Associate, Reward & Benefits in City of Westminster

The expert roles in the Reward team are responsible for providing high value specialist reward expertise to the Bank. This requires the continuous assessment of the market competitiveness of the Bank's reward package whilst aligning it with the strategy of the Bank in attracting, motivating and retaining talent. An essential part of the role is keeping up to date with best practices and, as members of their respective teams, the roles are responsible for providing expert advice and guidance to the Board and Senior Management with regard to the Bank's reward package.

As a centre of expertise, the Benefits team (Retirement Plan) is responsible for the effective development of the strategy for the suite of retirement benefits provided by the Bank. This includes the introduction of new benefits, the development of policies, the management of third-party suppliers and the delivery and communication of benefits to all staff. The Associate, Reward Benefits role (retirement plan specialist) provides management support to the Principal, Reward Benefits and the Associate Director, Head of Compensation and Benefits in ensuring that the retirement plan benefits are appropriate, market competitive, professionally managed and delivered to staff effectively and to a high standard.

Responsibilities

• Provide input to the development and communication of the Bank's reward strategy, ensuring that it is clearly understood and that compensation policies and plans support this strategy.
• Work with the Principal, Reward Benefits and the Associate Director, Head of Compensation and Benefits to continually monitor and review the retirement plan benefits provided to staff, including benchmarking with comparator organisations.
• Support the Principal, Reward Benefits and the Associate Director, Head of Compensation and Benefits in developing changes to bank-wide policies or in introducing new policies (more specifically in the retirement plan function) where appropriate, actively gaining buy-in from stakeholders during the development.
• Support the Principal, Reward Benefits and the Associate Director, Head of Compensation and Benefits in developing bank-wide communications for staff regarding changes to policies and processes as they are implemented.
• Provide support to the Principal, Reward Benefits and the Associate Director, Head of Compensation and Benefits in developing the annual compensation proposals made to the Board, via the Executive Committee, and recommend changes appropriate to establish and maintain a competitive reward package aligned to the reward strategy.
• Take a lead in specific parts of the annual reward and benefits proposals to improve the benefits policies at the Bank, managing the consultation of ideas and checking alignment with the reward strategy.
• Manage and own specific reward projects to develop specialist solutions in the area of reward and benefits.
• Ensure up-to-date understanding of best practices and market trends related to benefits, with a focus on retirement plans, through external networking and attending seminars and conferences; build and maintain a network of professional relationships designed to tap into and develop the best policies and plans for the Bank.
• Provide information to staff to enable them to understand policies and processes via a variety of communication channels.
• Understand and resolve complex issues relating to specific groups of staff or specific areas of the benefits, and communicate these effectively to staff or management.
• Design and provide individual training, information and education sessions to staff and to other HR teams.
• Deputise for the Principal, HR Reward as required to ensure the consistent provision of retirement plan expertise and support to staff, the HR Business Partners and the business.
• Serve as a source of expert reward advice and act as an internal consultant for a specific area of the business to HR Business Partners and their clients to enable them to make decisions, interpret policies, resolve complex issues as they arise, including providing advice and analysis in support of the bank's D&I policy.
• Analyse the Bank's reward and benefits policies and practices in relation to its comparator groups via participation in surveys, information sharing within networks and working with external consultancy firms and attending seminars and conferences.
• Undertake tasks required for the retirement plans annual cycle such as benefit statements for staff, audit, reports & accounts, actuarial valuation and US Waiver exercise.
• Support the Principal, Reward Benefits in managing the Bank's internal retirement plan committees, including arranging meetings and preparing required documentation.
• Manage contractual and day-to-day relationships with external providers to ensure efficient provision of benefits to staff, maintain service levels and ensure invoicing accuracy.
• Assist with external provider contract extension and retender exercises.
• Provide clear and accurate responses to queries from staff, former staff, HR teams, the wider business and external retirement plan providers.
• Manage benefit settlement processes for deaths, divorces and transfers, including preparing documentation for the relevant retirement plan committee.
• Manage staff engagement framework with outsourced suppliers, including the annual financial wellness sessions.
• Conduct the internal controls framework testing (ICF) related to benefits.
• Work with the Principal, Reward Benefits, participating as required in a variety of ad hoc tasks and projects.
• Maintain and enhance retirement plan knowledge base articles and Staff Guide intranet pages; draft new knowledge base articles where appropriate.
• Work in partnership with Employee Relations and the OGC (legal team) to ensure the Staff Handbook is maintained in terms of reward policies.
• Ensure retirement plan records are maintained and appropriately stored.

Qualifications

• Relevant degree, or equivalent experience.
• PMI (or equivalent) qualification preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship management skills, with a consulting mentality, and the ability to coordinate and integrate ideas and solutions across teams.
• Numerate and computer literate.
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written), fluent in English, with the ability to convey complex information in a simple and engaging way.
• Effective analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities within tight deadlines, prioritising work effectively.
• Ability to work autonomously and exercise sound judgement.
• Significant breadth of relevant experience in all aspects of retirement plan management and consultancy.
• Excellent knowledge of retirement plan practices.
• Experience developing, implementing and communicating policy changes.
• Demonstrated experience drafting retirement plan communication materials for staff and providing training sessions.
• Trustee/retirement plan committee secretarial support experience would be an advantage.
• Experience operating in an HR systems transformation environment would be an added advantage.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Diversity is one of the Bank's core values which are at the heart of everything it does. As such, the Bank seeks to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and given equal opportunities and works in an inclusive environment. The Bank encourages all qualified candidates, regardless of their racial, ethnic, religious, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic background or disability, to apply.