Goodman Masson selected for Employee Benefits Award

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With a benefits package linked to 'life events' such as starting a family, plus an 'exotic holiday fund', Goodman Masson won the admiration of the judges in a tightly contested field to win the Award for Employee Benefits.

Winner

Goodman Masson

Recruitment company Goodman Masson has an ambition to “treat our people better than any other business in the UK”. To support this, it created a trademarked flexible benefits package called The Benefits Boutique, offering a range of traditional benefits topped with some more unusual options. Its approach to creating a unique working environment, which it calls The Experience, consists of four key pillars: to ensure people have the right tools to do their job; to ensure they can develop professionally; to ensure they are well and correctly rewarded and to create an environment people want to be a part of. Elements of its benefits package are linked to ‘life events’ such as buying a house and starting a family – the company currently has 38 people in a mortgage fund, for example, and 11 employees have taken advantage of a home improvement loan. There is an ‘exotic holiday fund’, and Goodman Masson will pay 30% of the cost of any course or lessons employees take up to learn a new skill. The company has won numerous accolades, including being ranked third best UK workplace in the Great Place to Work awards. It was deemed the number one company for work-life balance by Glassdoor and 70% of staff have been with the company for more than two years – an impressive retention rate in the recruitment industry. Our judges were impressed by “a most innovative offering”, saying the “generosity of benefits is something never seen before”.

Runners-up

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

Like many NHS trusts, Sandwell and West Birmingham has experienced a shortage of nurses. In 2015, it faced the challenge of recruiting and retaining staff while tackling escalating spend on temporary staff and undergoing a redeployment programme that was negatively impacting on the workforce. In April 2016, the trust developed SWBH Benefits, managed on a single platform and supported by a ded