When the time is right…

There’s never really a good time to start a new project, is there? It always seems like there’s too much on your plate to really give it the attention it deserves, so inevitably new proposals get pushed back, and pushed back.

The end of the financial year is often the time when your existing projects are winding down and contracts come up for renewal, so it’s the perfect time to stop and have a think about whether your current employee benefits are really having the impact you want them to with your employees. Can you add or change anything that would make their benefits package more useful and relevant to them? Does your portfolio include ‘something for everyone’? And crucially: are your employees actually engaging with their benefits?

So what makes for a successful project plan when you’re trying to fit it into your action- packed schedule? When you’re introducing new employee benefits for your staff, the last thing you want is a lengthy, complex implementation and launch process. If the implementation goes on for long enough, there’s bound to be something else that takes your attention away from it – and so launch gets pushed back again, and the process is drawn out even further.

“Clients often worry that the implementation process for a new benefits programme will take a lot of time and require a hefty amount of work just to get it up and running,” says Joanna Martin, Client Services Manager for Asperity360. “We launch around 20 new schemes every month so have considerable experience in making the implementation process as quick, smooth and painless as possible.”

An implementation project plan that covers all bases from the start is key; introducing a new employee benefit isn’t just about depositing the product on your lap and leaving it to you to figure it out. A dedicated account manager who will take care of the project from all angles, including communicating the launch effectively to your staff and making it as quick and easy for them to start benefitting from it as possible, will get the programme off to a great start and make your life a heck of a lot easier.

“Implementation was completely easy and straightforward,” says Melissa Sincock, who put the Hobbs Rewards programme in place with Asperity in 2011. “From transferring childcare vouchers to the launch communications plan – right from the beginning, all of the important things had already been thought of. It’s had a really low impact on our time, which was exactly what we needed!”

The truth is, there’s never going to be a “right time” to embark on the implementation of a new project, but by picking the right provider you can certainly make life easier for yourself.