Flexible Benefits Platform: Giving Your People Access to Benefits That Suit Them
One person might care most about health support for their family. A colleague may be looking for help with the commute. Someone else may get more value from extra holiday or everyday savings. A fixed benefits package is unlikely to suit all of them equally well, which is where flexible benefits can help.
My Group helps employers build that choice around their people. Employees can find everyday savings, salary sacrifice options, on-demand pay, engagement tools and wider support through the same employee experience, then use what suits them when it matters. Employers can keep the setup open and simple, or add more structure where that better fits the workforce. The aim is a benefits experience that feels useful to employees and manageable for HR.
Why do flexible benefits matter to employers?
A fixed benefits package makes a single assumption about what employees value. For some of them, that assumption will be right. For others, it won’t. Some employees may value and use the benefits provided, while others may find little in the package that fits their needs.
Flexible benefits give employees access to a wider range of options, making it more likely that each person will find something useful and relevant to them.
People’s priorities can change over time
What matters to someone can change over time. Everyday savings may be most useful at one point, while health support, help with travel, protection or retirement planning may become more important later. A useful benefits package recognises that people have different priorities and that those priorities do not stay the same.
Visible benefits can support engagement
Benefits that employees can see, access and use regularly can help keep support visible. When someone saves money on their weekly shop, books a wellbeing class or uses a service through the portal, the support available through work becomes easier to notice and use. That regular contact keeps benefits front of mind and helps the organisation’s investment feel more relevant to its people.
How do flexible benefits work at My Group?
Flexible benefits can mean different things depending on what an employer wants to achieve. For some organisations, it means giving employees flexible access to the benefits available through the My Group Portal, so they can use the support that fits their life. For others, it may mean a more traditional model, with defined allowances or structured choices around selected benefits.
My Group can support both routes. Employers can make a broad range of benefits available through the portal, including everyday savings, salary sacrifice options, on-demand pay, engagement tools and wider employee support. Where a more structured approach is needed, the model can also be shaped around defined choices, allowances or scheme rules.
The conversation starts with the workforce and what will be most useful to them. That might be open access to a wider range of benefits, a more traditional flexible benefits setup, or a blended approach. The aim is to give employees more relevant choice while keeping the experience clear and manageable for HR.
Open-access flexible benefits: employees can use available benefits without selecting a fixed package in advance. Structured flexible benefits: employees choose from defined options, sometimes using an employer-funded allowance or enrolment window.
Built around your workforce, not a generic template
Working with the My Group team, employers can put together a benefits package that reflects what their workforce is likely to need and use. That means avoiding spend on benefits that may be ignored and making room for the ones that are more likely to matter to the people you employ. The result is a benefits offer that feels relevant to employees and good value for the organisation.
Clear routes into the benefits available
Employees start from the My Group Portal, where they can see the benefits available and find a clear route into each service. Keeping the benefits together makes them easier to find and use, and more likely to become part of everyday working life.
Simple for HR to manage
HR teams can shape the level of structure around the benefits, rather than being locked into one model. Some employers may want a lighter-touch setup where employees use the benefits available through the portal as and when they need them. Others may need defined allowances, selection windows or scheme rules around particular benefits. My Group can support those choices while keeping the employee experience clear and giving HR useful reporting on what’s being used.
What can employees access through their flexible benefits?
The benefits available through My Group can cover several parts of everyday life. Depending on what the employer chooses to include, the menu may bring together everyday savings, salary sacrifice options, on-demand pay, engagement tools and wider support from the same employee experience.
Discounts, cashback and savings
Employees can use savings at over 1,000 UK retailers through discounted gift cards, cashback, promo codes and local deals. For someone using the portal for regular shopping, those savings add up over the course of a year.
Health & wellbeing
Health and wellbeing options can include Employee Assistance Programme access, on-demand virtual GP access, counselling services, wellbeing classes, neurodiversity support and related services, depending on the employer’s chosen menu.
Financial wellbeing
Financial wellbeing options can include financial education, regulated mortgage and retirement planning advice through the correct authorised route, and guidance on personal protection, depending on the employer’s chosen menu.
Reward & Recognition
Peer-to-peer appreciation, structured reward programmes, long service awards and total reward statements can sit alongside the wider benefits experience.
Salary sacrifice schemes
Salary sacrifice options can include Cycle to Work, car schemes and Home and Electronics. The tax and National Insurance treatment varies between benefits, and not every salary sacrifice arrangement creates the same saving.
On-demand pay
On-demand pay can be available alongside the flexible benefits offer, where the employer chooses to make it available. It can give employees earlier access to wages they’ve already earned, which may help when someone is dealing with an unexpected bill or a gap before payday.
Employee engagement solutions
Employee engagement solutions and tools can also sit within the wider employee experience, including communications, listening and recognition activity where these are part of the employer’s package. They help employees see what’s available and understand the value of their benefits, without having to look in several different places.
Talk to us about flexible benefits
Tell us about your people and we’ll help you work out what flexible benefits could look like. We can talk through the support different groups of employees may need, how a typical launch works and whether an open-access, structured or blended model would fit best.
Frequently Asked Questions
Flexible benefits give employees access to a range of benefits, allowing them to use or choose the options that best fit their needs. My Group can support a simple open-access model, where many benefits remain available without an annual selection process, as well as more structured arrangements involving allowances, defined choices or enrolment windows.
Traditional flexible benefits schemes typically give employees a budget to spend on a defined list of benefits during an annual enrolment window. My Group can also support a simpler open-access model, where many benefits remain available without employees selecting a fixed package in advance. Where a more structured arrangement is needed, allowances, defined choices, eligibility rules or enrolment windows can also be built in.
Not under the open-access model. Employees can use the benefits available to them as and when they need them, without selecting a fixed package in advance. Where an employer introduces a structured flexible benefits allowance or salary sacrifice scheme, choices and eligibility rules may apply.
The My Group Portal can bring together everyday savings at over 1,000 UK retailers, salary sacrifice options, on-demand pay, engagement tools, health and wellbeing support, financial wellbeing tools and recognition activity. The exact range available depends on what the employer chooses to include, working with the My Group team.
My Group can support organisations of different sizes, although provider and scheme minimums may apply to particular benefits. The setup and launch approach can be shaped around the size and structure of the workforce.
Yes. Salary sacrifice options, including Cycle to Work, car schemes, Home and Electronics and other eligible benefits, can be made available through the My Group Portal alongside the wider flexible benefits offer. Salary sacrifice operates differently from the core benefits and is managed through the correct scheme route.
The tax and National Insurance treatment follows each individual benefit. Cycle to Work can provide tax and National Insurance savings where the scheme conditions are met. Other benefits may be funded through an employer allowance, net pay or salary sacrifice without the same tax and National Insurance treatment. The scheme brings the choices together; the tax treatment follows each individual benefit.