EXCLUSIVE: Samsung has added six new benefits to its flexible benefits package for its 1,600 employees.
The technology organisation has also introduced new communication techniques to promote the new benefits available, as well as its annual flex window.
It launched the new benefits in its flex enrolment window in March, with employees’ choices taking effect from April. The new benefits are aimed at helping to save employees time.
Staff can take up five benefits via their flexible benefits allowance. These include a concierge service, magazine subscriptions, gadget insurance, will-writing services and breakdown cover.
The sixth new benefit is a wine club offering, which staff can pay for via a salary sacrifice arrangement. This benefit offers employees a monthly or quarterly delivery of their choice of wine.
Joanna Bean, head of reward, UK and Ireland at Samsung, said: “These benefits provide employees with choice while tailoring to our company culture and allowing busy members of staff to select benefits that save them time, such as the concierge service.
“We like to offer our employees the choice and make our benefit selection offering as flexible as possible with addition of small-cost items to allow employees to best use their monthly flexible benefit allowance, while having the most cost-effective payment methods for them.”
Take-up rates improve
More than 20% of employees have taken up at least one of the six new benefits in the annual enrolment period.
Samsung has also seen log-in rates for its online flexible benefits portal, Highlights, provided by Thomsons Online Benefits, increase slightly year on year from 95% to 96%.
The new benefits brings the organisation’s offering to a total of 28, with some offered on a core basis via flex, some only available during the annual window and others available for monthly selection.
The organisation has also introduced new communications methods for this year’s flex enrolment.
Samsung used the mobile phone application Blippar to encourage employees to interact with posters around the workplace, desk coasters and table talkers in the staff canteens using their Samsung mobile devices to launch interactive content on their phones.
Employees could access videos about the annual enrolment window, information about the benefits on offer, including the six new options, and employees talking about the benefits that they liked and why.
Bean said: “We used the Highlights branding throughout and the content continuously changed to make it more interactive for employees instead of having the same posters and emails.
“For us, it was another way of attracting employees who want communications on their phones.
“It has really helped with the take up of benefits during this window, and peer recognition of benefits has worked really well to create enagement.”
Blippar communications
For its flex communications Samsung launched Blippar activity three weeks before the annual window opened to help generate interest, with employees using the technology on average more than three times per person.
Employees that used it were also entered into a competition to win rugby tickets and a Samsung phone.
This communication method was used alongside posters, information on TV screens, emails and home mailers.
“When you look at the different generation of workers here at Samsung, everyone likes something different and it is important to capture as many people as possible,” said Samsung’s Bean.
“It was really interesting to see the interaction and when someone was engaged with it, we could see that they would use it more than once. It was not the only way of communication but it is another option we will continue to roll out.
“There is always room to improve and we have already asked our employees for their feedback and started initial plans for the 2016 window.
“This is so that we can have the most amount of time possible to deliver as much as we can.”