Event Preview News
Engagement is key weapon to tackle financial challenges
A good level of employee engagement is fundamental to tackling financial challenges of this age of austerity. According to Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee engagement, the highly regarded review conducted by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke in 2009, organisations under pressure to cut costs can improve engagement. This is why employee engagement is a central theme for the conference at Employee Benefits Live 2010.
Clarke said: “The world of work has changed. The new generations of workers are not simply prepared to live on command and control. They have different expectations and are not prepared to hang their brains on the door when they come to work.”
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that more organisations are tuning in to the concept of engagement, which is defined by “employees going the extra mile either by showing a strong commitment to their firm and its values or helping other colleagues”.
Engaged employees turn in improved business performance for their employers and are less likely to go off sick or leave their job. Several drivers of engagement cost little or nothing: training and development, health and wellbeing perks, job satisfaction and involving staff in decision-making.
Boost staff engagement and the impact of reward
Leading engagement speaker, commentator and author Duncan Brown will kick off the second day of conference sessions with a thought-provoking keynote session (K2) on improving staff engagement and the impact of reward.
During his address, Using Communications to boost engagement levels and impact of reward practices, Brown, also director of HR business development at the Institute of Employment Studies, will touch on the importance of good governance and fairness, as well as effective communication.“Engagement has had a good recession. Chief executives have bought the message, ably summarised in last summer’s MacLeod Review, that employee engagement has a major influence on corporate performance,” said Brown.
He will explore engagement in relation to the market, business performance and the individual employee. “The often unspoken philosophy behind performance pay was the fairly crude one of carrot-and-stick motivation. We now need to replace rewards for incentive with rewards for engagement,” he said.
Reward professionals share tips on how to get staff engaged
There will be plenty of food for thought in the three-session engagement stream of the conference, which will be led by leading academics and reward professionals. Janet McKenzie, head of rewards and benefits at Arquiva will take the first session (A4): Using communication and benefits as part of a larger employee engagement strategy. This will be followed in the same session with Developing a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of employee engagement strategies, presented by Professor Katie Truss from Kingston University.
Truss said: “Allowing people to have some say about what is going on is very important as a driver of engagement. There is the risk is in the current environment where there is top down communication in terms of organisations being told that the workforce is going to be cut projects being put on hold. Employees will feel powerless and out of control.”
For the second session (A5) Jane Vivier, reward and recognition manager at Cancer Research UK, will take to the stage with: Using reward to support recruitment, retention and engagement of key staff and talent. Brian Newman, international human resources director at Live Nation, will ask delegates to think outside the box when it comes to engaging staff in his session: Creative incentives and recognition to increase motivation and maximise reward potential. Chris Bones, dean of Henley Business School, will conclude the sessions with a masterclass (A6) Defining an effective Framework for aligning performance management expectations with rewards, which will examine the critical roles line managers have on employee’ engagement, as well as how the concept links to reward.
Benefits providers and consultants share expertise on engagement
There will be a number Employee Benefits Live 2010 exhibitors showcasing their expertise in helping employers develop effective engagement strategies. These include: Buck Consultants (Stand 129), Edenred (Stand 71), Fidelius (Stand 45), NorthgateArinso Reward Solutions (Stand 167), Secondsight (Stand 221), Thomsons Online Benefits (Stand 217).
Andy Philpott from Edenred (Stand 71), which is sponsoring the engagement conference stream, said: “Edenred helps organisations engage & motivate people for enhanced performance. It does this through unrivalled total reward solutions (employee benefits, incentives and rewards, expense management and communication services) and leading and facilitating 'next practice' in rewards and benefits through the recently launched online information and knowledge resource centre e.hub.”
While Chris Bruce, managing director from Thomsons Online Benefits (Stand 217), added: “We combine three forms of communication (people, technology and branded media) to craft an engaging employee experience.”
Remind employees of the value of total reward when cash is tight
During a time of pay freezes and reduced bonuses staff need to be reminded about less tangible benefits, such as training and development or flexible working.
In his book Managing Total Rewards, (Kogan Page, April 2010), Michael Armstrong states: "Reliance is not placed on one or two reward mechanisms operating in isolation. Instead, account is taken of every way in which people can be rewarded and obtain satisfaction through their work. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
An effective way to communicate an employees’ total reward is to issue a total reward statement which includes information on pay, pensions, benefits and learning and development.
Outshine competitors by effective use of total reward
Employers that use total reward effectively outshine their competitors, according to Evan Davidge, interim head of reward at the Department of Transport.
Davidge, who will be speaking on Harnessing total reward to maximise staff appreciation and drive performance (A1) said that organisations could manage total reward in a way that strengthens its employer brand, boosts employee engagement and drives productivity.
“A total reward approach aims to blend the financial and non-financial elements of reward into a cohesive whole. However, many employers struggle to understand, let alone reconcile or align the key elements of total rewards in order to achieve competitive advantage,” he said.
