leisure firm's approach to its company car strategy stood out because of its refusal to take the easy option when looking to reduce the scheme's running costs by as much as 25%. The judges said: "Recognition is due for not taking the easy option of slashing [the benefit], but effectively reinventing the mindset of employees towards the car scheme."
The entry deadline for the Employee Benefits Awards is 14 January 2011.
