Here they are - the winners of the Workplace Savings and Benefits Awards 2018...
The awards were presented on 6 September 2018 at a glittering gala dinner at London's Sheraton Grand Hotel hosted by actress, singer and impressionist Jess Robinson.
The awards - which are now in their 6th year - recognised the employers which have the best benefits teams and offerings to staff and have done the most to improve these over the past 12 months.
In addition, the awards rewarded the best pension and benefit providers - recognising those that have done the most to help employers and their staff over the past year.
To find out more about the awards - and register to receive information about next year's awards, visit: http://events.wsandb.co.uk/awards
The winners of the 2018 awards are:
Employer Awards
Best Benefits Strategy / Innovation of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges commended the winner, BT, for its "good use of technology" in completing a "very large scale project".
Winner: BT
Finalists:
BT
E.ON
Simplyhealth
TP ICAP
Best Pensions Strategy of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges commended the winner, Gatwick Airport, for the way in which it successfully managed significant change within its pension arrangements - saying it had created a "new benchmark in the way pensions are communicated directly with employees".
Winner: Gatwick Airport
Finalists:
FIS
Gatwick Airport
West Midlands Pension Fund
Best Communications / Engagement Initiative of the Year
Judges' Comments: The winner for this category was praised for the "realistic approach" it brought to its pensions communications challenges. The winner is Gatwick Airport.
Winner: Gatwick Airport
Finalists:
Gatwick Airport
Hogan Lovells
Holiday Extras
Manchester Airport Group
Mitie
Best Healthcare and Wellbeing Strategy of the Year
Judges' Comments: This was a difficult group for judges to assess, with many excellent submissions put forward. As such, the judges decided to award a highly commended accolade to Live Nation Entertainment - commending it for its "extensive programme" and "good initiatives". The winner, praised by judges for the success of its overall programme - which improved sickness absence rates, mental and physical health as well as financial wellbeing - was Anglian Water.
Winner: Anglian Water
Highly Commended: Live Nation Entertainment
Finalists:
Anglian Water
FIS
Live Nation Entertainment
Royal Mail Group
Standard Life Aberdeen
Universal Music Group
Virgin Atlantic & Virgin Holidays
Best Financial Education Strategy
Judges' Comments: Judges found it difficult to choose between a number of good entries in this category and, as such, decided to award a highly commended accolade to XPO Logistics, praising the firm for "delivering on boosting engagement and reducing absence and turnover despite facing budget and resource constraints". The judges named, OVO Energy as winner in this category -praising the energy supplier for its "innovative approach to encouraging employee understanding of, and engagement with, their benefits package" and a "sound programme" targeting a specific segment of the workforce.
Winner: OVO Energy
Highly Commended: XPO Logistics
Finalists:
Age UK
GSK
Hogan Lovells
Medway NHS Trust
OVO Energy
Standard Life Aberdeen
XPO Logistics
Best Flexible Benefits Strategy
Judges' Comments: The judging panel said the winner, The Hyde Group, put forward a "good honest entry focused on both commercials and employee experience" and praised the firm for "impressive improvements" to its flex scheme on an almost a zero budget.
Winner: The Hyde Group
Finalists:
The Hyde Group
Skyscanner
Consultant and Provider Awards
Employee Benefit Consultant of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges praised the winner of this category, Barnett Waddingham, for demonstrating a "clear strategy" and for "putting the customer at the centre of everything they do".
Winner: Barnett Waddingham
Finalists:
Barnett Waddingham
Secondsight
XPS Pensions Group
Pension Consultant of the Year
Judges' Comments: The winner in this category, Hymans Robertson was praised by judges for providing strong evidence of how it "directly responded to client needs to improve member outcomes". Judges were also impressed at the firm's technology offering including the online app, Periskope, which was helping tackle unconscious biases among trustees; and the continued development of its Guided Outcomes analytics, which aims to improve DC member outcomes.
Winner: Hymans Robertson
Finalists:
Barker Tatham Investment Consultants
Hymans Robertson
P-Solve, part of River and Mercantile Group
Spence and Partners
XPS Pensions Group
Group Risk Consultant of the Year
Judges' Comments: The winner in this category has grown organically by over 20% each year for the past four years and has a client retention rate of some 98%. Judges commended the winner, Stackhouse Poland, for "demonstrating how a successful broking approach can really benefit clients"
Winner: Stackhouse Poland
Finalists:
Aon
Stackhouse Poland
Healthcare and Wellbeing Consultant of the Year
Judges' Comments: The winner of this category is not a traditional consultancy but one that was praised by judges for the passion with which it addresses health and wellbeing through its range of workshops, seminars and bespoke training programmes - programmes that can be tailored to organisations with limited budgets. The winner is the Manchester Stress Institute.
Winner: Manchester Stress Institute
Finalists:
Aon
Manchester Stress Institute
Premier
Stackhouse Poland
Benefits Innovation of the Year
Judges' Comments: The judges of this category said that two of the main personal finance challenges facing Britain currently were getting people out of debt and getting people saving for retirement. The TWO winners of this category reflect this thinking. The joint winners of this category are Legal & General Investment Management and Salary Finance. Judges said LGIM had done amazing work in engaging pension schemes members through personalised benefit statements which encouraged them to save more for their retirement. The judges praised Salary Finance for "bringing something new to the market" with its payroll deducted loans offering for employers and commended its recent partnership with Yorkshire Building Society to create a new product to help employees who currently struggle to save.
