Building Consistency When Managing Your Regional and Global Benefits

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...everybody. I have quite a few people still to join us, uh, so we will hang on just until about a minute past, uh, before we make a start. Uh, we can't delay too long because we do have a, a busy, busy agenda today. Good morning, everybody. Uh, we'll make a start. There's a little bit of introductions to do in any case before we get into the main content.

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But, uh, thanks, everybody, for joining us this morning for what is the first session like this we've delivered from the NFP Global Benefit Consulting team. My name's Iain Chadwick, uh, and I lead the Global Benefits Practice, which is based out of the UK. Uh, but the two main presenters today are Matt and Damien. Matt and Damien are consultants in that team, and they provide the main liaison between the Global Benefit Consulting team in the UK, uh, and our colleagues and clients over in the US.

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A busy agenda today. Uh, thanks to everybody who submitted questions in advance. As far as we can, we've tried to incorporate those into the session, uh, but if there are questions, uh, that you'd like to raise with the team here, there will be an opportunity at the end. We will share an email address where any questions can be asked. The agenda is pretty busy, so we won't be able to take questions as we go through the session today.

00:02:06:19 - 00:02:41:16
Uh, but as I say, there will be an opportunity at the end to, uh, to message the team directly. I'm sure most of you, uh, already know NFP pretty well over there in the US, uh, where we're a, we're a leading benefits consultant, retirement advisor, uh, and P&C broker. Uh, all the people on the call today, uh, are from the Global team over in the UK. Uh, many of you may not have had exposure to the global consulting capabilities of NFP.

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So if this is your first contact, we're part of a 500-strong team based out in the UK and Ireland which provide services in those domestic markets, but also we have, uh, a really big global benefits consulting practice from where we advise a number of, uh, leading global businesses on their, on their benefits and retirement plans, mainly who are based out of the US.

00:03:06:17 - 00:03:43:01
So, uh, that's enough introductions. I'll hand over to my colleague, Matt Shaw, who will take you into the start of the, uh, the presentation proper. Thanks, Iain, and, um, and yeah, to start off with, we have, you know, a very, very broad topic which is employee well-being. So I think, you know, really the main message today is that, um, we're just talking through some of the things that we're seeing from our clients at the moment and some of the things that they're talking about, uh, but also how we're seeing, um, insurers adapt their solutions to, uh, to incorporate well-being aspects as well.

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So hopefully as we go through, there are certain things that resonate with your business. Um, and, you know, as we, as we said at the start, you know, 30 minutes is a relatively short period of time. So hopefully we'll, we'll, you know, give you enough information to, um, uh, you know, to help you think about things as we, as we go through. So, um, employee well-being first of all because it is such a broad topic, we break it down into three more manageable areas.

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So we see employee well-being as being physical, mental and financial. Um, and there are lots of, uh, factors at the moment around the world that are impacting employee well-being. You know, you've got high inflation. Cost of living is increasing. You've got significant stock market volatility. And all of these things are directly impacting employees' personal finances. Um, and the great thing that we're finding at the moment is that employers are recognizing this, um, and we're seeing that our clients and our client contacts are seeing this as a challenge that they want to take on.

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They want to actively support their employees from a well-being perspective. Um, also great news at the moment is that we're seeing an increase, particularly around financial well-being, um, and in technological solutions as well. So there are some truly global solutions that are available now across the broad spectrum of well-being. So if we start, first of all, with physical well-being, so it's, you know, it's commonly known that, um, you know, a, a, a happy and healthy employees, generally, are likely to be more productive, and they're also less likely to take any significant time off work.

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So clearly we want to encourage people to try and be, um, physically healthy and, and happy. And one of the best ways to do that is to give them access to, um, you know, to gyms and gym discounts and allowances. One of the issues we found previously is that those, uh, gym discount-type portals tended to be fairly restrictive and that they would only be available to a, a small number of different providers.

