Company news
Trowers & Hamlins win "Most Effective International Reward Strategy"
Global law firm, Trowers & Hamlins, picked up “Most Effective International Reward Strategy” at the Employee Benefits Awards 2010, for their scheme “th&me”.
Trowers & Hamlins, who were entered for the award by Thomsons Online Benefits, implemented a global flexible benefits scheme in just eight weeks, across Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Egypt, Oman and the UK. They took the coveted trophy at the only event in the UK that is dedicated to celebrating excellence in the area of employee benefits.
Trowers & Hamlins took the decision to introduce global flexible benefits with the aims of increasing awareness, appreciation of and participation in employee benefits and to help the business improve retention, employee engagement and recruitment.
After extensive research into benefits needs, communications preferences and technology infrastructure, the result was “th&me” – a comprehensive, creatively communicated, fully interactive and global flexible benefits programme which empowers and inspires employees to manage their own benefits.
The scheme is particularly innovative in that it is believed to be the first time in the legal sector that a global flexible benefits plan has ever been offered and also opened to partners.
The judges commented that they “were impressed by the firm's approach” and “impressive results”. In year one the costs of implementation were fully recovered plus a further 86 percent net return-on-investment, with subsequent years achieving a 381 percent net return-on-investment. Take-up was also markedly improved with a 33 percent in the UK and a remarkable 400 percent increase in international offices.
Although the benefits offered vary from country to country, they are all grouped under the same four headings: financial protection, such as pension and life cover; health and wellbeing, such as medical insurance and fitness allowance; discounts, which offer staff local deals; and additional benefits, including banking services, dry cleaning and IT equipment. The communications, technology interface and benefits options have all been fully localised across six countries using Thomsons’ Darwin technology.
Paul Robinson, HR Director at Trowers & Hamlins comments: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award, which it is testament to the hard work put in by our HR team and Thomsons. We pride ourselves on being a law firm that really looks after its employees, and the launch of th&me has enabled us to successfully reach and engage our diverse employee population, across our global sites, with a market leading reward package. As well as the benefits we have seen in improvements in recruitment and retention the scheme has also delivered considerable cost savings for the firm. We look forward to continuing to work with Thomsons to develop th&me further in the future”.
