May 2012

Hargreaves Lansdown and Staffcare join forces to create the ultimate workplace savings and flexible benefits package

 

Hargreaves Lansdown Corporate Solutions, the workplace savings provider and adviser, announces a new strategic alliance with Staffcare, the employee benefits software company.

 

Hargreaves Lansdown has licensed Staffcare’s software to enhance its Corporate Wrap proposition and functionality and provide total reward statements, flexible benefits and auto-enrolment administration facilities. The result will be the UK’s first fully integrated corporate wrap and flexible benefits solution.

Alex Davies, Managing Director of Hargreaves Lansdown Corporate and Pensions, says: Our Corporate Wrap offers employees an alternative to traditional company pensions and is gaining considerable traction in the market. 39 companies are now live. The additional functionality we can now deliver as a result of licensing Staffcare’s software gives it even more of a competitive edge.”

Hargreaves Lansdown has hired people into its corporate team with extensive experience, including Jeff Fox and Steve Briggs, both of whom have previously used Staffcare’s software and implemented some of the largest reward communication and flexible benefit schemes in the UK.

Alex Davies goes on to say “After an extensive review of the benefit platforms available, we believe Staffcare is the clear leader. Its continually developed software and its new auto-enrolment service in particular will be a core part of our workplace savings proposition.”

“We are delighted to be working with Hargreaves Lansdown”, says Phil Hollingdale, Staffcare Founder and CEO. “Their platform is a clear leader in the market and having worked closely with the team at Hargreaves Lansdown for some time I have every confidence they will quickly position themselves as a dominant player in the corporate space. They have great software themselves and we believe working together we will secure significant market share. Platforms will become a necessity to support new auto-enrolment regulation and to satisfy the demand of internet savvy users in the workplace who want an engaging online experience.”

May 12

"Setting a new benchmark"

In a review of Staffcare's new auto-enrolment software, Ian McKenna believes that Staffcare is creating a benchmark against which all other auto-enrolment propositions should be measured.

To read the full review please click here.

April 12

As many Employers and Advisers now know, starting from October 2012 new regulations will require every Employer, regardless of size, not only to automatically enrol the vast majority of their workforce into pension schemes, but also to make contributions on their behalf. 

In the latest issue of Professional Pensions magazine, Ian Catchpole of Staffcare explains the essential role technology will play in helping Employers tackle workplace pension reforms and discusses the role of data hubs in addressing the new needs
of auto-enrolment.

For a full copy of the supplement please click here.

If you want to see how not to paint yourself into a corner with regards to Auto-Enrolment, attend one of our launch events.  Click here for more information.

April 12

JargonFreeBenefits, powered by Staffcare, is reviewed in the latest article by Mark Polson at IFAonline.co.uk. He takes a look at the next product in Steve Bee's growing range whilst referring to Staffcare as the "ubiquitous flex technology provider used by everyone from Aviva to Mercer to Aon."

April 2012

Staffcare launches its auto-enrolment software

Staffcare is launching its auto-enrolment software at a series of events in May and June and believes it will be the first to market with such a feature rich product that has been designed as a white-labeled platform for Corporate Advisers and Employee Benefit Consultants to brand and configure alongside pension consultancy and support services.

The new software product has been developed from Staffcare’s award winning benefits platform and will empower users to manage the administration, compliance and reporting of all auto-enrolment requirements to ensure that employers and their Advisers adhere to their auto-enrolment obligations in the most efficient and risk free manner. The software is available as a stand-alone product or it can be used as part of an integrated suite of products including total reward, flexible benefits and HR self-service.

Phil Hollingdale, Staffcare’s Founder & CEO says “our focus has been to build a platform for Advisers and Consultants to use which is Pension Provider agnostic and which can manage the auto-enrolment process from end to end starting with an impact analysis tool to assess the likely impact and cost for an employer, all the way through to employee communication and payroll reporting. Importantly we have focused on what features Advisers will need to help set up and manage their clients qualifying pension schemes, including all the complications around opt-ins / opt-outs and maintaining an audit trail of all member records thereafter”.

