EXCLUSIVE: JP Morgan has increased the number of mortgage advice sessions it offers its 14,500 UK employees.
The benefit, which was added to the investment bank’s flexible benefits scheme, Elements, from 1 April 2013, is provided by mortgage broker Charles Cameron and Associates.
Adam Brooke, employee benefits manager (UK) at JP Morgan, said: “One of the things employees had asked about for the past two years was for more on the financial awareness side. We looked around to see what others were doing and what was available on the market.”
Brooke had experienced the benefit while with his previous employer, law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
“We hadn’t gone down the mortgage advisory route before,” added Brooke. “It was something we had been asked about. We decided to go ahead because I know it was a valued benefit from my previous experience.”
The mortgage advice proved so popular in its first four months that the organisation has had to add extra sessions. When the benefit first launched, about 30 or 40 sessions were available each week. Brooke added: “Out of any benefit I have ever launched, this is right up there for pure engagement.
“Initially, we were sending out an email every week offering sessions and they would be gone within minutes. It was like a sold-out event, like a concert or festival.”
The benefit is communicated via an email that prompts employees to sign up for a session. Its most recent email, which was sent on 24 July to its London and Bournemouth-based employees, offered 130 sessions, which were gone within 13 minutes.
“Off the back of it, we had 62 employees emailing us to ask for additional dates,” said Brooke. “We are directing them straight to Charles Cameron and Associates.
“Employees can set up an appointment and carry through with the mortgage advisor if they need more information or advice.
“We get a lot of employees who find it very valuable because they just want to know what their options are.”