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Um, but there's been an increase recently in some global providers. One of the leading providers that we've seen is a INAUDIBLE gympass where you have, uh, access to lots and lots of different, um, gyms, um, and, you know, you know, just, just, you know, generally online fitness classes that can be accessed through this global, um, solution. Uh, we're also finding that medical insurers are starting to, um, to add to these discounts and other ancillary benefits into their core product.

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So it's no longer just a case of having a pure medical insurance solution. There's lots of ancillary benefits that sit within that. And so I think it's really important to understand what else is included within the existing insured benefit that you might have. Uh, you know, in particular, virtual fitness apps, um, have been really well received by employees because not everybody wants to go to the gym and not everybody has time to go to the gym.

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So some people might prefer to be able to exercise at home, for example, um, and also not necessarily in a gym-type setting. Um, you know, it could be yoga, Pilates. Uh, you know, I'm personally a, a fan of the Peloton. So those types of fitness apps, um, have been really well received at the moment. Um, and then for our US-headquartered clients, a particularly big topic at the moment is around, um, you know, menopause, low testosterone, infertility and family planning.

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Um, and there's a huge, um, you know, a huge number of companies that have got really, really great resources in this arena now. You know, going back five or six years, a lot of these didn't exist. Um, so we've seen a really big uptake in, in these recently. And again, they are truly global solutions that are giving employees, um, access to education, um, guidance and advice on these areas that impact physical well-being.

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Uh, we're also seeing an increase in, uh, stipends. So some employers are offering general well-being stipends, whereas others are offering stipends that are very much focused on the physical aspects of well-being. Um, where it, where it sits in the physical well-being, um, remit, we're seeing that the traditional spend is on things like wearable tech, so the ability just to track your, uh, you know, your steps in your activity. And sometimes that will link into some of those other virtual fitness apps that we talked about. Um, and also giving people the ability to again, sign up to, you know, things like online fitness classes.

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So again, it's not just that gym, you know, go into a, you know, a physical gym. It's being able to exercise and keep healthy in the way that they want to. Um, also, some employees might use those stipends to focus on other things. It could be nutrition, or it could be sleep or stress management, anything that helps them to stay physically healthy. Um, and finally, flexible working.

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You know, it sounds obvious, but, you know, flexible working has allowed people to really get back a little bit more time so they can focus on those other things that we've talked about. They have time to be able to go to the gym. And so having, um, either flexible or hybrid working seems to continue, uh, to be very, very well received, uh, on a global basis.

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From a mental well-being perspective, this has, you know, been a huge topic, um, over the past 18 months and continues to be, um, a hot topic for, for pretty much all of our clients. Uh, you know, we're seeing a big adjustment of people working from home, and the fact that they don't have that general interaction with, with people on a regular basis anymore. Um, so we've seen a large increase in the number of employers that want to offer a global employee assistance program, or an EAP.

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One of the restrictions of an EAP that has, uh, traditionally been a bit of a problem is that they're seen as a very low cost but also low utilization. Um, but the good news here is that some EAP providers have recognized that issue and have become more specific and targeted in their solutions. Um, you know, they're starting to provide a, a bit more, uh, support around specific mental well-being aspects, um, both in a reactive and a proactive basis.

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But also they're adapting the solution around, um, global events and issues. So, for example, um, you know, with the conflict in Ukraine, we've seen a, a large demand in queries from, uh, our clients, not just in Ukraine but from some of the neighboring countries like Romania and Hungary, to offer things like stress counseling services on a short-term basis. So that's where some of these global EAPs and specialist providers can, can really have that hands-on support.

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We've also more recently seen this concept of a pre-EAP as well. So again, rather than just being reactive, we've got providers like Headversity that are enabling employees to self-help, um, so they can actively go and get guidance on, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, or counseling or more professional support, um, so that it doesn't get as far as needing, um, a, an EAP or perhaps, um, uh, you know, a claim on a medical program.

