UKTV switches staff on to value of benefits

UKTV has been tuning its workforce in to the true value of its benefits package.

When a staff survey revealed widespread knowledge gaps about its employee benefits package, UKTV took the opportunity to communicate the real value of its perks.

Its communication strategy included a two-day benefits and wellbeing event last October, which focused on raising awareness about UKTV’s core benefits, including its pension and private medical insurance (PMI). The event enabled staff to speak with benefits providers on a one-to-one basis about the perks available to them.

Kate Whateley, interim HR director at UKTV, says: “This year has been about connecting HR to the business. We have a great HR team with lots of ideas and energy to roll things out, but we realised how much was already available to staff that was not really known, so it has been about making those connections, rolling some things out and taking risks, but communication has been the big focus.”

UKTV’s core benefits include a stakeholder pension scheme that all employees can join after their three-month probation period. The company’s pension contribution is 7% of an employee’s gross salary after six months’ service and 12% after five years.

The organisation auto-enrols employees into a PMI plan, provided by Bupa, as well as life assurance and personal accident insurance. Income protection is also provided after employees’ three-month probationary period. UKTV also offers staff a discounted dental healthcare scheme, provided by Denplan, which has a 30-40% take-up, says Whateley. Voluntary benefits are shaped to reflect the company’s young workforce: the average age of UKTV employees is 29.

Whateley says: “I suppose having that younger demographic means there are implications around communications, how you do things and what expectations are. From a benefi ts perspective, what it means is that it is important we get all the basics in place.

“We do have a generous pension scheme, private medical cover for all employees and income protection insurance, which are the things we wanted to get across at the events, and then it is about putting the fun benefits around these core offerings.”

A social committee of UKTV staff organises ‘fun’ benefits, which include a cheese and wine club, a choir, a football club and a knitting club. Halloween dressing-up competitions and Christmas decoration competitions are also popular with employees.

Positive environment

“Spending time doing things like this creates a positive environment and, ultimately, makes staff buy into the company and want to work hard for us, so it pays for itself,” says Whateley. She adds that from an HR perspective, the social committee is an enormous help because it is another group of people besides HR that is focused on making UKTV an attractive place to work.

UKTV has introduced paper-based total reward statements (TRSs) for its 200 staff to show the full value of its benefits, as part of its drive to optimise communication. Because of its relatively small workforce, UKTV decided to create the statements with Excel spreadsheets in house, rather than introduce online TRSs, to create a more personal feel for staff.

This personal approach also manifests itself in UKTV’s employee recognition and reward programme, which includes its monthly Living Behaviour awards. These involve employees nominating colleagues who have demonstrated one or more of the organisation’s desired behaviours (inventive, savvy, trust, ownership, passion) in their work for a chance to win a cash prize. A staff panel then selects one or two winners from four or five employees nominated each month to receive a cash award of £100 each.

A video of employees giving the reasons for their nominations is shown at the organisation’s weekly Tuesday morning meetings, which are attended by all staff.

The newest addition to UKTV’s recognition programme is chocolate bars containing instant reward vouchers, which managers present to staff. There are three possible rewards: a lie-in, a late start or an early finish.

Managers choose which to include in the bar, and then present it to the employee. Whateley says: “The nicest thing for me was walking past one of the meeting rooms and seeing a manager handing over one of the bars and the employee’s reaction to it. They were so surprised. It is something different.”

Learning lounges

Learning and development, both inside and outside the workplace, is another key part of UKTV’s recognition programme. Its ‘learning lounges’ are led by an internal department that wants to highlight what it is doing, or external speakers, such as representatives from mental health charity Mind, who come into the office to speak about their organisation.

Meanwhile, UKTV’s ‘learning curve’ offers employees the chance to apply for funding for non-work-related training. Staff can apply to the learning curve panel of staff members for a share of a £2,000 monthly fund to pay for any type of training they choose.

The panel receives three or four applications a month, which receive £300 to £400 each. To date, this funding has paid for video editing courses, saxaphone lessons, speech and drama classes, and even surfing lesions.

Whateley says the learning curve scheme has also benefited the company directly, with the employee who took the video-editing course then being able to work on video projects within the organisation.

“All these things are encompassed in the benefits structure and make this a great place to work,” says Whateley.

“When you are competing with far larger companies for the most talented staff, it is these things that make us unique. We have all the benefits and they wrap around the base offering, but ultimately it  is the people and the enjoyment of working here that help us to retain staff.”