Alan Fergusson has launched a new employee benefits consultancy service, known as Beneficia.
This consultancy aims to offer ‘in-house’ resources to employers, working with brokers and providers to deliver a range of employee benefit services.
This will include projects such as benefits tendering, M&A harmonisation, flexible benefits, health and wellbeing, new technology, workplace savings, optimising benefit spend, and engagement and communications.
The company says it is looking to challenge traditional broker and provider relationships by taking its consultancy services in-house to employers who may have little or no internal resource.
Fergusson says: “We want to look on things differently. The market doesn’t encourage transparency, and what ends up happening is that employers don’t get as full a picture as they should get of the tools that can engage their employees in the very benefits they are paying for.
“Major changes are taking place in delivery of employee benefits in general. Relationships need maximised, and spend needs optimised. So much is talked about engagement, motivation and wellbeing, but what is delivered is a fraction of what could be done with the tools that are already available.
“We want to get in the middle of these relationships and decide with our clients what we can structure to benefit their employees.”
He adds: “We realise that in-house reward professionals don’t always know the right questions to ask of their brokers, and don’t get near their providers.
“This isn’t due to a lack of awareness, more so a lack of time. Where a team doesn’t exist internally, HRD’s may only have a light touch on benefits. Direct provider relationships may be better, only engaging consultancy when required rather than on an ongoing basis.”
Fergusson has worked in the industry for 20-years, and was most recently Mattioli Woods employee benefits director.