“Advisers struggle to manage all of the different systems within their businesses today and the last thing they will want is to manage multiple auto-enrolment platforms from different Pension Providers and multiple platforms for managing different aspects of benefits administration. We strongly believe that Advisors and their clients want one platform for benefits communication, enrolment and administration and auto- enrolment will soon become a hygiene factor as part of a broader benefits and workplace savings proposition. Managing auto-enrolment is very similar to managing a flexible benefits scheme, it’s all about assessing member data, eligibility rules, contribution calculations, alerts, reminders, payroll and provider reporting and member communication. We’ve been delivering this successfully for the last eight years.”

Ian Catchpole, Staffcare’s Pensions Proposition Manager says, “the Staffcare auto-enrolment module will manage all the essential aspects of auto-enrolment from assessing workers in each pay period, to managing the opt-in and opt-out process and handling all the necessary communications and reporting to the Pensions Regulator. In addition it will:

• let users gauge the financial impact of the new legislation.

• provide assistance in the setting up of a compliant scheme or ensuring existing schemes are compliant.

• provide an employer portal to offer a link between payroll, HR, The Regulator and Pension Providers.

• provide a secure employee site for data changes and pension modeling.

• integrate with the chosen pension administrator.

• provide permanent audit trails for compliance purposes.

• be corporately branded for clients and / or white-labeled for Advisers and Consultants.

• integrate with all other elements of Staffcare’s benefits technology including online total reward and flexible benefits.

• offer flexibility to meet client needs and requirements, thus reducing set-up costs and expensive changes to existing systems.”

Phil Hollingdale says: “Our launch events will show Advisers how the software can be used to set up and manage each clients’ scheme and how it can be white labeled for them to brand and deliver as part of their overall service proposition. Advisers will be able to provide the software for clients to manage all of the processes themselves or they will be able to offer an outsourced auto-enrolment administration service”.

“There is no doubt that there is going to be an auto-enrolment land-grab over the next 2 to 3 years and at our launch events we will show Advisers how they can position their business to deliver cost-effective, compliant auto-enrolment software and services to their corporate clients.”

Anyone interested in attending the events should email events@staffcare.net.

April 12

Mercer have recently undertaken some research around Auto-Enrolment concerns and challenges.

 

Key concerns from the research include:

 

·  ensuring HR and payroll systems can comply with the requirements

·  employee understanding

·  the increase in cost of new joiners as a result of auto-enrolment

·  having to redesign existing contribution structures

 

If you want to read the whole article please click here….

 

March 2012

Tom Washington from Employee Benefits Magazine discusses how rolling out a flexible benefits scheme internationally promises to boost staff engagement and recruitment.

To see the full article click here.

February 12

The Pensions Regulator has published an updated version of its step-by-step guidance on automatic enrolment duties for large employers and their advisers.

 

The guidance, which forms part of the regulator’s suite of educational materials for all UK employers, has been updated to reflect changes brought about by the Pensions Act 2011 and recent regulations put before Parliament.

To read more click here.

February 12

The latest Buyer's Guide to Flexible Benefits Technology from Employee Benefits Magazine, focuses on how flex technology has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, with systems becoming increasingly sophisticated and affordable for smaller employers.

To see the full article click here.

February 12

Financial Adviser writes about the lack of decent 'middleware' IT providers for small to medium-sized enterprises.  Steve Bee of JargonFree Benefits, says he is surprised he does not have more competition with his software powered by Staffcare.

To read the full article click here.

November 2011

Lorica has partnered with Staffcare to deliver their new auto-enrolment online portal which will be called Simplicity3.

The online portal will manage administration of the entire auto-enrolment process, ensuring that each employee is opted in or out at the correct time on the appropriate contributions for their band earnings.

To read more please click here.

October 2012

Willis Employee Benefits has introduced a solution, powered by Staffcare technology, to provide employers with tools to manage the auto-enrolment requirement of the 2012 pension reforms.

The product includes a consultancy service to enable employers to understand how the requirements relate to their circumstances and what the impact will be on their business.

To read more follow this link: http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/13783.

October 11

Jeff Prestridge of FT Adviser says “what I like about Mr Bee’s Jargon Free Benefits [which is powered by Staffcare] more than anything else is that it provides a splendid opportunity for financial advisers to reengage with their corporate clients and show their worth".

