15 Mar 2016

Case study: Making life better with a home technology salary sacrifice scheme

Four years after introducing its own salary sacrifice home technology scheme, Hywel Dda University Health Board, which provides a wide range of healthcare services to a total population of around 372,320 throughout Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, has seen take-up across the board.

The organsiation provides its services via general and community hospitals, health centres, GP's, dentists, pharmacists and optometrists and other sites. An NHS organisation, it currently employs around 10,000 people.

The scheme, launched via Personal Group’s Lets Connect home technology salary sacrifice scheme, initially focused on offering home computers and tablets, but subsequently added smartphones, which have proved popular with staff across the board.

Encouraging take-up across the ages

Senior terms, conditions and benefits manager Andrea Thomas says: “Take up has been very good, although because people are choosing different elements or more than one element of the scheme, it is difficult to provide accurate figures. But we are seeing a steady overall increase in participation with the scheme, which has been driven by improvements to the scheme and the fact that newer technology and devices are becoming available all the time.”

Encouragingly, take up has not been exclusive to the younger members of staff, although they are keen to keep up with new tech gadgets, as they are made available through the scheme. “We are seeing take up among the older members, however, this could be linked to them having technology equipment to support the family,” says Thomas.

Both personal use and BYOD are proving popular

The equipment that is made available through the scheme is for personal use, however Hywel Dda health board does operate a BYOD (bring your own device) policy, which is also proving popular. Another important feature of the scheme is the salary sacrifice arrangements through which employees make savings on their purchases. There are two enrolment windows for the home technology scheme, the first just before Christmas and the second in the spring.

The scheme is promoted to staff via a range of communication channels, including website, email and printed flyers, and the board also organises road shows to highlight the benefits of the scheme to employees throughout the region, and provide news on any new technology products that will be available.

Thomas adds: “We’ve had great support from Lets Connect with the launch and the administering of a scheme that employees are really seeing the benefits of.”

This case study was provided by Personal Group.