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Um, so pre-EAPs are a, you know, a relatively new concept. But again, really, really great self-help tool, um, for employees that might be, uh, needing support when it comes to their, to their mental well-being. And that's also the same with, um, people like Task Human. So you've got access to things like, um, coaching, which could be around lifestyle or, um, you know, other specific factors. Um, we're also seeing, um, you know, for example, in, in, in Mexico, as we've shared on the screen here, we've got, um, you know, ROSALYN SHUTE is taking this approach.

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We've got governments taking a, a much more focused approach to mental well-being. And so we use Mexico as this example. They introduced, um, a piece of legislation called NOM-35 a couple of years ago which was effectively making sure that, um, businesses had to create and establish policies for the prevention of psychosocial risk factors. Um, and, you know, that could go as far as, um, having to have medical examinations and evaluations of workers, um, that were exposed to those types of risk factors.

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And so we can only see that going in one direction in the future. Uh, you know, the, the, the more people that continue to, uh, to talk about mental well-being, it's become less of a taboo, um, in society nowadays, I think the more that governments and insurers will be able to support this. Um, and then from a financial well-being perspective, uh, you know, again, when we talk about some of these factors that we talked about earlier, you know, cost of living, um, uh, you know, high inflation, etc., financial well-being is a really, really hot topic, um, and this is one of the, the key areas that we have seen a real big push of global providers that can genuinely offer a global, consistent solution to all employees

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irrespective of where they sit. So providers such as Nudge, Northstar, Origin, again, relatively new concepts but really great global solutions, um, that we've seen a significant increase in demand for. Um, likewise, where, um, when we talked earlier from the, uh, the physical well-being aspects, uh, you know, where we talked about people that perhaps are going through a family planning or a facility journey

00:13:33:16 - 00:14:09:00
at the moment, some employers uh, are adding support not just from access to advice and guidance but also giving financial support to their employees around these areas, which again is really great to see. And that typically comes in the form of a, of a stipend or something similar. Um, we've seen an increase in demand as well for childcare support. So, um, you know, you've got people at the moment, that, um, you know, they might be working from home, but it's still difficult to juggle work and childcare costs, etc.,

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so, um, some employers are offering either child or elder care, um, support as well, which is really great to see. And there are some specific solutions, um, that can, that can support around that, or you can just offer a financial contribution towards that type of support. Um, and that does differ from country to country in terms of what the norms are. Uh, that also sits, um, in the same with, with meals and transport allowances.

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So in some countries, it's the norm to have the concept of travel or lunch vouchers, for example, and Spain and Mexico are two great examples of that. Um, whereas in other countries, uh, you know, for example, the UK and the US, we've seen some employers that are trying to, to bring their employees back into the workplace, but there's been some resistance.

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And often the resistance is around the travel costs and, you know, the cost of, of meals because of things like cost of living, etc. Um, and so one of the ways that we're able to support with that is people like Sharebite, for example. They're a, a great provider that we've, um, that we've seen an increase in demand for, um, who are able to offer some kind of financial contribution towards the cost of, of meals and hopefully to try and counter some of that resistance that you're getting from your employees.

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Again, just some stats around, uh, you know, financial well-being and, and kind of how it impacts on mental health. So, uh, in the Global Financial Well-Being report that was released earlier this year, 44% of people felt that they were anxious about their financial situation. 37% of people, um, felt that they were saving enough. So obviously that means that 63% of people felt that they weren't.

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Only 45% of people felt that they were in control of their debt, and only 25% of people interviewed felt that they were prepared for retirement. Again, some of the stats as well, 67% of those that were, um, that were interviewed felt that they were struggling to meet their household expenses on time each month, and a similar percentage were using credit cards on a regular basis to pay for necessities that they couldn't otherwise afford.

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Um, and particularly alarming was that only one-in-four people had saved, um, had saved less than $1,000 for retirement, and more than half of those planned to postpone their retirement in some form. So financial well-being really is a hot topic at the moment. Wherever people are in the world, they're likely to be impacted by the same types of, um, you know, global influences that we're all feeling at the moment.

