EXCLUSIVE: Travis Perkins Group has reviewed its benefits offering for its 24,000 employees and has launched a number of initiatives to boost its employee value proposition (EVP).
The builder’s merchant and home improvement retailer, which also owns 17 other brands including Wickes and Toolstation, has launched an online benefits portal, rebranded its voluntary benefits package and launched flexible benefits for staff.
Its decision to review its proposition for employees across all 17 brands was due to an increase in the size of its employee population over the past 10 years.
Simon Naylor, group reward manager at Travis Perkins, said: “We have had a lot going on with all different parts of the group doing a lot of different things. They have had their own payroll and benefits structures.”
As a result, the organisation opted for a single online portal to hold all the different benefits from all brands for its employees in one place, to help boost the perceived value of its offering, improve accessibility to its benefits and reduce administration.
The scheme, which is provided by KPMG and called myPerks, gives all 24,000 employees access to the organisation’s flexible benefits scheme, voluntary benefits scheme, healthcare and wellbeing initiatives and support for line mangers to handle employee queries and concerns.
Carol Kavanagh, Group HR director at Travis Perkins Group, said: “It gives us an opportunity to harness advances in technology to reach out to all our employees and enable them to take advantage of fantastic rewards and benefits through a single website.”
Benefits include access to its core benefits such as life assurance and private medical insurance (PMI) and flexible benefits include, bikes for work, a health cash plan, childcare vouchers, and salary sacrifice mobile phones.
It also plans to add its sharesave scheme to flex in the future.
Since its launch in June, the organisation has seen more than 6,000 active users across the 17 brands access flex through the portal and more than 12,000 use its discounts portal, provided by Reward Gateway.
Naylor said: “The idea is that it is a one-stop-shop for employees so that they can find everything relating to their benefits and more in one location. We have something for everyone, we have flex, voluntary discounts scheme and healthcare but we continue to look at a number of areas to improve our offering.”
The online benefits portal can be accessed through PCs, tablet and smartphone devices, which was a key driver when introducing the platform. The organisation was able to target employees with more relevant communications and offers through capturing data during registration.
Naylor added: “By working with KPMG we can combine its technology with our information to segment our communications to employees and push certain benefits.
“We have a lot of different people in a lot of different environments that all have different requirements. The proposition also helps, not only to retain but also drive engagement and excitement, especially among those wanting to come work for the group.
“I think that is the whole point to why we did this and moving online has been very innovative for the organisation.”