To read the article follow this link:

http://www.ftadviser.com/2011/10/08/opinion/jeff-prestridge/jeff-prestridge-run-with-the-ball-on-auto-enrolment-MH7eIVkExRfmItpyl94ixI/index.html

Ian McKenna, Director of the Finance & Technology Research Centre praises Aviva's Total Reward platform, powered by Staffcare.

In the September issue of Corporate Adviser Ian says that Total Reward Statements have become increasingly recognised as an important way of ensuring employees truly understand the value of their reward package and that Aviva's online adviser, Lisa, shows how innovative web-based tools can help fill the advice gap.  

To read the article further please click here.

August 2011

Product providers must integrate to safeguard their future

Integration is a key influencer in advisors’ decisions on who to place business with. This is the main finding in a recent survey carried out by Staffcare. Over 90% of those who responded indicated how critical this functionality is and 76% of respondents said integration would influence who they place business with.

Staffcare surveyed its partner organisations, including some of the leading Employee Benefit Consultants in the UK, to determine whether they would value further integration between Staffcare and other product providers and, if so, what types of integration would be of most use to them.

While a number of our competitors do already have integration with some providers, this is usually in the form of Contract Enquiry. However, Single Sign On was the most popular request by 96% of respondents together with Straight Through Processing, for online pension joining, which was also deemed important by over 85% of our partners. These were both ahead of Contract Enquiry which was voted as important by 78% of those surveyed.

Staffcare is currently working on detailed integration with one of its newest partners, Alexander Forbes. This will involve Staffcare providing access to its rules engine to facilitate calculations on Alexander Forbes’ new on-line portal which is due to be released shortly.

Steve Watson, Head of DC at Alexander Forbes sees integration as a minimum requirement:

“We have recognised that clients are becoming increasingly frustrated with the absence of a single “access point”. Although there can be many providers involved in the overall employee benefit solution, this should not mean that the user experience is not “seamless”. A unique aspect of our proposition is the creation of a single access point – provider integration is an absolute must”.

Graham Jarvis, Managing Director at Staffcare said:

“We recognise how critical this functionality is and have already integrated Staffcare with many product providers and we are looking at extending this.

We believe the future of HR and Benefits software will be to integrate with other HR and benefit provider systems. No single technology company can afford to replicate the functionality that is provided by all the different systems employers use. The solution must be to provide a seamless employee experience so that the employee can simply and easily move between applications. “

As a result of the survey Staffcare will be contacting organisations, who our partners have requested we integrate with, to explore the way forward to build seamless employee journeys.

August 2011

Alexander Forbes announces strategic alliance with Staffcare

Alexander Forbes Financial Services, part of Alexander Forbes Group the 7th largest Employee Benefits Consultancy firm in the World*, has entered into a strategic alliance with Staffcare, which provides software as a service for reward communication and benefits administration.

 

Alexander Forbes will be using the Staffcare software platform as part of its new and market leading total employee benefits solution; which offers a suite of online tools to help employers with benefits communication, benefit enrolment and administration. The two companies have been working closely together for the last six months to complete the design of the new platform which Alexander Forbes will be launching over the coming weeks.

Steve Watson, Head of Defined Contribution for Alexander Forbes, says, “To support the increasing demand from our clients and to support forthcoming changes as a result of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and Auto Enrolment, Alexander Forbes is determined to deliver best in class software and services for all aspects of pension and employee benefits scheme communication, enrolment and administration. We have very strong views on how we wish to service our clients and their scheme members, during and post-employment, and we needed a software platform that had the flexibility to accommodate our vision”.

“We have been delivering an online platform for pension enrolment for the last few years but wanted to extend the functionality to enhance the user experience for the scheme members and to equip employers with suitable tools to support them with day to day management and reporting of their schemes. We also want to help our clients comply with Auto Enrolment and have one platform that can meet all aspects of their benefits administration, including flexible benefits.”

