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Benefits and Pensions MonitorRosemarie N. Pedro Manager, Compensation and Benefits Coca-Cola Bottling Company Rosemarie N. Pedro graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours BA. She also attended the University of Coimbra in Portugal. After graduation, Pedro worked in the financial industry before joining Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1994. She held positions of increasing responsibility in employee relations and human resources before being promoted to manager, compensation and benefits, in 1999. You can’t say a challenge has ever held Rosemarie Pedro back. In fact, if anything, a good challenge motivates the manager of compensation and benefits for Coca-Cola Bottling Company (CCBC). When Pedro was promoted to her current position in 1999, one of her responsibilities was to head up a comprehensive review and redesign of the company’s pension and benefits programs. With 5,500 active full-time employees and 1,300 retirees across Canada, it was a significant undertaking. The project was part of the company’s strategy to be an employer of choice, to attract and retain world-class talent. CCBC wanted a benefits program that suited the needs of its workforce and complemented the company philosophy. “We approached the project by examining the organizational climate and reviewed each benefit for consistency with our objectives,” says Pedro. “Essentially, we needed to improve our programs to make them more complementary to each other and better aligned with our corporate philosophy.”
Guiding Principles In going through the process, three guiding principles were defined:
In addition to conducting employee research, CCBC also looked at its benefits programs in terms of market competitiveness. It benchmarked them against other organizations to determine how its investment levels compared, both by program and in aggregate. Once CCBC had compiled the information from its employees, it was time to align the new data with the benefit programs. This redesign was named Total Rewards Canada, and launched July 1, 2001. Key Objectives Total Rewards Canada was initiated to achieve four key objectives:
Now, its redesigned pension program includes a non-contributory Defined Benefit (DB) plan. Employees are automatically enrolled when they become eligible. But, there’s an opportunity with the new plan for employees to expand their individual tax-sheltered savings room via contributions to an optional ancillary contribution account. To complement the pension plan, employees can use a savings investment program. CCBC also increased the number of investment options and introduced a daily valuation environment for more flexibility. Health and welfare benefits were also aligned. Security, value, and choice were incorporated into this redesign as well. The solution was a flex plan which offers employees a core level of coverage with a fixed number of credits to purchase optional benefits. Key Success Factor Pedro credits a large part of the success of the Total Rewards Canada project to its communication plan that emphasized helping employees make informed decisions. Avariety of media – including a web-based pension modelling tool, reference guides, and face-to-face training and information sessions – were used. In fact, the communications surrounding the Health Plus plan for retirees won CCBC a Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute communications award for ‘outstanding achievement in pension and benefits communication’ in 2002. CCBC made sure the communication was two-way by conducting an employee satisfaction survey to measure the success of the program. Increased participation rates already deemed Total Rewards Canada a success, but an overwhelmingly positive response from the survey illustrates that, in terms of value perception of the benefit programs, CCBC has strengthened its total employment deal. “You can make huge investments into programs but, if employees don’t appreciate the value of the programs, then you’re not really getting the best return on your investment,” says Pedro. |
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