Barely two years ago, the financial institution had a long way to go to make its approximately 55,000 employees realize the real value of the different components of their overall compensation, she adds.
In 2022, high inflation and labor shortages have pushed many employers in the financial sector to embark on a wage bidding war, with some even going so far as to make two wage increases per month. within the same year.
“We didn’t go there because we knew, based on market research, that we were competitive in terms of total compensation. But employees still need to know this, and we must never take for granted that this is the case,” says Sylvie Lanoix.
For example, Desjardins offers all of its employees a generous defined benefit pension plan. “It’s a very distinctive element at Desjardins; we are one of the few employers in the private sector to still offer one,” she continues. The problem was that employees were not aware of the value of such a plan. »
Desjardins’ objective was therefore simple and complex at the same time: to promote the different elements of its total compensation program without allocating additional budget.
The pillar of this promotion campaign was the creation of a personalized total compensation statement which indicates in dollars the value of each benefit, i.e. salary, annual bonus, retirement plan, group insurance and conditions of employment. work.
Produced using the company’s human resources management system, the statement is accessible online at any time and updated in real time, particularly during a promotion or annual salary review. Workers can thus see the weight of each component of their social benefits in their total compensation.
A new centralized compensation and benefits information tool was also introduced on the organization’s employee portal. Information capsules on group insurance and the retirement plan are notably offered. Links to the various sources of information are also included in the total compensation statement.
“These tools allow managers to become ambassadors of the total compensation program when they receive questions from their employees on this subject,” explains Sylvie Lanoix.
The impact of these initiatives to enhance overall compensation is already positive, she assures. From the first week of availability of the personalized total compensation statement, 46,000 of some 55,000 Desjardins employees went to consult it. Just over 33,000 did the same during the last salary review. “Our survey results also show a better understanding of the financial value of our benefits among employees. »
33,9 %
Equivalent proportion of their payroll that Quebec private companies with 200 or more employees spend on average on social benefits and paid non-working hours.
Source: Quebec Statistics Institute
Put an end to hallway noise
If the lack of communication is the source of many dissatisfactions with regard to remuneration, errors in the design of social benefit plans are also sometimes to blame.
Property management company Logisco, which operates in the Quebec City region, has spent the last few years getting its total compensation program in order. “Satisfaction surveys conducted among employees revealed that they appreciated the corporate culture and the organization as a whole, but much less the remuneration,” reported Annick Paradis, senior director, employee experience and continuous improvement, in within the framework of the same conference.
In 2019, before the first changes to the benefits program came into effect, Logisco offered an à la carte compensation system that created confusion not only among employees, but also among managers, who struggled to understand the company compensation and leave policies.
“We had several stones in our shoes,” confirms Ms. Paradis. The four weeks of vacation offered by the organization included Christmas and New Year’s Day, public holidays. It was therefore in reality 18 days of vacation, and not 20. A detail which may seem somewhat trivial, but which led to a lot of noise from employees complaining that it was not no four “real” weeks of vacation.
After conducting internal surveys, focus groups and comparing itself to the market with the help of consulting firms, the company, which has approximately 450 employees, undertook a vast project to modernize its benefits social.
The first corrections were made in 2020, with the adoption of four “real” weeks of vacation, the expansion of the health care account and the abandonment of à la carte remuneration. “People didn’t really understand the principle, they forgot that they had put a portion of their salary increase elsewhere, such as vacation time, which generated dissatisfaction,” emphasizes Annick Paradis.
The following year, the retirement savings program was enhanced and all accumulated assets, even those coming from employer contributions, were de-immobilized. “The employer portion can also be used as part of the home ownership plan,” notes Ms. Paradis. Birthday leave was introduced for all employees, and critical illness insurance was added to existing protections.
In 2022, the company reintroduced a principle of flexible remuneration by giving employees the possibility of allocating 2% of their salary in additional contributions to the group RRSP or obtaining five days of leave.
Finally, in 2023, Logisco overhauled its group insurance plan, with workers considering that the old version did not “give them enough value for their money”. In particular, a virtual health care service has been added. Head office employees were also given Friday afternoons off, while the operation of bonuses linked to years of service was revised.
To ensure that workers are aware of all the changes made to their social benefits, the company has implemented various communication tools, such as video clips and infographics with a humorous flavor. A virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence is even being implemented. “We also set up a troubleshooting clinic for managers. We wanted to ensure that they become ambassadors of our total compensation program,” says Annick Paradis.
But how could she and her team convince the company’s senior management to embark on such a benefits modernization project? “We approached the subject having all the data in hand to convince managers. Everything was costed and documented with surveys and market studies. This is the key to success. »
• This text was published in the November 2024 edition of Avantages magazine.
You can also view the entire issue on our site web.
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