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Um, so the great news is that as employers and as business leaders, you are able to support your employees on a global basis. From an engagement perspective, um, I think really, uh, the key thing here is that there are some really great resources that insurers have, um, around communication strategies. Um, you know, a lot, a lot of insurers nowadays have, um, you know, some kind of well-being calendar that you can tap into where they will have particular awarenessments that will allow you to focus on particular aspects of that benefits program as you go throughout the year.

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So rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, it's always good just to see what, um, your existing insured benefits have available to you that you can, that you can tap into. Um, we've also seen quite a big increase in companies trying to do things internally. Um, so, you know, to try and, I think, just to, you know, try and get people talking, try and get people together. Again, if people are working from home, uh, more, more regularly and they're not going in to, to meet with their colleagues on a regular basis, it just allows people to get together virtually.

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Um, and things like walking challenges have, have been particularly, uh, prevalent recently. NFP, for example, we did, um, a, a Peloton challenge that I participated in earlier in the year. So things like that are really great just to get groups of people together that perhaps you might not otherwise interact with. Um, and again, just get people talking about the benefits program that's in place. And you can incentivize people in different ways to, uh, to get involved in, in those activities.

00:18:42:18 - 00:19:07:13
Um, again, something we, um, you know, we've been talking about this for years, but it, but it is still a, a hot topic, um, you know, that we, that we keep on seeing. And because there are continually new generations entering the workplace, we, we keep on coming back to this concept of how do we engage different generations within the workforce in an efficient way.

00:19:07:15 - 00:19:40:24
Um, you know, everybody will know that what works for a baby boomer isn't necessarily right for someone that is just entering the workplace for the first time. And so I think it's always really important to think about how you currently promote your benefits program and, and, and really think, um, around how that, how that currently works. You know, what's the ROI that you're getting at the moment on that? Um, have you thought about different ways that you could engage with the workforce? And what kind of style might work for, for different people?

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It's also not just about how the, um, the promotion side works, but the actual benefits themselves. You know, do they work for every generation? Does everybody want access to, um, you know, to different benefits? Or, is there a way that would be able to kind of tailor those benefits to make it more inclusive, um, for everybody in the workplace? Um, one of the things we've seen recently is, um, again, particularly for US-headquartered businesses, um, where they have people overseas is, is being able to look at what they have, um, internationally and, I guess, helping them to, to kind of translate that into terms that they understand.

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You know, for example, if you have a medical plant in India, you know, how truly does this work? You know, how do people interact with it? What are the benefits that are included within that benefits program? And I think once, once employers get that level of understanding and education, it helps them to then think about how they can engage with their employees about that particular benefit.

00:20:46:07 - 00:21:16:00
Um, so we've done a lot of work recently in just general understanding, um, and, and education as to how those benefits work and putting that into, into kind of more US terminology, um, and, you know, kind of helping to, to relate back to, uh, you know, to, to, to that local benefits program. Um, another key thing around employee engagement as well is, uh, that, you know, different benefits are, are in demand, uh, in different countries.

00:21:16:00 - 00:21:48:12
You know, mental health is seen as particularly important mainly around Europe, uh, but in places like Africa and South America, they're unlikely to be as important. Um, we often see things like, um, you know, medevac-type support. So this concept of, you know, somebody falls ill, um, and they're in the outback somewhere, being able to, to have the comfort that you can get your employee out of that country, uh, and into a good quality hospital to allow them to be treated pretty quickly.

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Um, and finally, on the employee engagement side, again, just recognizing that different things are important to different people. Again, if we look back to that, um, survey that I talked about earlier on around financial well-being, some of the things that came out of that are that there are particular areas that are important in different countries. So, you know, in the UK, for example, cost of living is seen as a really big issue, whereas in places like South America, support around debt is a big issue.

00:22:13:20 - 00:22:37:23
And in China and India, you've got saving, um, is really important. So I think it's, it's really key just to think about where your people are in the world, um, and to try and tailor the message and the benefits to those people. Now I'll hand over to my colleague, Damien. Thanks, Matt, and I thank everybody for dialing in today. Um, my name's Damien Weston. I am international benefits consultant at NFP.