“Having completed an extensive market review, we believe that Staffcare is the clear leader in this field as a result of its uninterrupted focus on software development. Their software is becoming a standard within the Employee Benefits sector and with the flexibility to configure it to our specific requirements we can give our clients peace of mind that they have best in class software with unique features and services delivered by Alexander Forbes”

“We are delighted to be working with Alexander Forbes”, says Phil Hollingdale, Founder and CEO at Staffcare. “We have witnessed their emergence in the employee benefits space over the last few years and like their innovative thinking around online member experiences and tools for Auto Enrolment. Working together we believe that we will have first mover advantage to help Corporate Britain get compliant with Auto Enrolment whilst at the same time helping these employers improve their return on investment with their spend on employee benefits through our online tools”.

* Employee Benefits Consultants report by Business Insurance, June 2011.

 

July 2011

Staffcare drives forward its proposition for auto-enrolment

Ian Catchpole has joined employee benefits software company Staffcare as their Pension Proposition Manager to focus on shaping and developing Staffcare’s new pension proposition for auto enrolment.

The introduction of auto-enrolment with the 2008 Pensions Act represents a sea change for pension provision for most companies in the UK. Many will, for the first time, have to introduce and contribute to a workplace pension scheme. The Staffcare auto enrolment proposition will focus on delivering a highly automated, intuitive and cost effective solution for employers who face the challenges of the pension reforms.

Ian previously worked for International Financial Data Services (IFDS), where he was a Senior Business Development Analyst. Prior to that, he was Head of Pensions for Equiniti. He has over 24 years’ experience in pension and benefits services covering administration, development, relationship management and consulting services.

“The new pension reforms introduce a number of challenges for employers”, says Ian, “including: how companies will keep accurate records of all their employees’ data including details of those that have decided to opt-out of the pension scheme; reminders and alerts for re-enrolment every 3 years, audit trails for all enrolment and opt-out processes, plus the transfer of data to their chosen pension provider and payroll systems.”

“Staffcare’s proposition will manage all the processes for companies and will be available as a standalone application or can be fully integrated with its benefits portal for those companies who require a broader application to support the communication and management of all employee benefits. It will also provide all the information The Pensions Regulator will need to check the company is compliant with the Act.”

Philip Hollingdale, Founder of Staffcare says, “We are delighted that Ian has joined us to drive forward our new auto-enrolment compliance module. We have already built a prototype as part of our award winning benefits communication technology and we will be showcasing our software at presentations in September 2011 to introduce our new proposition to Corporate Advisers, Employee Benefit Consultants, Product Providers and Employers. Anyone interested in attending should email us at events@staffcare.net.”

June 11

MNPA take a fresh approach with Staffcare

MNPA has launched their new 2011 flexible benefits programme with elections made by over 95% of employees.

As a highly respected, award-winning provider of Pension Administration services, with a strong reputation for service excellence and as an employer of choice, MNPA were looking for a fresh approach to communicating and administering their benefits for their employees based in Leatherhead and Birmingham.

MNPA chose Staffcare because it has an appealing look and feel, gives them greater management flexibility to interrogate the system and make changes very quickly and ownership is very much in the hands of MNPA – they don’t have to keep coming back to Staffcare to make changes as they did with their previous supplier.

At the same time as implementing a new flexible benefits programme MNPA were also restructuring and implementing a new payroll system, so it was key to appoint a provider with a “best of breed” product that could provide them with flexibility and ease of use in terms of administration.

The Staffcare project management team worked closely with MNPA to deliver a system that was bespoke and met with all of their requirements. Elizabeth Dorey, HR Manager, says “Staffcare constructively tried to understand what we were trying to achieve and the reasons why. And, the Staffcare project manager always presented me with solutions rather than problems”.

 

The new look MNPA flexible benefits scheme included Pensions, Life Assurance, a new Private Medical Insurance scheme, Permanent Health Insurance, Holidays, Dental Insurance, Critical Illness, Personal Accident Insurance, a Health Cash Plan, and discounted membership to the local leisure centre.

 

The communication of the scheme centred around the new benefits portal with initial posters sent 10 days before the launch carrying the message “New look benefits … all will be revealed soon” and then posters just before launch showing a screenshot of the system. On the day of the portal opening postcards were dropped onto desks as well as branded flexible silicone watches to promote the new look “flexible” benefits. Employees were scheduled in for demonstrations of the new system. Benefit fairs were also held in Leatherhead and Birmingham.

