Swiss Life’s new self-service
benefits system on its intranet will cut HR costs and improve recruitment and
retention, claimed the company’s head of HR at a conference in London.
The flexible benefits system,
implemented last year at a cost of £40,000, allows staff to monitor and change
their benefits on the intranet, which include health and travel insurance and
childcare vouchers.Â
Andrew Lewis, head of HR at
Swiss Life, said, "The scheme means that we shall be able to retain and
recruit quality staff, which I estimate will save us £250,000 a year in five
years."
Swiss Life intends to extend
the flexible benefits system, which took three years to develop, to include
electronic payslips within a year for the company’s 900 UK-based staff.Â
"When we were setting up
the project we were told that a take up rate of 25-50 per cent would be a
success but 70 per cent of staff have signed up," said Lewis at the
Softworld HR and Payroll conference. Lewis believes the system frees up the
company’s seven-strong HR team from administration duties.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
He said, "The system takes
some running from personnel at the moment but in a year’s time my ultimate goal
is that the system will run itself. It means that my team can concentrate on
the important part of HR – people."
By Paul Nelson
