Employee-Benefits-Transformation

Case Study: EMCOR UK

Introduction

EMCOR UK employs over 4,400 personnel in the UK within the Facilities Management sector. The company recognises both as a business and leaders that wellbeing, balance, diversity and inclusion, and positive mental health are key strategic building blocks for any successful and sustainable organisation. 

The Introduction of FlexGenius in July 2019, as EMCOR UK's, online communications and benefits platform, has been transformative in how our client met these challenges and is a key element of its Embedded Wellbeing initiative. EMCOR has now created a wide-reaching online community and the tools at hand to ramp up engagement to support its business goals. 

EMCOR UK logo
PROJECT

An exceptionally well-received rollout of a diverse and impactful employee benefits platform

CLIENT

ERCOR UK

WHAT WE ACHIEVED

An increase in employee participation from 57% to 73%

The challenge

Back in 2015, EMCOR's recorded levels of balance, diversity and both mental health and wellbeing-related absence were consistent with national statistics. The impact of stress-related absenteeism within EMCOR UK from June 2014 until May 2016, totalled 7,717 days. Stress and anxiety were contributing to significant absence from work and poor engagement in the business. 

Our client wanted to create balance within the business, improve inclusivity and attract new talent. They also needed to create a safe environment that engendered wellness and enabled EMCOR's employees to collaborate, connect, work together and develop new ideas to improve the industry.

FlexGenius Wellbeing Initiative | EMCOR Case Study

The Facilities Management industry often suffers from:  

  • Low pay rates for many individuals 
  • High levels of contract turnover and constant TUPE of key workplace and FM workers
  • Highly commoditised buyer behaviour 
  • Poor gender balance 
  • Dispersed and variable working conditions that can cause isolation and poor mental health and wellbeing 
  • Low employee engagement 
  • Difficulty in attracting talent  
  • Low employee retention 
  • Unpredictable absence levels

EMCOR recognised that it could do better and, consequently, launched its Embedded Wellbeing initiative. 

EMCORUK-FlexGenius-Success-Story

Our client's experiences over the next few years made them realise they had to go deeper, rather than hoping for significant impact to be made by disparate surface-level wellbeing projects which could never expect to engage with everyone. The goal of the Embedded Wellbeing initiative was to achieve sustainable behavioural change to improve wellbeing for all.

The EMCOR team set out to reach all parts of the organisation: from the executive to the most junior, including those who work remotely or predominantly alone or not office-based or email-connected, and people joining EMCOR from other organisations or partners.  

The solution

 

In 2019, EMCOR UK launched "FLEX", its communications and flexible benefits portal, to the entire workforce. The objective was to offer a comprehensive selection of health and wellbeing tools which were accessible to all. It provides EMCOR's employees (and their families) with access to a host of opportunities including health cash plans, dental insurance, discounts in shops and restaurants, financial support to consolidate debt and manage repayments, and much more.  

EMCOR chose the FlexGenius platform to power the FLEX proposition. The solution delivered on ‘levelling the playing field’ for all employees, with a wide depth and variety of employee benefits. Also built-in were powerful communication tools, together with an integrated reward and recognition system. 

An important objective was to ensure the whole workforce was able to access the health and wellbeing benefits provided for them by the business. As is common in Facilities Management, many of EMCOR's employees work at different customer sites and a large proportion don’t have access to a company computer or even a company email address.  

To meet the company's accessibility goal, EMCOR set up the FLEX platform to allow for it to be securely accessed using personal email addresses and individual devices such as mobiles and tablets. This has resulted in more than three-quarters of EMCOR's workforce registering with FLEX and opens opportunities for much wider access.  

The solution is also frequently promoted to employees in various ways including the company magazine, and posters at sites and roadshows to further boost awareness and take-up. 

A key driver of engagement is the GEMS (Great EMCOR Service) employee recognition programme. Launched on FLEX and accessible to all employees, GEMS replaced a previously outdated and under-used paper program for employee recognition. To bring it to life, GEMS allows for instant recognition for a job well done on a peer-to-peer basis and can be either a cash (voucher reward) or a “just say thanks!”. Uptake has been on an upward trajectory since launch. 

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"We are delighted to see positive results and to have made a real difference to employee wellbeing across our business."

– The EMCOR team

Benefits of FlexGenius for the organisation 

 

EMCOR's goals for the introduction of FlexGenius as a key component of its Embedded Wellbeing initiative were to embed positive wellbeing behaviours across the business; improve employee retention; reduce absenteeism and presenteeism; and make wellbeing support available to all. 

Here are some of the great outcomes from the implementation of FlexGenius: 

  • Absence due to stress/mental health has fallen by 20.3% (since Jan 2019) 

  • All sickness absence has fallen by 5.7% (since Jan 2019)  

  • Average days lost/employee/year is 29 (compared to the FM sector average of 38)

  • 1,412 hits on EMCOR's Employee Assistant Programme portal (12 months up to Feb 2020) 

  • 354 employees received telephone counselling and advice covering legal, mental health,  relationships, life events, trauma, financial and work  

  • 1312 employees accessed the financial wellbeing support hub (6 months up to Mar 2020)

  • 536 employees have applied for financial support  

  • Average savings on unpaid interest of £733 (versus scheme average of £500-600)

  • 40 gender inclusive activities have been implemented 

  • Employee turnover rate has gone down from 23% to 14.5% 

  • 655 employees chose to take on a new role since 2017, 317 of which were promoted

  • Employee engagement survey takeup increased from 40% in 2016 to 64% in 2019

  • Engagement score increased from 655 in 2008 to 715 in 2019 (versus industry norm of 693) 

  • 77% of EMCOR's workforce signed up to the flexible benefits and wellbeing platform 

  • Employee participation has grown from 57% in 2008 to 73% in 2019

 

Our client has also significantly benefited from the communication tools embedded within FLEX, particularly in light of the current challenges of COVID-19. Thanks to the high engagement levels, EMCOR UK has been able to use FLEX as the primary communication tool, reaching a very high proportion of its widely dispersed employee community with video and other messages of support.

Conclusion

The EMCOR team was delighted with the impact that FlexGenius has had on the business; proving very popular and exceeding the original brief. The results are tangible, and the company continues to benefit from improving goodwill and loyalty from all employees.

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Employee benefits transformation - team celebrating | EMCOR case study

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