00:22:38:00 - 00:22:59:19
Um, I'm here to really, um, go through the benefits management piece and also, um, maximizing global benefits spend topics. Um, Matt's piece on, on wellness and well-being was, you know, forms the majority of the presentation today, so my two sections are a bit shorter than his, um, and given we've got about another six or seven minutes left, so I'll, um, go through this, um, over the next few slides or so.

00:22:59:21 - 00:23:35:06
I guess the, the trends that we're seeing and the questions that we're getting from, from the market and the clients is really very much around digital management. Um, and the next slide, which I'll go into with regards to, um, single point of contact in terms of benefits management, we're seeing a lot more organizations now, um, come to us to ask about our, you know, platform capabilities with, with a view to very much understanding housing all their, their benefits, um, plans. "Where do I keep all of that information in a centralized place?" Um, the amount of clients and prospects I talk to in, let's say, for example, they're in, they're in 20 countries, and I, I might ask them the question, um, "Could you get me access?

00:23:35:06 - 00:23:52:14
Could you send me all your policy documents for all of your plans in all of your countries?" And a client will be doing well if they can get me that information in two or three months, if they don't have a, have a port in place which houses all that for them. And I think with digital management, what is key as well is understanding, I guess, the demographics in each country as well.

00:23:52:16 - 00:24:15:06
Um, and so as you can see that global management information is crucial in understanding employees' needs and interests. So you might have a really aging workforce in a particular country, but quite a younger workforce in a, in a, in another country. So again, ensuring communication and, and the benefits suite on offer in a, in, um, in a particular country to another is become a lot more targeted, a lot more personalized.

00:24:15:06 - 00:24:36:00
And I'll go over that in the, in the next couple of slides in terms of how organizations are doing that, become a lot more bespoke. We use the term quite a lot, um, "consistently inconsistent" or "inconsistently consistent," whichever way you want to look at it, just with a view to very much... clients quite often come to us to say, you know, "We really want to build out a global benefits philosophy and have medical for everybody

00:24:36:00 - 00:24:58:20
or pension for everybody." So again, in the next couple of slides, I'll, um, go through that in a bit more detail as to what we see and, and how we can manage that for our clients. But in terms of the way we're set up, um, and, again, one of the other main trends we're seeing is clients saying to us, you know, "I really want one person to deal with or one team to deal with in a centralized place to make that strategic decision between us and you."

00:24:58:20 - 00:25:28:23
You know, "We want a broker and a consultant to be that kind of go-to for all of our countries and all of our benefits." And that's very much how we're set up at NFP Europe here, managing global benefits. And what that allows is that single point of contact dealing with, I guess, the more of the macro environments, dealing with things like global strategy, consistency in benchmarking them on a global basis and, again, Matt's touched on the wellness piece as well, so global initiatives that clients are rolling out a lot more now and things like multinational pooling.

00:25:29:00 - 00:25:52:21
But again, still with one eye very much on, on the micro environments as well. We bring all that together, very much dealing with local HR, local brokers, and bringing all that together to, again, as I say, get some consistency in benchmarking around what, um, what our clients' global benefits suite looks like. And again, we're very mindful of the fact that as organizations hope to become more centralized with regards to their, their global benefits decision making,

00:25:52:23 - 00:26:20:08
we're also mindful of the fact that there might be local HR representation who, again, want to maintain some kind of level of, level of autonomy. And again, we kind of very much link in with local HR. But again, bringing it to, um, that single point of contact. So again, bring that to HR and the HQs, um, sort of decision-making process as well, but consolidating all of that information so clients aren't going out to 20 different brokers, aren't going out to get sort of counsel from 20 different HRs

00:26:20:09 - 00:26:50:18
as well. So we take away that headache. And a lot more organizations are very much asking for that, that approach, um, with, with consultants like ourselves. I mentioned a couple of slides ago around global benefits philosophy. Um, I think we help clients in terms of building out a philosophy, but it's very much, again, going back to that consistently inconsistent approach clients, um, have because they might turn to us to say, "Okay, we want to put medical in place for all of our employees in all of our countries," but in some countries that might A) even be the norm or, or B) not acceptable.

