Background
Criterion Tec Ltd. is a not-for-profit organisation serving the UK Life, Pensions and Investment industry. We provide data integration standards and governance services to over 300 organisations.
Our employee benefits package includes employer sponsored pension, death in service, critical illness cover, private medical insurance and income protection insurance. We also provide all employees with a percentage of their salary each year to spend on a range of flexible benefits.
The Objectives
This year Criterion took the decision to 'go it alone' and split from our parent company. This meant that we would arrange all benefits and insurances direct. Our main objectives were:
- An effective split with little to no disruption to staff
- A Criterion branded platform for employees to make their flexible benefit selections
- A Lightbox platform up and running in time for the annual benefits renewal
The Process
Lightbox was already being used by our parent company, Origo, however it was not a given that Criterion would continue to use it. We did consider delaying the full migration of the benefits and administration and managing the split in stages. However, this would have proven to be more costly for the business and create more risk around co-ordinating the change to insurances and the Lightbox platform across the organisation. We decided to complete the full 'split' from the start of the flexible benefits year and to launch the full Lightbox service to all employees at that time.
While Lightbox was the incumbent flexible benefits portal provider, we were impressed with the support we got from Lightbox to take us through, in detail, the changes that would need to be made and the project management of the plan to ensure the deadline of the flexible benefits window would be met. Margaret and Megan were so easy to work with and supported us through the process.
The Results
Our employees now have a dedicated Criterion flexible benefits platform. This was important to us, from a company point of view, as it underpins our recent split from our parent company, so this was a very practical, visual representation of that change for all employees.
The platform itself is very easy to use and ensures employees get the most out of the flexible benefits we offer but, just as importantly, they can readily see, through the dashboard, the value of the benefits they have access to.
This was the first time the management team of Criterion dealt with the 'administration' that sits behind the annual flexible benefits process. Lightbox, in addition to being a fantastic front end for employees, is a very intuitive administration tool, providing easy access to administration functions and reporting to help keep track of the benefit selection process. Simple to understand, simple to use.
What Criterion says
"Criterion have a very professional service to effectively communicate the value of our benefits package to employees. That is invaluable for a small business where we can provide such a service that many larger organisations struggle to provide. And it is a very cost effective, super administration tool for management."
Billy Burnside
Managing Director
