Verona Farquharson, reward manager at RAC, says: “We wanted to be able to talk to its client list, so we could ask other HR professionals what the service was like and what the pinch points were.”
The company got in touch with two clients for each of the three suppliers it had shortlisted.
Trying to get an idea of how things would work in practice was also important. “We asked them to show how they would structure the contract and many brought their customer service managers down so we could see who would manage it and who would take on the day-to-day queries,” says Farquharson. “We wanted to make sure there was a support system in place.”
The suppliers were also subjected to financial assessments, led mainly by RAC’s finance team. “They did put some warnings on some of the smaller firms, but it was up to us how to use that data,” says Farquharson.
Eventually, RAC decided to appoint Lorica, and the new flexible benefits platform it introduced resulted in a 25% increase in take-up last year. “Doing our homework has really benefited us,” adds Farquharson.
