Global standards are vital, says Kantar’s Tia Brett
Kantar is a data, insights and consulting company employing more than 25,000 people in more than 70 countries. It was spun off from creative group WPP in 2019 and is headquartered in the UK.
As benefits evolved on a local level across the organisation, a major project was launched to rationalise them and create a proposition that supports the company’s brand, values and purpose.
We inherited a mixture of benefits, with countries and divisions often having completely different sets of benefits. To understand exactly what we had and where we needed to make changes, we started with a global benefits audit.
Fixing the basics
This highlighted inconsistencies and enabled us to start setting minimum global standards. Some countries didn’t have basics such as life insurance, so we addressed this and introduced a standard of a minimum of one times salary life insurance. We also rolled out our diversity and inclusion strategy, including making medical benefits available to same-sex or unmarried partners.
While the primary focus has been on creating global standards, we have also had to adapt benefits propositions to suit more local challenges. We’ve expanded in Portugal recently, adding an operation centre in Porto to an office in Lisbon.
To attract talent to the new centre, we had to go back to the drawing board to create the right benefits package.
With one eye on the global benefits philosophy, we had to consider what employee value proposition would appeal to potential recruits. Alongside the normal range of benefits, we increased the holiday and meal vouchers to attract talent. We’re now aligning the benefits in Lisbon with those in Porto.
