Design of Benefit Plans
Employee benefits (for instance pensions, savings, disability, accidents, health care, allowances, employee share plans but also other employee benefits like for instance company cars and technical devices like company mobile phones, laptops and tablets) represent an important part of total remuneration and reward.
They require an in-depth understanding of all aspects including legislation, tax, social, financial and actuarial. Through our multidisciplinary knowledge and experience, we guide and assist local, international and global companies in the design, implementation, management and administration of employee benefit plans. We undertake projects to improve the way benefits are delivered, helping clients to minimise the risk of change and strengthen governance.
We can assist you in the alignment of your corporate employee benefits programmes, as part of your total reward and HR strategy, and in line with your company's strategic business objectives.
Pension and employee benefits are changing
Pension and employee benefit provision is changing. Many employers are increasingly focusing on:
- How retirement benefits can best be delivered through moving to defined contribution (DC) arrangements, hybrid plans, cash balance plans, CARE (career average revalued earnings) plans or other, as far as it allows at least to move away from the traditional defined benefit plans
- Member flexibility in the design of employee benefit plans (flexible benefits /cafeteria plans, etc
- Incorporating "life balance" elements in the plan design
- Incorporating the increased mobility of people in the employment market
- Additional benefits for the retirees, for instance post-retirement health care, dental or related benefits
This includes managing the impact of pension plans on company finances, how to represent pension plans in company accounts, ensuring that UK and international benefit plans attract and retain employees effectively, and managing benefit issues in mergers & acquisitions.
Governance, Change and Effectiveness
We work with a diverse range of clients and service providers and have extensive knowledge of the benefits market and solutions available. We have extensive experience in managing projects with numerous stakeholders: providing the objective point of view you need. We assist both trustees and employers in meeting their objectives by providing assistance, guidance and other services on:
- Benefit and delivery strategy
- Flexible benefits and salary sacrifice
- Communication
- Procurement
- Governance and risk management
- Project management
- Operational effectiveness and cost control
We work in conjunction with your HR, finance and other departments to provide holistic management, communication and governance solutions to clients. We are problem solvers. We act as the missing jigsaw piece and often become involved when clients do not understand the problems they face or how to resolve them.
Clients often need additional resource to assist in delivering key change objectives. We can help by providing:
- Trustee Secretarial services
- An outsourced pensions manager
- Temporary resources