IDS Study 856, October 2007

Employee Benefits

Offering an attractive benefits package can plan a key part both in recruiting and retaining talented staff. To strengthen the employee proposition and position themselves as an ‘employer of choice’, many organisations are looking beyond basic pay and placing a growing emphasis on providing access to a wide range of employee benefits. Some have adopted the concept of ‘total reward’, which embraces a competitive salary, clear career progression and incentives (such as a bonus and/or share scheme), together with a strong benefits offering.

This IDS HR Update:

• looks at the voluntary benefits packages at 14 organisations
• discusses how salary sacrifice arrangements are used to fund employee benefit provision
• examines the SAYE schemes in operation at 18 companies
• includes two detailed flexible benefits case studies.

Features

Voluntary benefits
Many employers have now introduced voluntary benefits as a cost-effective method of supplementing their core benefits package. Our first feature article looks at how employers arrange special deals and discounts to create a voluntary benefits package, and provides details of the arrangements in 14 organisations.

SAYE schemes
The risk-free nature of SAYE share option plans has ensured their continued popularity. Our second feature article examines the schemes offered by 18 organisations and provides details of the upfront discount offered on the share option price, scheme participation rates and the average amounts being saved each month by employees.

Salary sacrifice
Many organisations are now taking advantage of the tax and national insurance savings associated with salary sacrifice arrangements to widen the employee benefits package while keeping costs low. We look briefly at how salary sacrifice works and discuss some of the key considerations for employers and employees.

Case studies
•  Flexing pay and benefits at EDS
•  Vodafone UK gives staff the flexibility to choose the benefits package they want