Gender-neutral parental leave and a Fluxx bank holiday
How we used design thinking to innovate our employee benefits package
We believe we design better solutions when we empathise with the people we’re designing for…in this case our own team of marvellous misfits at Fluxx. So, we turn the lens on ourselves from time to time; check in on our practices, policies and people and validate that what we do as a business is still in line with our core values.
Last year we got a group of Fluxxers together to take a look at the Fluxx Benefits package. We wanted to find out if our package really takes care of our people, is truly competitive and will attract and retain the very best in the business while increasing motivation and loyalty. Crucial to the review was the health and wellbeing of the team; and this work came in handy when the pandemic hit, throwing us all into remote working, lockdown and an abyss of unknowns.
The project team; what we did
We designed a bunch of qualitative and quantitative questions and interactive exercises to find out what Fluxxers know about their benefits, what they value most and what could be better. Over 50 in-depth interviews later (and a whole lot of coffee), we analysed the results and began to map out the areas for improvement.
Looking outside is always a good idea. So, we chatted to friends of Fluxx as well as recruitment specialists to benchmark where our benefits package sat against similar size businesses, our clients and partners. We know the value of benchmarking and this was a really important part of the research process.
We ran an experiment to test a couple of new benefit ideas including an ‘Explorers Budget’ aligned to our company purpose and values, and we gave our staff the opportunity to explore alternative skills, share their experience with others and live up to our explorer value. This gave us a real idea of whether it would be valuable and make a difference to Fluxxers.
Based on our research we proposed recommendations and agreed a revamped employee benefits offering with the partners and project team. We’ve also got a really robust Comms plan in place to make sure our employees are aware of the full range of benefits available, and ensure they take full advantage of what Fluxx has to offer. This is something that came back from our research; the lack of understanding of what’s on offer meant the benefits package was often not recognised and appreciated by all.
As a project team we’re really proud that we can now deliver a clear and well communicated benefits package that’s been assessed to work out the most relevant benefits selection for our team and designed based on their needs.
Our people are what makes us and the health and wellbeing of Fluxxers is so important and what helps us to continue to deliver for our clients.
So, what’s new?
We’ve increased our holiday allowance and removed the need to hold any back for the Christmas closure. We’ve also changed our maternity, paternity and adoption policies to a gender neutral parental leave policy; and we’re giving the parents control to decide who is the primary and secondary caregiver, which is another step forward towards building gender equality in our workplace. Our core benefits package which also includes access to mental health and wellbeing apps remains competitive and untouched and we will continue to review it periodically to ensure the choice of benefits is still relevant to our employees.
We’ve also introduced a couple of corona-driven bonus benefits for this year including a Fluxx Bank Holiday… Hoorah! This is to recognise the extraordinary situation we’ve found ourselves in this year and the strain this has had on Fluxxers — it’s been a tough few months for everyone — I’m sure you can all agree!
We take the health and well-being of our people very seriously and that’s why we’re taking care of us and shutting the business for a day. So, if you’re trying to get hold of us on the 31st July, please leave a message after the tone and we’ll get back to you after a well-earned rest.
We’re also evolving our Company Day into a ‘Fluxx Fest’ — an opportunity to come together as a whole business, do something social alongside refocusing our efforts for the rest of the year and beyond. It feels like a good time to reset and look to the future together as one big happy Fluxx family. It will of course be a socially distanced blended event including some digital elements to take into account travel and personal circumstances. It’s an event we’re all looking forward to.
We’d love to hear from you — what are you and your business doing to turn the lens on yourself and to look after everyone’s health and wellbeing?
Bernard Benchella Assoc CIPD is Director of HR at Fluxx. We help companies like Condé Nast,Thames Water, HSBC, and Addison Lee Group, bring big ideas to life. Check out Fluxx Studio Notes for more stories. Are you interested in learning the secrets for sustained, repeatable innovation models, from expert practitioners? Check out The Innovation Starter Kit. Stay tuned with all that’s Fluxx by following us on LinkedIn or signing up for our WTF Newsletter. Get in touch at Bernard.Benchella@Fluxx.uk.com.