Elizabeth Dorey, HR Manager at MNPA said, “We are delighted with our new benefits portal, which is bespoke to us and was delivered on time, is very easy to use and we can customise a lot of the system for ourselves. And, the Content Manager provided allows us to make changes to benefit information very quickly. In essence Staffcare gives us the tools to do the job”.

In the future MNPA will be looking to integrate their new payroll system with Staffcare and get the most from both systems.

To see how Employee Benefits Magazine reported the news click here.

Staffcare win award second year in a row.

We are particularly pleased that our clients and partners can be confident that they continue to use an award winning platform.

We won the award as a result of our strong distribution channel, good references and innovation around Auto Enrolment.

If you would like to discuss any element of your benefits communication or auto-enrolment requirements then please contact us at sales@staffcare.net.

April 2011

Innovation Drivers

David Rowley of Pensions Week carries out an in-depth analysis of Staffcare and how it is planning to help the market cope with the demands of auto-enrolment.

To read the full article please click here.

March 2011

Employee Benefits magazine has released its latest research into flexible benefits.

To read the article please follow this link.
http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12353/23/5/3

March 2011

MidlandHR launches benefits portal in partnership with Staffcare

MidlandHR today announces a partnership agreement with Staffcare, the employee benefits software company.

To complement its talent management, workforce planning, HR and payroll software and services, MidlandHR will be using the Staffcare software platform to launch a new suite of online tools to help employers with benefits communication and administration, including flexible benefits.

Iain Moffat, Managing Director at MidlandHR says, “To support the increasing demand from our clients, MidlandHR is keen to deliver best in class software and services for reward communication and flexible benefits and are pleased to announce a partnership agreement with Staffcare. We see reward communication and flexible benefits as a natural extension to HR & payroll and will integrate Staffcare’s software with iTrent to provide our clients with a seamlessly integrated proposition.”

“We have been looking at this space for some-time, and have also been running a flexible benefits programme for our own employees for several years. Having completed an extensive market review, Staffcare is the clear leader in this field and its own quality standards and commitment to customer service are very in-keeping with the high standards set by MidlandHR. We already have a number of joint clients and will be rolling out this new product offering to our client base over the next few weeks”.

“We are delighted to be partnering with MidlandHR”, says Phil Hollingdale, Founder and CEO at Staffcare. “With their enviable client base and commitment towards delivering software and services for all aspects of talent management, workforce planning, HR and payroll, MidlandHR is in a very strong position and this is a very important strategic relationship for Staffcare”.

December 2010

Aviva Targets Workplace Savings Market

Aviva is strengthening its position in the workplace savings market by launching Total Reward Statements - an online, personalised record that lets employees understand the value of benefits provided by their employer.

Total Reward Statements will be offered alongside group personal pensions. They will carry individual companies’ branding and give staff a personal statement of their benefits package including salary, bonus, pension, medical insurance, health screening, life and critical illness insurance, car allowance and holiday.

Information is presented in graphical format so that employees can see a consolidated reward statement and have access to more information including benefit descriptions, booklets, and application forms if required.

The technology is provided by Staffcare, an award-winning employee benefits software-company that licenses its technology to many of the UK’s leading employee benefit consultants and corporate advisers.

Paul Goodwin, head of pensions marketing at Aviva, said:

“Aviva’s Total Reward Statement is ideal for employees because it enables them to better understand the value of their workplace benefits; the advantage for employers is that it improves staff engagement. An increasing number of employers are using Total Reward Statements and entering the workplace savings market. We expect that this will be a growing market over the next few years, and one in which Aviva will play a leading role.”

Phil Hollingdale, Staffcare’s founder and CEO, said:

“We are seeing an increasing demand for our software as companies seek to improve their return on the money they spend on staff benefits by raising employee awareness and appreciation through online total reward statements. Many companies recognise that they could do a better job of communicating benefits to employees and old methods of communication such as printed handbooks and face-to-face meetings do not meet the demands of today’s internet-savvy employees who are used to information on demand.

“Many leading employee benefit consultants and corporate advisers have already embraced our software. Aviva is the first product provider to license our software and we are excited to be working with them.”