Joint Winners:
Legal & General Investment Management
Salary Finance
Finalists:
Bluecrest Wellness
Employee Benefits Collective
Legal & General Investment Management
Neyber
pensionsync
Personal Group
Salary Finance
Smarterly
True Potential
Benefit Communications Innovation of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges awarded a highly commended award in this category to AXA PPP for its ‘50,000 Years Younger Together' campaign, which aims to motivate employees across the country to understand their own health and inspire them to take the steps to help them to live healthier lives. The winner however was praised for its three-pronged communication campaign to help bring pensions to life - a campaign which judges felt helped individuals "discover their financial personality and bring far-off retirement to life". The winner is Aviva.
Winner: Aviva
Highly Commended: AXA PPP healthcare
Finalists:
Aviva
AXA PPP healthcare
Mybenefitsatwork
MyCSP
Scottish Widows
Best Use of Technology for Benefits Award
Judges' Comments: Judges awarded a highly commended accolade in this category to the West Midlands Pension Fund for its 'Clunky Web' to 'Funky Web' overhaul of its pensions interface. The winner - praised by judges for "using technology to provide an innovative, very competitively priced product" - was Bluecrest Wellness.
Winner: Bluecrest Wellness
Highly Commended: West Midlands Pension Fund
Finalists:
advogroup
Benefex
Bluecrest Wellness
Employee Benefits Collective
LCP
pensionsync
Premier
True Potential
West Midlands Pension Fund
Financial Education Provider of the Year
Judges' Comments: This was another category with a number of very strong entries. In light of this, judges decided to award a highly commended accolade to Nudge for the way in which it has embraced behavioural science and technology to help clients. The winner of this category was Scottish Widows - a firm cited by judges for its "innovative approach and clear measurable results" delivered to clients over a number of different sectors.
Winner: Scottish Widows
Highly Commended: Nudge
Finalists:
Close Brothers
Continuum Financial Services
HSBC
Neyber
Nudge
Scottish Widows
True Potential
WEALTH at work
Group Risk Provider of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges found it difficult to separate the top two contenders in this category. As such, they decided to award a highly commended accolade to Unum - praising it for providing "great examples of their initiatives and impact". The winner of this category - dubbed by one judge as "a plucky underdog focussed on delivering exceptional service" - is Omnilife.
Winner: Omnilife
Highly Commended: Unum
Finalists:
Aviva
Generali
Legal & General
Omnilife
Unum
Health Cash Plan Provider of the Year
Judges' Comments: The winner of this category, Health Shield, was commended for making "claiming easier and faster" and for the way in which it improved its cancer screening service during the year.
Winner: Health Shield
Finalists:
Health Shield
Medicash
Health and Wellbeing Provider of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges praised the winner of this category, Aon, for how it has developed technology to support clients and also commended it on the development of its mid-market proposition for smaller corporates - a pre-broked offering which includes PMI, cash plans, Occupational Health and EAP.
Winner: Aon
Finalists:
Aon
Benenden Health
BHSF Employee Benefits
Bluecrest Wellness
Pension Provider of the Year
Judges' Comments: Two particular submissions caught judges' eyes in this category and a highly commended award was given to Smart Pension for the way it is making saving "intuitive and accessible to engage the new generation brought into pensions for the first time via auto enrolment". The winner of this category - praised by judges for its "one-stop shop approach to workplace pensions, savings and investments" - is Hargreaves Lansdown.
Winner: Hargreaves Lansdown
Highly Commended: Smart Pension
Finalists:
Aviva
Hargreaves Lansdown
Legal & General Investment Management
NEST
Smart Pension
Wellbeing Initiative of the Year
Judges' Comments: The judges found two entrants particularly stood out in strong category. They awarded a highly commended to Earthmiles@Work for its development of an app that provides financial motivation for healthier behaviour with gamification and rewards to keep the experience fun for individuals and teams. The winner in this category - praised for its "simple, easy to implement health checks proposition" was Bluecrest Wellness.
Winner: Bluecrest Wellness
Highly Commended: Earthmiles
Finalists:
Bluecrest Wellness
Earthmiles
Manchester Stress Institute
Salary Finance
Mental Health Initiative of the Year
Judges' Comments: This was another close category and judges awarded a highly commended accolade to Aon, praising, in particular, its colleague-led mental health group to drive awareness and strategy around mental health issues. The winner was Royal Mail Group - a company praised by judges for its "courageous five-year mental health strategy, Because Healthy Minds Matter".
Winner: Royal Mail Group
Highly Commended: Aon
Finalists:
Aon
Bluecrest Wellness
Capita Employee Benefits
Cigna HealthCare Benefits
Legal & General
Royal Mail Group
Unum
International Benefits Provider of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges commended the winner, Aetna International for "taking the virtual GP to the next level" with its vHealth offering - a programme it is currently rolling out to globally mobile professionals.
Winner: Aetna International
Finalists:
Aetna International
Benefex
Generali Employee Benefits
Generali Global Health
Montfort
Workplace Savings and Benefits Initiative of the Year
Judges' Comments: Judges said the winner of this category impressed judges with the development of its "one-stop shop approach to workplace pensions, savings and investments", giving staff access to workplace pensions, workplace ISAs, investment accounts, flexible benefits as well as a complete retirement service all in one place. The winner is Hargreaves Lansdown.
Winner: Hargreaves Lansdown
Finalists:
Aon
Aviva
Bluecrest Wellness
Hargreaves Lansdown
Personal Group
Salary Finance
Smarterly
Squire Patton Boggs
Unum
Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Award
Judges' Comments: This was an exceptionally close category and our judges found it difficult to choose between the entries. As such, they have awarded a highly commended accolade in this category to Legal & General Investment Management recognising the firm for its leadership on this issue over a number of years. The winner was Aon - a firm that the judges said was embracing diversity, acting as an agent for change and clearly understood the importance of diversity to the sector in which it operates.
Winner: Aon
Highly Commended: Legal & General Investment Management
Finalists:
Aon
B&CE, provider of The People's Pension
Legal & General Investment Management