00:26:50:20 - 00:27:13:11
Um, in Germany, for example, we wouldn't encourage any, any company to, um, offer supplemental medical for, for any of their employees or any of their local nationals. And again, pension consistencies. We are starting to see a shift very much towards pension compulsion globally, as, as a demographic in, in most countries out there is an aging population. They've got it in the UK. We've had it for over ten years now, um, with, with pension compulsion.

00:27:13:11 - 00:27:38:24
Ireland are introducing it next year. Korea recently introduced it. Germany are constantly doing something, um, with regards to some kind of pension reform. So it's very much not always possible to do that. But again, we have one eye on what's, what's, what's culturally acceptable as well in all of those, in all of those countries. And again, with regards to that centralized approach I've mentioned once or twice, a lot of organizations similar to what Matt mentioned earlier around companies thinking a bit more global in terms of EAP offerings as well.

00:27:39:01 - 00:28:03:02
There are companies out there now who are looking at things like travel and expense management, global leaves and absence, um, with a couple of the organizations you can see on screen there to very much use portals, use tech to, again, to consolidate and manage that for clients going forward. And just a few trends, um, in regards to what we're seeing, um, preventative, uh, treatments and almost a pre-diagnosis treatment.

00:28:03:02 - 00:28:23:09
So they're a lot more common now. So things like cash plans in the UK, flexible and health spending accounts in Canada and the US, almost that pre-medical plan treatments to really keep things ticking over by way of using it towards things like physiotherapy or chiropractor treatments or anything like that. They have become a lot more, um, prevalent now. Again, protection insurance.

00:28:23:09 - 00:29:01:10
So again, outside of medical and pension, which we very much see at the top of most employees' lists. Um, so offering LTD, um, income protection, um, life plans, critical illnesses. Again, just employees thinking a bit more as to what they can offer in terms of, in addition to what, I guess, what we call the most common benefits in terms of medical and, uh, pension as well. Such is the final topic with regards to maximizing global benefits spend. Um, an easy win for a lot of organizations out there is very much streamlining policies, particularly if you work for organizations very acquisitive, you might, before you know it, have got three or four

00:29:01:10 - 00:29:26:05
IPMI plans on your books. So again, we're seeing a lot more organizations now consolidating those, benefiting from the economies of scale that exist by, by bringing plans together like that. Again, what we're seeing, um, as well with IPMI plans in place as well, is we're seeing a lot of organizations, US-based with US-written plans, who have an expat plan in place but without any need or requirements have US cover on it.

00:29:26:05 - 00:29:56:04
So for example, you might have 30 or 40 clients working overseas with a Singaporean working in the UK, a UK person working in Hong Kong, for example, without any US, um, need whatsoever. But we're seeing US cover on these plans, so very much an easy win for, for clients is really just to have a look. If you've got any IPMI plans in play, in place at the moment, have a look to see if there's any way that you can potentially take away US cover for any portion of your employees out there.

00:29:56:06 - 00:30:17:06
We work with providers globally and, and within the European market as well who can strip out US cover. Um, so again, and again, split out plans between US and non-US cover as well. And again, the final piece around, we're seeing organizations maybe asking employees to take some of the hit with regards to, you know, the constant increases in, in, in global medical inflation. Very common in India.

00:30:17:06 - 00:30:38:19
We, we see a lot of clients over there maybe just asking for a, for a coinsurance or a copay from their employee to say, "Well, okay, that's fine. Keep the plan in place at the moment but to, to maybe just manage some of the costs, we'd like you to pay maybe 20% towards the cost of that plan" as well. So very much seeing that as a trend in some countries, but very prevalent in India at the moment.