November 2010

Staffcare receives the highest accolade in the e-Excellence Ratings 2010 Benefit Platform Survey

Amongst stiff competition Staffcare has earned itself a triple eee rating in the latest survey by the Finance & Technology Research Centre (F&TRC).

The survey was designed to measure a wide range of features of benefit platforms offered by the key players in the employee benefits industry.It is thought by the F&TRC to be the most exhaustive study of employee benefits technology ever carried out in the UK.

Phil Hollingdale, Chief Executive and Founder of Staffcare says, "To have the highest external independent recognition of our software is an achievement we are very proud of. Coupled with the fact thatwe arethetechnology of choicefor most of the leading employee benefits consultants in the UK only serves to strengthen our position as the dominant benefit platform provider in the UK."

October 2010

Origen launches new proposition with Staffcare

Origen Financial Services, the national firm of independent financial advisers, today announce a partnership agreement with Staffcare, the employee benefits software company. 

In keeping with its initiative, ‘Origen brings illuminating ideas to life’ it will be using the Staffcare software platform to launch the Origen Benefits Portal  which will include a new suite of online tools to help employers with benefits communication and administration. Each module representing a part of the journey from implementation and creation of benefits through to total reward statements, salary sacrifice and full flexible benefit programmes. 

Warren Page, Director, Client Services at Origen says, “Our partnership with Staffcare keeps us at the forefront of reward communication and education. Many employers are concerned and confused by the complexities and cost of employee benefits and looking to improve their return on investment by ensuring that their employees have full visibility and a greater appreciation of the value of those benefits. Our new proposition will empower employees to self-serve and access benefits information on-demand and provide employers with real time management information. It will also provide a suite of administration tools to help them improve efficiencies and cut cost from benefits administration.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with Origen”, says Phil Hollingdale, CEO and Founder at Staffcare.  “With their commitment towards supporting their clients and maximising the use of technology to drive efficiencies for the advisers, employers and employees, Origen has a powerful, innovative proposition.”

To see how Financial Adviser reported the news click here.

October 10

The Holy Grail of Corporate Wraps

Paradigm managing pensions partner Steve Bee is putting together a business that he says will allow IFAs to also become employee benefits consultants, helping employees accumulate and then dissimulate their assets.

Paradigm has recently announced a deal with Staffcare to work alongside their in-development corporate wrap to create what Bee says will be “the holy grail” of corporate wraps which will offer all work-based benefits solutions to employees online.

To view the article which appeared in the latest issue of Money Marketing please click here.

October 2010

Providers need to move quickly if their corporate wraps are to help advisers take advantage of the opportunities in the market , says Ian McKenna, director of the Financial Technology Research Centre.

He highlights Staffcare as one of the few affordable solutions available to help firms build their own technology proposition for corporate wraps.

Read his article in Corporate Adviser here.

September 2010

Towergate Financial partners with Staffcare to deliver flexible benefit and total reward software

Towergate Financial, the financial advisory business of the Towergate Group, today announce the launch of its Corporate Benefits Portal “Your Benefit Solutions” in conjunction with Staffcare. The portal will be the core to Towergate Financial’s Corporate Solutions proposition to both their existing and new clients and will include “Towergate Rewards”, a total reward statement capability and “Towergate Choices” a flexible benefits platform. HR Self-Service will also be included within the Corporate Benefits Portal.

Towergate Financial are responding to the increasing interest in total reward and flexible benefits as companies look to make sure employees understand the true value of their benefits, find alternatives to pay rises and maximise tax and NI savings.

Towergate Financial’s first scheme is an internal launch within the whole Towergate Group, rolling out flexible benefits to their 3500 employees using the Towergate Choices platform.

Ian Collins, Director of Sales Development at Towergate said, “We have introduced this new Corporate Benefits Portal in response to the increasing demand for innovative reward packages from our existing and prospective clients. What better way to endorse our own product than to offer it to our own employees. We are pleased to be working with Staffcare who we believe are a step ahead of the market and one of the real specialist companies dedicated to the technology and systems needed to provide HR and employee benefits for our clients.”

