Jisc is the digital and data body for UK education and research, with around 1,300 employees delivering products and expertise across areas such as connectivity, cybersecurity and technology infrastructure.
As a publicly funded, not-for-profit organisation, it draws on its culture and inclusive work environment to attract new talent. Andrew West, reward consultant at Jisc. says: “It’s important to offer benefits that are valued and meet the diverse needs of our workforce.”
To achieve this, Jisc revamped its employee benefits package a couple of years ago, launching a range of benefits including a health cash plan, a holiday purchase scheme and electric car salary sacrifice arrangement. “As a business, we aim to be a force for good,” says West. “As such, we wanted to deliver a cash plan that provides enhanced options to support staff health and wellbeing.”
Although the organisation had previously offered a voluntary cash plan, its new one, which is provided by Medicash, is employer-paid, with staff automatically enrolled unless they choose to opt out. Delivering staff health benefits in this way means only a handful of employees have opted out so far, usually where they already have cover.
This has also helped to create a buzz around the health benefits on offer. “We worked with Medicash to develop a robust communications strategy but word of mouth really helps to spread the message,” adds West. “Knowing a colleague has claimed money back for physiotherapy or a trip to the dentist encourages more people to use the cash plan.”
The popularity and value of the benefit can be seen across several different metrics. The usage rate is high, with the employee participation rate hitting 95% in the plan’s second year. Many employees have also taken the opportunity to upgrade cover or pay to add their partner to the plan. “We also asked employees what they thought of the benefit on one of our internal online forums. This attracted lots of comments, with employees discussing all the health benefits they had used. We even had a couple of employees who said it was one of the key factors when choosing Jisc as an employer,” adds West.