Exploiting total reward is good business sense
Delegates attending the total reward stream of the conference will find out how high profile benefits professionals have exploited the concept of total reward to benefit their business. Colin Miller, reward manager at Kent County Council and winner of the Employee Benefits Professional of the Year 2010, will address challenges presented by the age of austerity in his first session Making your total reward strategy work in a climate of tight budgets and pay constraints (A1).
Employers can also use their total reward offering to retain staff when the economy picks up and the job market becomes more buoyant. The ways in which they can do this will be addressed in the presentation by Sage’s head of HE and reward, Leisa Docherty: Communicating total reward to retain staff when the economy improves (A2).
Debra Corey, reward manager at Quintiles, will then discuss the merits of paper-based and in-house total reward statements. “If you look at the total spend an organisation makes on the reward package of employees it’s a large percentage of your costs and the value whether it is a good economy or a bad economy is that you are getting some kind of return on investment by raising awareness with the employees so they actually see what the company is spending on you and they appreciate it,” she explained.
Experts on hand to assist employers with total reward
Providers and consultants use their expertise, services and products to assist employers in the creation of an effective total reward strategy.
Total reward statements, employee engagement surveys, flexible benefits schemes and voluntary benefits programmes can all be used to expand a firm’s total reward package and ensure employees understand the value of it.
Asperity, Aon Consulting, and Generali are just some of the many exhibitors that offer services designed to enhance employers’ total reward offering. Richard Morgan of Vebnet, which is sponsoring the total reward scheme, said: “Vebnet works with some of the world's most progressive employers in delivering reward portal technology and supporting services that significantly enhance the value and engagement that employee's derive from their total reward packages.
“This takes an increasingly holistic approach to the whole employment offering, with the portal being used to deliver an immense depth and breadth of content and modelling tools to help employees understand and utilise their reward and benefits more effectively.”
Pensions attract and retain staff
It is challenging to maximise the impact of workplace pensions, often in state of flux because of changing legislation, increased life expectancy and an uncertain economic climate. Organisations not only have to grapple with 2012’s pension reforms, due to introduce auto-enrolment and the national employment savings trust (Nest), they also have to consider the impact of the removal of the default retirement age.
Kevin O’Boyle, head of pensions, at BT said: “Defined benefit (DB) schemes as a means of providing future accruals are in their death throes. This will accelerate in 2010 and beyond as most, if not all, employers give up the losing battle of trying to provide this type of retirement benefit against a backdrop of more regulation, greater longevity and low expected future investment returns.
”Employers have also had to keep pace with a number of product developments, including corporate wraps and alternative saving mechanisms. The increased popularity of these products suggests employers are striving to meet the varying financial needs of their workforce.
Good communication of pensions is essential
Effective communications of workplace pensions is essential to avert the pensions crisis, according to Vance Kearney, vice president of HR EMEA at the Oracle Corporation.
Kearney, who will present on Why engaging staff in their pension schemes can be good for business (B3) said it is in employers’ interests to communicate core benefits pensions properly so employees fully appreciate the value of what is being offered by their organisation before it is too late.
“It is an important compensation issue that employees do understand the very real value they are getting from company pension contributions and quite often it is ignored even to the extent that employees do not bother to take it. Employers know you have got a communication problem when people turn down free money”, explained Kearney.
Pension industry experts share knowledge
Delegates attending the two-day pension stream will gain insights into managing their pension provision as effectively as possible from revered industry experts and HR professionals.
Sessions on day one will shed light on how employers can increase the value of defined contribution (DC) pensions plans, encourage a savings habit among staff and select the right pension for their organisation.
Towers Watson will kick start the pensions stream with How do employers ensure that DC pensions will provide staff with decent retirement savings? (B1). Jenny Davidson, director of compensation and benefits, EMEA will follow up with Going beyond pensions: creating the employee savings habit by looking at a Wider range of financial benefit. (B2)
Day two will kick off with a session (C4) on how to select the right pension plan taken by James Churcher, pensions manager at Telegraph Media. “We are aware that, particularly with DC pensions, a lot of the risk and decision-making that traditionally rested with the trustee group has effectively moved to personal governance,” he said.
A drop-in clinic (C5) will provide delegates the opportunity to ask about everything they need to know about workplace pensions.
In the concluding session of the day Richard Bartlett, head of direct distribution at the Nest Corporation will give a full update on the pensions reforms.
Pension providers and consultants showcase services
A number of pension providers and consultants will be showcasing their services at Employee Benefits Live 2010.
These include: Aon Consulting, Buck Consultants, JLT Benefit Solutions, Johnson Fleming, Retirement Education Services, Secondsight and one of the event’s sponsors Towers Watson.
Gary Smith, senior investment consultant at Towers Watson, said: “There are a number of key facets to DC including plan design, investment structures and communications, but unless these are well organised and managed within an effective governance framework they are unlikely to deliver to plan. Governance is the essential ingredient that pulls everything together to make a DC proposition substantially more than the sum of its parts.”