For UK Power Networks, a total reward statement (TRS) holds two key attributes: the first is that it presents employees with an overall monetary value of their benefits package. The statement gives a breakdown of an individual’s benefits and remuneration for the previous year, and includes elements like pay, bonuses, overtime payments, long service awards and pension contributions; anything that has a cash value. Benefits such as private medical insurance and the Simply Health cash plan are included in a comprehensive statement that is personalised for each employee.
The second feature of UK Power Networks’ TRS is that it will show an employee the complete benefits portfolio available to them. This part of the statement includes information about intangible benefits that might not have a clear cash value, for example, lifestyle and retail offers and discounts through the Reward Gateway platform, information about supported studies, the technology scheme or discounts available through the Cheung Kong Group (CKG), UK Power Network’s parent company, which also includes Greene King and Three.
Steve Remnant, head of reward and HR services, says: “I’ve always been of the belief that the way in which we reach out to employees is less so through salaries, it is through those other intangible things, even things like subsidies for books for study that isn’t related to work. But every time somebody logs on to the Reward Gateway site, or engages in buying [flexible benefits] or trading holidays, they are engaging with the company. So it’s a really powerful thing for engagement.”
UK Power Networks issues its 6,000 employees with a paper total reward statement each year. In 2020, for the first time the organisation produced online-only statements, but, following staff feedback, it has produced the physical statement and benefits brochure again this year which was sent out to employees’ home addresses.
“We put a lot of effort into it,” says Remnant. “The reason we do it is because we can see that there are tangible results associated with positioning it with employees: it’s a good way of selling the benefits while also reminding employees that their employment at UK Power Networks is quite valuable to them, and long may that be the case.”