Implementing global benefits tech
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is a global law firm with a long-standing track record of successfully supporting the world’s leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments on groundbreaking and business-critical mandates. With more than 2,800 lawyers delivering results from 28 offices worldwide alongside advice from the leading local firms.
“The feedback from colleagues has been really positive. Previously colleagues would access their benefits platform once a year at best, now we're seeing 30 - 45% engage each month and 85% at annual enrolment.”
Jo Mercer, Global Benefits Senior Manager
Objectives
Drive process efficiencies for HR/benefits teams
1
Achieve a consistent flexible benefits experience
2
Offer greater flexibility and anytime selection
3
Challenge
The challenges
“When I joined the firm in 2016, we were trying to align ways or working – in particular how we could deliver benefits globally. As a newly formed global benefits team, we inherited a lot of legacy processes and platforms, so we had our work cut out to align the user experience. Working with different tech providers across different regions was not efficient and complex in nature to manage.”
Driving efficiency for HR and benefits teams
“With a new global HR core system, a key objective for the team was to source and implement a benefits platform that integrated well with our global HR system and respective payroll systems.”
“We also needed to drive process efficiencies that were lacking due to the use of multiple providers and the various ways of working. Bringing everything into one place not only improved the colleague experience but also the day to day for the benefits team. As a benefits manager, you are already juggling a lot of plates and have multiple considerations for various countries, so we needed to make the technology and administration more manageable.”
“Historically, the admin was very bulky and clunky. We had to create weekly, bi-weekly or monthly reports to share with benefit and technology providers – we wanted all of that to be simplified. Now it’s all automated. It runs itself in the background and that was a huge win for us.”
Delivering on employee expectations globally
“Creating a consistent global experience is something that’s become even more important in the last couple of years; and we’ve achieved that through the branding of the benefits and how colleagues access them. And that consistency filters through to the whole of HR, with the use of a single platform, HR Services are able to support the business and employees in all regions.”
Elevating benefits to an anytime resource for employees
“Aligning our benefits programme to our overall goals was key – both in terms of employee expectations and the wider business agenda. We wanted to offer anytime benefits but our legacy systems tied us to annual windows and mid-year cycles. Being able to offer a wide range of benefits, available at anytime of the year has been a great success.”
Solution
The Solution
The technology
“It was an easy business decision as we were replacing existing technology with a global solution. We’ve benefited from process efficiencies, economies of scale, a centralised administration team and a greater colleague experience through the use of the global platform.”
“The Communications Manager tool was one of the biggest “why Benefex” moments during the RFP. Previously it was difficult to target communications; we’d either have to create employee comms and distribution lists outside of the benefits system, rely on our Marketing team for resource, or get the platform provider to build and send on our behalf, which can be rather costly given the frequency of benefit communications.”
Global benefits expertise
“One of the biggest challenges for us was managing benefit providers in regions such as APAC because they aren’t as familiar with flexible benefit platforms. The design and build of a platform is critical to the user experience when selecting and amending benefits, and this filters through to the overall success of the administration. Obtaining very specific design criteria to ensure our system truly reflected policy design was often challenging. Full credit to the Benefex team as they helped us navigate the implementation process with local brokers and providers.”
Results
Results
Driving engagement around the world
“Smart accounts in Asia have been really well received; the process for colleagues is seamless and very clear. They can easily see the claim progress and historical claim information. We wanted to keep the smart accounts alive throughout the year and use targeted comms to remind people what they can claim for – which we’ve been able to do with the use of the communications manager tool.”
“In the UK, there was a need for greater flexibility and anytime benefit selections. Previously, colleagues would log in during the annual window and not do a much else throughout the year, but now we’re seeing 30 to 40% of people engaging with the benefits platform every month. Logins at annual enrolment are up to 85% in all countries. It’s all really positive.”
“Accessing real time MI via the dashboards has proven highly beneficial. We can readily differentiate between new joiner activity and the wider population when monitoring engagement. Cost and savings data is instantly accessible and has helped us to make well-informed decisions regarding our benefits programme.”
Advice to other Reward leaders looking to implement global benefits tech
“For companies considering whether to invest in a benefits platform I’d suggest reviewing current ways of working which may be labour-intensive for your HR or benefits teams, including query management, communications and monthly administration. Streamlining your processes with the use of benefits technology can lead to greater efficiencies and will give your teams more opportunities for value-add activity.”
“Review the existing benefits on offer and how you could enhance this further with additional voluntary benefits; this not only enhances your offering, but some may be salary sacrifice if operating in the UK which can generate NI cost savings for the business – helping to offset the cost of technology.”
“Finally, think about your wish list and the things you don’t do today but would like to, and those pain points. The chances are the technology will be able to help you. The real-time dashboards and comms tools have been a great example of this for us.”
Ready to connect your employee experience?
