Adam Brooke, employee benefits manager (UK) at JP Morgan, explains what it means to win an Employee Benefits award.

JP Morgan won ‘Best benefits communications, large employer’ at the Employee Benefits Awards 2013.

1. What has winning an Employee Benefits’ award meant to you and to your team?

It was so exciting and unexpected. It’s been a lot of hard work. We had received great feedback from employees: that [the communications] were creative and clever, and made things a lot easier to understand. Within the space of three years, to effectively double our engagement by changing the way we communicate our benefits to employees was amazing; to then receive an award for it was just fantastic.

2. What have you done to communicate your Employee Benefits’ award win to your organisation and to employees?

We put it in our company newsletter. We included photos of the night and details of what we won and why we won it. We wanted to share that with employees.

We’re currently in the process of putting together our new communications for our next [flexible benefits] enrolment, and we will be including the Employee Benefits Award logo on all the communications that go out.

3. What has the award meant to the organisation and to employees?

It’s quite a lot of publicity, which is great. We’re a global company, but the vast majority of our employees are based in the US, so to be able to share this with an audience beyond just the UK, and basically say this is what we’ve been working on and to get the reactions we have from our colleagues over in the US, has been brilliant. They are looking at ways to adopt some of our communications methods outside the UK.

4. What would you say to other employers to encourage them to enter the Employee Benefits Awards 2014?

If you’re doing something that you think really stands out, then why not give it a go? From an employer’s side, to benchmark yourself against those in your sector, or outside your sector, gives you another push or drive to try new things.

It all comes together with the awards ceremony. It’s a great place to showcase what you’re doing and to find out what others are doing. And if you’re successful and you come out with one of those awards, it leaves a big smile on your face for a long time afterwards.

The deadline for the Employee Benefits Awards 2014 has been extended to 17 January.

See the full list of categories and details of how to enter.