Isio’s big plans to disrupt the reward and benefits market
Many people in the reward and benefits industry say they fell in it, but few can say their careers started as a result of falling off a motorbike. But for Andrew Craig, partner, reward and benefits at Isio, the accident at the age of 16 was the beginning of a long and successful career.
After dropping out of school following a long stint in hospital, Craig was encouraged by his mother to get a job at a local insurance company which had been recruiting for the pensions actuarial team.
He says: “I had no idea what an actuary was, but it’s funny how life plays like that, because I just landed in this environment and absolutely loved it.”
Craig worked for seven years as an actuarial assistant for an insurance company, before spending eight years as an independent financial adviser and owning his own business. He then took on a role at KMPG, where he worked for two decades.
He says: “The opportunity came up to go and work for KPMG, and I just saw that as an environment to step into the big league. I was running my own business not because I wanted my name over the door, but because I wanted the freedom to be able to deal with people the right way.
“I’d landed in an organisation that also wanted to deal with people the right way. Our mantra was to go out there and do the very best for the people you serve. I was just surrounded by, as I contintue to be now, by incredibly capable people who could make up for my shortcomings.”
The next 20 years saw Craig working across all manner of projects and following regulatory change, a decision was made to split the pensions and reward section of KPMG into a new business.
Craig says: “Years ago, the big companies like KPMG were able to do everything for their clients. They could be the auditor, consultant and provide advice in all sorts of areas around tax, HR and people.
“But as the audit rules changed, particularly for larger businesses, there became this requirement for real independence of the audit.
“We couldn’t build the business that we wanted to build inside of KPMG, so we split and subsequently our colleagues from Deloitte joined us as well. We were able to take the best of what we did, but just needed to set up as an independent business. It was a fantastic heritage and I will always have a warmth in my heart for KPMG as an organisation.”
Building a reputation
Isio soon got to work making a name for itself in the pensions space, but four years after its split from KPMG, the company now has high hopes to develop the same reputation in the reward and benefits space, of which Craig is head of. The team is guided by three principles: simplification, engagement and purpose.
Craig says: “We’re probably not well known in the industry for rewards and benefits, we’ve built up a reputation as a staggeringly good pensions advisory firm over the years. But in terms of reward and benefits, we’re at the start of that journey.
“A lot of employers might not know us in the benefits space at the moment. If I still got that answer in 18 months’ time, I’ve probably not done my job very well, so the next challenge is to raise awareness of what we are and why we’re different.”
As the workplace grapples with seismic challenges such as the ageing workforce and rising healthcare costs, the reward and benefit industry is witnessing rapid change.
A series of high profile mergers and acquisitions, plus new tech developments and launches, are shaking up the market, offering the perfect playing field for newcomers to make their mark. So how does Isio plan to cut through the noise?
“First of all, we want to be known for our benefits health check- lots of organisations are struggling to put a finger on why their benefits programmes aren’t working. We think we’ve got some really compelling answers to that, and so we’re going to do some work to really help organisations put their finger on those issues.
“And we also have our flex platform which we’re going to be raising the profile of. I really believe there are a lot of organisations out there who we could bring an awful lot of value to who today don’t really know who we are or what we stand for.”
He says: “Often organisations have what I call the Noah’s Ark-type solution- they have two of everything in the benefit programme. Organisations are asking how they bring it back to something that’s more simple and effective, because at the moment we’re just overwhelming people with the kind of range and options.
“The second question I ask is the purpose of the benefit,” Craig says: “You don’t have to provide benefits, so why provide them? You’d be shocked at how many organisations have no idea why they provide benefits, they just started it 30 years ago and as it’s evolved, there’s a real lack of clarity of purpose.”
The final piece of the puzzle is engagement. “If there’s one thing the industry has got hideously wrong, its comparing what an average organisation spends on benefits vs how much of that budget they spend on helping employees really understand and use what they’re providing. The answer is usually nothing, or next to nothing.
“The biggest single transformation would be if organisations embedded coaching [to support better understanding of benefits] into their programmes to help their employees."
Despite being ‘big believers’ in tech, unlike many of its competitors, Craig does not describe Isio as a tech-led company.
He says: “Of course, the tech stuff will happen, but no amount of tech in the world is going to bring this to life without engagement.
“It’s the tech plus the stuff that helps you get the best out of the tech. We use AI internally to help us in different areas of the business, and are currently developing AI solutions for our clients. But at the end of the process, there needs to be a mechanism where users can speak to a real person and needs more help than the tech provides.”
Craig is optimistic about Isio’s future journey and has set the bar high for its growth.
He says: “I would certainly hope we will continue to grow and work with significantly more HR leaders in the reward and benefits space over the next few years. That’s the goal.”
