Mishcon de Reya has removed the probation period for new staff joining its flexible benefits scheme.
The flexible benefits scheme, which opened for 2012 enrolment on 28 November, will now be available to all staff as soon as they join the law firm. Previously, the probation period varied between one and six months.
Lynn Turner, HR advisor at Mishcon de Reya, said: “We have recognised that a lot of our employees will be paralegals who may be on fixed-term contracts.
“To help them engage with the benefits programme and understand the value, we made the decision that the probation criteria was not applicable anymore.”
The flexible benefits package includes: dental insurance, an employee assistance programme (EAP), eyecare, fee concessions for the firm’s legal services, payroll giving, gym membership, health screening, holiday purchase (up to three days sold or bought), income protection, access to an in-house doctor, life assurance, a group personal pension (GPP) scheme, interest-free season ticket loans, and private medical insurance (PMI).
“We are trying to engage employees with the concept of total reward,” said Turner. “We want to put them in control of what they want their total reward package to look like, and then they will engage with the benefits they are entitled to.”
After the inaugural flex launch in 2010 included a big-splash communications campaign, Mishcon de Reya has done a more subdued communications this year. There will be posters in the London office, emails sent out to all staff, and a demo-training session on the online system.
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