WSB Awards 2018 - The Winners

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