Phil Hollingdale, CEO and founder at Staffcare said, “We are delighted that Towergate Financial has selected Staffcare as its partner for reward communication and flexible benefits. As flex has become more attainable for companies of all sizes due to the advancing nature of the technology available, their new portal will enable them to offer a platform that’s tailored and scalable for each and every one of their clients, now and in the future. ”

September 2010

Kingsley Napley use Staffcare to attract the best

Kingsley Napley, an internationally recognised law firm with over 200 employees, have moved from a paper based flexible benefits scheme to a new online employee benefits portal with Staffcare. With so many benefits on offer it was previously very time consuming to manage the package manually.  Kingsley Napley met with Staffcare to look at the online options available to them.  There were only 3 months to go before their selection period and despite the tight timescales, Staffcare’s project management team had the system set up and running and ready to go on time. They were also able to introduce total reward statements showing employees the full value of their package in terms of salary plus other pay elements including bonus.  Recognising that everyone is different Kingsley Napley have tailored their “MyChoice” scheme to suit individuals with a wide range of benefit options from Private Medical Insurance to a Taste London membership to Childcare Vouchers.     The comprehensive suite of benefits on offer is designed to attract the right people and compete with other leading law firms for the best.

Rosemary Hull, HR Officer at Kingsley Napley said, “We use Northgate as our HR and payroll system and chose Staffcare for flexible benefits as it's specifically designed to cope with the challenges of running a flexible benefits scheme. We've been hugely impressed with the responsiveness of the Staffcare team and the flexibility of the system to meet our requirements. The site looks great too.” As a result of choosing Staffcare Kingsley Napley offered a better experience for staff, increased take up and ongoing have a scheme that will be easier and less time consuming to manage.

September 2010

NEC Group stages a flex relaunch with Staffcare

The NEC Group, who set the stage for some of the UK's largest events have relaunched their flexible benefits scheme to over a 1000 employees  with Staffcare’s online benefits portal. “Choices” had previously been supported by another platform but The NEC Group found it time consuming to manage and costly to make changes.  As they were approaching the third year renewal of their flexible benefits scheme, they were looking for a solution that would enhance the experience for employees, increase the appeal of the benefits and streamline the ongoing management and administration of the scheme. 

Julie McHugh, HR Service Centre Manager, The NEC Group says, “We chose Staffcare because it offered a visually appealing and easy to use system for employees to manage their benefits and make their choices. It’s also very flexible and has enabled us to include over a hundred zero hours employees who previously couldn't participate.” “Finally”, says Julie, “it offered powerful administration and reporting tools to reduce our ongoing costs in managing the scheme. We had a very tight timeframe to implement the system and we are delighted the Staffcare team have pulled out all the stops to make this happen.” Staffcare also helped to create a communication strategy to ensure The NEC Group had the best chance of increasing employee engagement and take-up of the benefits.  Some of the ideas included a weekly prize draw up to the close of flex elections to encourage participation and a digital desktop application with a flex countdown.

August 2010

 

Phil Hollingdale and Debi O'Donovan - Editor of Employee Benefits magazine address how motivational incentive schemes are increasingly being merged with flexible and voluntary arrangements.

To view the article click here.

Key points from his article include:

• Since the inception of incentive schemes and flexible benefits there has been a measurable increase in employee engagement.
• The technology to merge the two schemes exists already.

July 2010

Staffcare removes the barriers to flexible benefits

Staffcare, the employee benefits software company, has launched flexeasy; a new plug and play benefits portal for communicating and administering core and flexible benefits for businesses of all sizes.

Phil Hollingdale, Founder & CEO of Staffcare, says “Flexible benefits (flex) make sense for most businesses, especially in today’s economic climate when businesses are looking to contain cost and pay rises are off the agenda but recruitment and retention is still a priority.  Too few businesses have implemented flex because it has been too expensive and too much hassle.  It’s also been difficult for Corporate Advisers to sell and manage due to the bespoke complex nature of most flex schemes.”  Less than 10% of companies offer flexible benefits and most schemes have been implemented via the larger Employee Benefit Consultants in organizations with 1,000+ employees. Whilst a lot of money is spent on feasibility and design, often tens of thousands of pounds, the reality is that most schemes look very similar. 

