Home energy, electric vehicle charging and green technology firm Ovo helps its 5,000 employees plan and prepare for retirement by providing a range of benefits to address multiple needs.
Its benefits and progressive policies, known as its people offer, include flexible benefits designed to support staff across four key pillars: health and wellbeing, financial and protection, lifestyle, and Plan Zero, which are green benefits.
Through its financial education pillar, the firm offers support for retirement planning such as unlimited one-on-one financial advice from wealth managers, access to a series of topical webinars on retirement planning, and several bespoke webinars throughout the year to address specific needs. Furthermore, its benefits platform features a dedicated pension hub with resources to navigate workplace pensions and make informed retirement decisions.
The firm also offers other retirement planning benefits, such as a single and joint will-writing service, discounted legal services for power of attorney, terminal illness planning, and final wishes planning so employees can take care of important legal matters.
Julia Diggs, vice president of people at Ovo, says: “In the event of serious illness or the loss of a loved one, we offer critical illness cover and life assurance, providing financial protection when it’s needed most, as well as bereavement support through our employee assistance programme. Our Care Concierge benefit, provided by Legal and General, supports our people who are carers to navigate their responsibilities and access the right support and services for their loved ones, [because] balancing work and caregiving responsibilities can be challenging.”
With financial wellbeing being a core part of its approach, Ovo offers free unlimited financial advice via its financial education provider to help staff make informed decisions about budgeting, saving, and planning for the future. Additionally, its wellbeing hub has resources on topics from mental health to financial management.
Ovo uses a range of internal channels to communicate its pension offering and financial benefits with its workforce. These include its intranet, which features information, a dedicated financial wellbeing page, and benefits hub. It regularly shares news stories with staff on its intranet newsfeeds and weekly newsletters, reminding them of what is on offer.
In addition, all new starters are invited to an in-person event at the organisation’s Bristol office to meet their colleagues, get to know the organisation and settle in. This enables them to learn more about the available benefits.
“We also share updates to our benefits package and invite staff to drop-in sessions for more information,” says Diggs. ”Engagement with these channels is high, with more than 25,000 visits to our people offer pages on our intranet last year. Content takes the form of written articles, people case studies and videos, as well as digital signage across our three offices.”
