- Global & MobilityMedical cover for dependants in the Gulf: what counts as the market minimum now?We are a construction and facilities group with about 4,600 employees in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, a large share of them in site and operative roles. Employee medical insurance is mandatory andOscar Delaney · 0 replies ·
- Minneapolis ChapterHealthcare cost increases for 2027 renewalsOur renewal came in on Friday and the first number was 11.4 percent, on a self-funded plan covering about 4,200 lives. Two years ago I would have assumed that was an opening position. This time the brXimena Hoffmann · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & Wellbeing · AnsweredFertility and family-building cover in Singapore: lifetime cap, cycles, or a flat allowance?Regional headquarters of a financial services group in Singapore, about 950 employees here and another 600 across Hong Kong, Malaysia and India. Our group medical plan excludes fertility treatment entBianca Walsh · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingRaising the pension default above the auto-enrolment minimum: did opt-outs rise?UK food manufacturer, 2,900 employees, around two thirds on shift in production. We are at the statutory minimum for auto-enrolment, 5% employee and 3% employer, and 71% of members have never moved frAmara Larsen · 0 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingLong-term sickness claims up 40% in two years: what is driving yours?Norwegian technology and consulting business with about 1,700 employees, plus 400 in Sweden and Finland. Our group income protection claims have risen about 40% over two years and the insurer has signTheo Rasmussen · 0 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingTwo German occupational pension arrangements after an acquisition: keep both or merge?We are a mid-sized German machinery group, about 4,100 employees, and bought a competitor with 800 staff last year. We run a contribution-based direct insurance arrangement with an employer contributiElif Kowalski · 0 replies ·
- Benefits & Wellbeing · AnsweredWhat medical trend are you budgeting for next year, before plan changes?We are a US manufacturer, about 3,100 employees across four states, self-funded with a PPO and a high-deductible option. Our consultants came in with an 8.5% trend assumption for next year, which is aBianca Okonkwo · 5 replies ·
- Benefits & Wellbeing · AnsweredWhich benefits should casual and part-time store staff get from day one?Australian retailer with about 5,200 employees, of whom 3,400 are part-time or casual in stores and average under 20 hours a week. Our benefits were designed around the 900 people in head office and dOmar Quintero · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingWhat medical trend assumption are you using for 2027 budgets?Our broker is quoting 8.4% before plan changes, which is the highest we have seen in a decade. Finance is anchored on 6%.Tom Brennan · 0 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingCRP recertification window closes 30 NovemberSubmit your continuing education credits before the end of November. Read the announcementElena Vasquez · 1 reply ·
- Benefits & Wellbeing · AnsweredAt what size did moving from fully insured to self-funded with stop-loss make sense?US non-profit in education services, 640 employees, about 1,150 covered lives, fully insured. Our renewal this year was 12.5% and the three before it averaged 9%. The broker is now suggesting a level-Yusuf Jimenez · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingIs anyone measuring whether a financial wellbeing programme changes anything?UK housing association, about 1,500 staff, a lot of them in care and maintenance roles on modest pay. We launched a financial wellbeing programme 14 months ago: workshops, a salary-linked savings scheBianca Walsh · 2 replies ·
- Compensation · AnsweredLump sums for people at the range maximum: how large, and do they count for pension?About 6% of our population sits at or within 1% of range maximum. We are a utilities company in the UK with around 4,000 employees, many with long service. Today those people get whatever takes them tElif Lindqvist · 4 replies ·
- New Member WelcomeTwo of us, 900 employees, and every reward job from pensions to bonus lettersI am one of a two-person reward team at a logistics company based near Rotterdam, around 900 employees across warehousing, transport and an office. My colleague looks after pensions and the works counCamille Quintero · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingThe total reward statement we rebuilt, and why we took the big number off the frontSharing a format that has worked for us at a Dutch university medical centre with about 12,000 staff. Our old total reward statement led with one large figure, salary plus the employer cost of every bOmar Quintero · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & Wellbeing · AnsweredCounselling service used by 4% of staff. Is that low, and what moved it for you?UK professional services firm, roughly 1,800 people, mostly in London, Leeds and Bristol. We have had an employee assistance programme for years and added six funded therapy sessions through a separatBen Haddad · 4 replies ·
- Global & MobilityIs a global benefits floor realistic for an NGO working in 40 countries?I am the only rewards specialist at a humanitarian organisation with about 3,100 staff, 85% of them nationally hired in 40 countries, including South Sudan, Bangladesh, Jordan and Colombia. Benefits hTessa Iversen · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingPaid carer's leave at a university: how many days, and do you ask for evidence?I look after benefits at a Canadian university with about 6,000 academic and professional staff. A staff survey found 23% have regular caring responsibilities for an adult, usually a parent, and the uPetra Walsh · 1 reply ·
- Benefits & WellbeingLesson learned: our benefits preference survey told us what people say, not what they useA cautionary tale. Two years ago we surveyed our 3,800 employees at an Australian energy company about which new benefits they wanted. The clear winner, chosen by 64%, was subsidised childcare. We speVictor Pereira · 2 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingUnpopular view: most wellbeing apps are a line item we buy to feel we have actedI have bought four wellbeing apps in nine years across two employers: meditation, sleep, digital physiotherapy and a general wellbeing hub. I have the usage data for all of them and I no longer believYusuf Jimenez · 6 replies ·
- Benefits & Wellbeing · AnsweredEnhanced parental leave across six countries: one global minimum or local top-ups?Software company headquartered in Berlin, around 1,400 employees in Germany, the UK, Poland, Spain, the US and India. Statutory entitlements are so different that our current approach, statutory only Elif Kowalski · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingElectric car salary sacrifice: worth offering when most staff earn near the minimum wage?UK care provider, around 4,600 employees, the large majority care workers paid within a pound an hour of the legal minimum. Head office is 280 people. A director has asked us to bring in an electric cBen Tanaka · 3 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingEighteen months after closing our final salary scheme: what I would do differentlyWe closed our defined benefit scheme to future accrual at the start of last year and moved about 900 remaining active members into the defined contribution plan the rest of the company already had. DuTheo Rasmussen · 4 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingHarmonising benefits after a merger: we levelled up on three things and froze the restTwo Nordic logistics companies merged in 2024, one Swedish with 1,900 employees and one Danish with 1,300. I led the benefits harmonisation and we finished in June, so this is a write-up while it is fNoor Esposito · 5 replies ·
- Benefits & WellbeingDoes a leave-purchase or sabbatical savings scheme get used outside head office?Insurance company in the Netherlands, around 2,200 employees. We are looking at letting people save up to 100 weeks of leave over time, funded from unused holiday and salary, to take as a sabbatical oVictor Pereira · 1 reply ·