Research highlights that the main barriers that prevent companies implementing flex are: cost of implementation; cost of administration; complexity of administration and getting approval for the business case. Staffcare is removing these barriers by pre-packaging the most popular flex products and providers based on the commonality that it has seen from the many schemes implemented on its software.  A “plug and play” approach means that benefits are chosen from a library of standard options from fourteen of the most popular flex choices, preferred providers are selected based on their popularity and suitability for the SME sector, and a fully working benefits portal with all associated content and communication materials can be operational within a matter of days.  This approach removes the need for costly, time consuming design consultancy and lengthy implementation timescales.  A typical flex project takes anywhere between 3 and 9 months to complete, but this can now be reduced to 3 to 4 weeks or less. The pre-packed benefits include childcare vouchers, bikes to work, dental cover, health cash plan and private medical insurance.  Clients can load any existing core benefits data into the portal and produce personalized total reward statements for all employees. 

Staffcare sells its software via Advisers and Consultants and offers a white labeled platform that can be branded for each of its partners and their corporate clients. Hollingdale says “this product is ideally suited for businesses of 50 to a few hundred employees who are willing to compromise some flexibility for affordability.  As well as getting a portal to communicate and manage flexible benefits, clients can also use the software for HR self-service and as an HR intranet for publishing handbooks and other data.  It won’t suit every business and those that have more complex requirements can be accommodated with our scalable customized flex software, known as Staffcare Corporate, which we license to many of the UK’s leading Employee Benefit Consultants. 

Joe Swanson, Managing Director at Company Rapport Ltd, says “we use the Staffcare software to deliver a benefits portal for the majority of our new clients.  This helps us enhance the services we provide to employers and their employees and is key to our communication strategy.  The new flexeasy product allows us to take our proposition to another level and provide employers with even greater value from their benefits package.  Flex is the HR professional’s holy-grail in employee benefits and this system brings it into the range of the SME community – it allows us to target a much wider flex audience.” 

Further information and a demo booking form can be found at www.flexeasy.co.uk

June 2010  

Uniting flex portals and corporate wrap  

Phil Hollingdale gives his view on uniting flex portals with corporate wrap in the latest edition of Pension Week.

To view the article click here.

Key points from his article include:

• Corporate Wrap will help employees engage with their workplace pension’s savings.
  
• Flexible benefits are more immediately appealing to employees.
  
• These two strategies combined will deliver a powerful staff engagement and retention tool for businesses.

May 2010  

Staffcare voted best provider for flexible benefits solutions  

At the 2010 Pension and Investment Provider Awards, Staffcare won the award for “Flexible Benefits Solutions and Total Reward”.   The judges commented that Staffcare was a clear winner and an influencing factor was the strong testimonials it had received from its clients.   The Pension and Investment Awards combine the forces of both Pensions Management and Pensions Week magazines.

The awards seek to recognise excellence at providers of products and services to UK occupational pensions schemes. The four key criteria used to adjudicate the awards were performance, innovation, service standards and competitive edge. The winners were announced at a gala dinner in London on 5th May 2010.  

Staffcare’s Founder & CEO, Phil Hollingdale, said “I’m thrilled to receive this award and to get the recognition that we have the best software for reward communication and flexible benefits.  I would like to thank all of the team at Staffcare and all of our business partners who are helping us to build a great business.”  

Tony Morgan, a former Partner in the Outsourcing business at Mercer, says: “In my view, Staffcare has firmly established itself as the leading platform in the UK for benefits administration and communication. Whilst other firms that were established earlier may have more market share at present, none of them has the combination of unique technology and professional ethics that make Staffcare the market leader.”  

Tobin Murphy-Coles, Director of Flexible Benefits and Marketing for Lorica says;  “We spent many months reviewing the market for a technology partner who could deliver a market leading platform, which we could then fully customise, develop and own in-house.  After extensive due diligence, Lorica entered into a licensing agreement with Staffcare to use its software as the underlying technology for our own portal; Cube.  Staffcare technology was chosen because of its ability to be configured to meet Lorica’s specific requirements and the breath of functionality with its flexible benefits administration software”.