Hymans Robertson has been appointed by Sodexo, a leading provider of on-site service solutions, to advise on all aspects of preparation for the introduction of auto-enrolment. The independent pensions and benefits consultant will work with Sodexo through a five step programme to design and implement an appropriate pension infrastructure for its 43,000 employees in the UK and Ireland.
These five steps are: setting objectives; getting the financial design of the pension scheme right; assessing in-house resources and external provider capabilities; setting up systems, payroll and administration processes; and designing and delivering a comprehensive employee education programme.
Hugh Owens, Director of Reward, Pensions and ER at Sodexo said:
“Auto-enrolment is a significant issue for our business. With over 43,000 employees and operations at over 2,300 sites we recognised the need for external consultancy support on this issue and started planning early.
“We appointed Hymans Robertson following a competitive tender exercise. We were impressed with their grasp of the scale of this project and the different work streams required. They clearly have the necessary experience of helping similar businesses tackle the challenges of auto-enrolment”.
Lee Hollingworth, Head of DC at Hymans Robertson and lead consultant to Sodexo, said:
“The launch of auto-enrolment looms ever closer for large companies. Sodexo is ahead of the curve in preparing for these pension reforms. The company has clearly recognised that auto-enrolment will impact across its entire business and has acted promptly.
“Getting a business ready for auto-enrolment is far from straightforward. It won’t just impact on pension costs to get up and running and be compliant; it is also likely to require substantial investment in payroll, HR and systems. You then have the ongoing additional resource required to monitor, administrate and manage the larger number of employees in the pension scheme.
“For Sodexo we have proposed a five stage plan and working together we will successfully implement auto-enrolment on time and to the benefit of its employees. We are already working on stages one and two, which are to set clear goals and objectives and design a pension structure that meets these objectives. The next stages will include an assessment of in-house resources and third party providers, a re-design of payroll processes to comply with auto-enrolment and then to design an employee education programme.”
|
