Flexible Benefit Programmes

The true objective of a flexible benefit plan is to match employees’ aspirations within an employers’ budget and the HR departments’ strategy. ‘Flex’ can be a way of achieving this. 

Flex is a system of compensation and benefits management that places an overall value on each employee’s total reward. It allows an employer to offer various choices to employees who can pick and choose among benefit options, extend the benefits to eligible dependents, and upgrade the level of certain benefits, based on their personal needs.

Adoption of flex can facilitate an easier integration of benefit programmes following a merger or acquisition. Using this approach, two companies’ perhaps divergent benefit arrangements can be combined and harmonised so that the various component parts are retained at levels that satisfy existing employees without incurring additional cost to the company.

Flex more closely aligns rewards to an employer’s budget and assists in helping employees appreciate the true value of their pay and benefits by providing more of what they need.

It can also provide tax and National Insurance savings through the use of salary sacrifice and bulk buying discounts on selected benefits.