Pointlogic and UCC Coffee
From employee turnover to retention
“Competitors approach our employees through social media.” The offer is seemingly attractive, but in hindsight people sometimes regret leaving, because UCC Coffee Benelux offers an above-average basic salary and excellent fringe benefits. “Everyone is on the hunt for each other’s employees. You can think all kinds of things about that, but you better make sure you have your affairs in order.” Han Meij, HR director, explains how UCC reduces employee turnover. To do so, the company uses a handy tool, the employee benefits portal ‘Inspire’. Why did UCC choose this Total Reward Statement (TRS) from Pointlogic?
From private label coffee to a Total Coffee Solution, UCC’s 300 employees provide 5.5 billion Dutch cups of coffee annually. In addition, the production site in Bolsward serves a global market. That huge production does not succeed without people. “We need operators, mechanics, logistics staff, but they are almost impossible to find. Therefore, our primary concern is employee retention in the production department of the organisation. How do you position yourself as an employer in this market?”
“We noticed that our employees did not sufficiently know the value of their benefits package. To reduce staff turnover, we contacted Pointlogic.”
Excellent labour conditions
UCC takes good care of its employees. “Basic salary and fringe benefits are better with us than with competitors. Think of a year-end bonus, relatively high shift and irregularity bonuses and a bonus for those who do not call in sick for a year. But we also offer income protection in case of illness and disability, for example. You don’t think about that until you fall ill. Or until you apply for a mortgage, because that can give you a discount on mortgage interest.”
Solely providing good working conditions won’t get you there. “In the employee survey colleagues indicated that they thought their labour conditions were important and valued them well. At the same time, we found, they did not know the value of their own benefits package sufficiently. So we asked ourselves: how do we explain what we do and what that means for the employee? How can we educate people in a contemporary way about the value of the total benefits package?”
Know the ins & outs
“Our payroll provider SD Worx put us in touch with their subsidiary Pointlogic in 2021.” They provide an labour conditions portal as part of SD Worx’s software. “Working in one system is easy and reduces the risk of errors.”
That practical reason was not the only one why UCC chose Inspire from Pointlogic. “They have a real affinity with the HR profession and are specialists in communicating labour conditions. They asked firmly about our needs and wanted to know the ins and outs of regulations and calculations, such as the settlement of leave hours. Additionally, they pierced through assumptions. A good supplier believes in his work. They force you to think critically about what you really need. Good people are also often difficult: they put their finger on the sore spot in your organisation. But then you know you have the right people around the table with you.”
Han Meij, HR Director
“They have a real affinity with the HR profession and are specialists in communicating labor conditions.”
Labour conditions portal Inspire
The application is particularly pleasant to use, says Meij. “The employment conditions portal works very intuitively. Our employees are Internet-savvy and they control more and more packaging lines via a screen, but such a solution has to be simple. Otherwise people drop out.”
“Inspire offers the information layered. The main screen shows the most important things. For many people, that’s enough, but those who want to see the details can click through, dig through. We see that people are actually using the portal. If an employee now gets an offer from a competitor, he compares the terms of employment in his own HR environment, on his laptop or in the smartphone app.” UCC uses the tool in recruitment as a Candidate Benefit Statement. “Then you set up a pro forma salary experience. You can tell candidates about the staff association, but terms of employment are more important to them anyway.”
Work-life balance
“By trial and error, you discover what else you can use such a tool for. We also support employees in their work-life balance. As an employer, you have a broad responsibility.” If someone functions less well, there is often a story behind it. More and more employees combine work with care tasks, either in their family or as carer. “An employee who works full-time for financial reasons sometimes gets into a jam privately. We then make concrete what a day less of work means financially. Maybe it is not so bad and he thinks: what have I been so worried about?”
“Compared with the previous situation, I see more satisfaction with the benefits package.”
A sustainable tool
A good tool is never finished. “As supplier and customer, you put something sustainable together. The tool is not static, I expect Pointlogic to keep surprising us with new functions and further integration into HR services. For instance, I imagine that the theme of healthcare will become even more visible. There are more and more government schemes to combine work and care.” Meij will also not be surprised if AI will play a role in the future. “Maybe a virtual assistant will soon answer questions personally?”
Noticeable effect
“Compared with the previous situation, I see more satisfaction with the benefits package. Back then, we had spirited discussions with unions and employees about our terms of employment. We noticed that people were unfamiliar with what we had arranged for them. We haven’t had those discussions in the past two years. A nice, tangible effect.” Consequently, UCC reduced employee turnover. “And Pointlogic is helping to keep it that way. But people forget quickly, so we regularly do an internal mini-campaign. You have to keep it alive.”