Aberdeen based transport giant, FirstGroup, has won the award for ‘Most Effective Communication of an Employee Share Plan by a Large Employer’ at the UK’s most prestigious awards for share schemes, which took place in December.
The awards were organised by ifs ProShare, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes opportunities for employees to own shares in the companies they work for. Previous winners in this category include Asda and BT.
The lead judge said: “These awards set the gold standard for excellence in employee share plans. In a hotly contested category, FirstGroup was a testament to the benefits of targeted communications for specific audiences.”
The judges were particularly impressed by the communications that First implemented specifically targeting under 30s and over 30s. The introduction of the improved communications saw a large increase in take-up for First’s ‘Buy As You Earn’ employee share plan.
“FirstGroup operates two very successful colleague share plans, ‘Save As You Earn’ and ‘Buy As You Earn’, said John Chilman, FirstGroup’s Rewards and Pensions Director.
“Both schemes give First colleagues the opportunity to save and invest their money and share in the success of First. We have been working very hard to ensure our staff fully understand the schemes and the benefits they can provide. Therefore, to have won an award recognising the improved communications and increased participation is very good news.”
First’s Buy As You Earn scheme offers colleagues a tax-efficient way to buy FirstGroup shares and receive additional shares, free of charge, from the company. Save As You Earn offers colleagues the opportunity to save from their pay to buy discounted shares in First in three year’s time.