00:30:38:21 - 00:31:10:10
I mentioned before around preventative care, around on-site health and well-being services. Again, another easy win out there as well is, is global underwriting and, again, multinational pooling opportunities. Um, again, particularly if you work in an organization that's got multiple plans in multiple countries globally, we can run what we call a global feasibility report just to see where there might be an easy win and where maybe what we call a natural pool might, might exist because the benefits of global multinational pooling are that you get a dividend payment from a, from a well-performing pool.

00:31:10:12 - 00:31:29:03
You get better guaranteed rates of issue as well by, again, benefiting from the economies of scale that exist by pooling a number of plans together with a, with a multinational pooling provider out there. And again, as I say, we, we can manage that for clients. Take a look to see if there's any opportunity there as well. I'm more than happy to do that for any, for anybody on the call.

00:31:29:05 - 00:31:51:00
The findings as well just, I guess, with regards to just having a look at some trends that we're seeing around, um, global benefits spend, um, a lot of employers are looking to reduce premiums without compromising cover for employees, so really getting into the, the finer detail as to how elements of a plan, how utilized are they? So a lot more modular approaches are being taken now by providers out there to see if you've got a plan in place

00:31:51:02 - 00:32:13:05
and there's been hardly anybody using a certain admin to that plan, maybe you can strip that out and then maybe increase cover where, where it might be a bit more needed or wanted by employees out there. Are there any tax-efficient plan out there, um, that might be useful to implement for both the employee and the employer? We have what we call salary sacrifice in the UK, which is a, a tax-efficient way of paying into, um, a pension plan in the UK.

00:32:13:05 - 00:32:38:14
So if you you've got employees in the UK and you don't have salary sacrifice on your pension plan, then, then please get in touch and we can take a look at that for you. But very much, it's really having global visibility on all of your benefits and vendors going back to that digital management piece to really identify from the demographics that you've got in place at the moment what options have you got in place to, to, um, spot opportunities for, for cost efficiency going forward.

00:32:38:16 - 00:33:07:07
And finally, um, the number one piece as well, which is outside of the, um, the, the digital management and benefits management piece, is very much the number one concern for any US organization with a global benefits, um, or a global platform is very much number one concern is, is a compliance concern. That is absolutely the number one, um, thing clients say to us in terms of, I guess, what keeps then awake at night in terms of what, um, what, what people are doing in, in Germany and France, where they've got, you know, unions and they've got, um, collective bargaining agreements in place: "Are we doing the right thing?"

00:33:07:09 - 00:33:26:06
And just one other small element that we provide clients and prospects ongoing is, um, what we call our global benefit insights. It's very much, it's got global benefit insights in the title, but it very much deals with any changes in place whether it's, you know, what's, what's changing from a statutory point of view within a particular country. Are there any changes to, to minimum wage?

00:33:26:08 - 00:33:42:02
Is that particular country getting an extra bank holiday in the UK? So we would let clients know. Um, and I use that specific example, when, um, King Charles was coronated, US-based clients wanted to know if their UK employees were off for a, for a particular day because they, because they didn't really even know that, um, their employees wouldn't be working, um, for an extra day in, in May.

00:33:42:02 - 00:34:04:22
So very much outside of global benefits and it's very much a compliance piece as well, flagging, again, even if it's a payroll issue, letting clients know exactly and, and so they're on the front foot for any upcoming changes that are taking place from a benefits, payroll, HR and statutory perspective. So please, if you're not on a mailer, or you want to be added onto a mailer to get that from us on monthly basis, please reach out to, reach out to us.

00:34:05:00 - 00:34:25:24
Email that address there. We'll make sure you're on a, on a mailer ongoing for you. And again, as Iain mentioned at the top of the call, we're not inviting questions today on the call, given the, given the, the time restrictions, but please, if you've got any questions around what you've heard on the call today or any questions you've got around you any global benefits, um, you've got in place yourself, then please drop us an email at global@nfp.co.uk.

00:34:26:04 - 00:34:44:17
We will be, uh, more than happy to hear from you. Um, thank you, again, for taking time out of your busy day to, to dial into us. A couple of minutes over, so we appreciate you, the majority of you, staying on the call today and, again, thanks again for your time.