WTW helped modernize an outdated company culture and decentralized HR approach by providing transparent and consistent global total rewards communications with Embark
The challenge
Legacy thinking among leaders about total rewards persisted in the organization. For many local and regional leaders, employees were viewed as a cost and communicating total rewards was not valued in its ability to attract, retain, and engage their people. WTW helped HR identify this as a major barrier to the success of its transformation and the need to break through this way of thinking.
For HR, this meant challenging the status quo and processes that focused on local and regional ways of communicating, opting for a modern communication strategy built on transparency and consistency for a globally diverse organization.
Unlocking a new way of thinking was key to realizing a global and unified approach to attracting, retaining, and engaging the talent needed to keep pace with major growth.
For HR leaders, it's a tremendous win because communicating consistently with employees is now easier than ever, while at the same time
The solution
WTW started the work by helping the organization look at combined pay and benefits for their people – no simple task when you consider the inconsistent formatting and spreadsheets from decentralized systems around the world as well as legacy policies and practices. WTW brought this data together in a digital platform, which allowed HR to see and identify inconsistencies and begin their transformation process.
Against a backdrop of increased pay transparency legislation, this exercise was a critical first step to creating greater transparency, alongside the belief that clearly explaining how and why you pay your people the way you do will bring engagement and a new appreciation for total rewards.
Explaining how and why you pay your people the way you do will bring engagement
Next, our brokerage team helped identify the various benefits policies that existed, how much they cost the organization, as well as opportunities to bring them together to create efficiencies and better policies for their people. Access to this data allowed WTW to rapidly implement the third phase of the plan, an advantage over other providers.
The third phase focused on global communication using WTW's employee experience platform Embark. With Embark, the organization was able to deliver a clear and consistent user experience personalized to each individual employee, easily managed, and accessible at any time outside of the typical pay cycle too.
The results
The combination of these WTW solutions and data working together took the results further than the organization expected. It was able to rapidly roll out this approach to total rewards, and in doing so, quickly won over the skeptical stakeholders in culturally closed-off markets where employees were viewed as a cost to showing them as an asset and their value positively.
With the system live in over 35 countries globally, 30% of employees now consistently engage with it monthly, as it shares updates when their total rewards increase due to promotion for example or when additional benefits are released.
This project laid the foundation for further implementation of technology to modernize the organization's employee experience. For HR leaders, it's a tremendous win because communicating consistently with employees is now easier than ever, while at the same time, they are delivering an engaging and transparent user experience that allows for small nudges to help their people get the absolute best value from their total rewards.
Next steps
WTW continues as trusted, long-term partner of this organization. To learn more about how we can help you achieve your transformation goals, provide consistent communication, optimize your benefits, and demonstrate the value of total rewards, talk to us today.
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