Standard Life Plc

As you would expect from a market leader, the rewards on offer with Standard Life plc are excellent.The benefits listed make up sections of your ‘Total Reward Statement’, which is produced yearly and is designed to incorporate additional aspects of remuneration and reward -  providing you with a full picture of your employment package from the company.   Compensation benefits Annual salary review - with performance related increases based on how well the Company does and how much you contribute to that success. Bonus award – your award is based on your contribution in the preceding business year. Our award winning Flexible Benefits package has been designed to give you much more choice and to help you make your money go further. Everyone has different needs and flexible benefits lets you decide what you want, rather than someone else deciding for you. You can change the benefits you receive every year through flexible benefits and many of the benefits can reduce the amount of income tax and National Insurance you pay.       Benefits on offer include:       Childcare Vouchers - A flexible and cost effective way to cover childcare costs       Holiday Banks - Store your holidays to use when you choose       Retail Vouchers - Save while you spend at many leading stores and outlets       Cycle to Work - Bike and safety equipment for your daily commute       Dental Insurance - Manage the future cost of your dental care   Opportunity to join the Company's Group Personal Pension arrangement and benefit from the Company's payments to this. Option for free Private Medical Insurance for yourself and the chance to purchase cover for your partner and children at competitive rates. Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave plus enhanced maternity pay. Preferential Bank and Savings rates. Company holiday cottages/flats in Scotland are available to rent for rates which are well below those of similar holiday property in the area. £30 a month mortgage allowance if you take out a mortgage through Standard Life Bank. Career breaks An Employee Assistance Programme offering confidential counselling and guidance to you and your family. Death in service protection. This protection will provide certain benefits to your dependants in the event of your death whilst employed by the Company. Relocation packages.  For some positions, you may qualify for a relocation package. If you qualify and are moving to join us, you will benefit from a specialist advice service to guide you through your move.  This includes contribution towards: Travel costs, Legal costs, Valuation fees and Disturbance allowance.   Work-Life balanceThe Occupational Health & Safety team ran several health ‘awareness’ campaigns in 2008, ranging from ‘How to Prevent Coughs and Colds’, ‘No Smoking’ to ‘National Depression Awareness Week’. Some of the campaigns involved staff manning stands in our head office locations over the week, helping those who wanted further information and support.During 2008 we’ve been taking part in the government funded ‘Active at Work Programme’ which supports the government’s ‘Improving the Health in Scotland’ agenda. Working with the Fitness Industry Association we’ve offered 30 non-active staff three months free membership at a local gym, with follow-up fortnightly group sessions. The effectiveness of the scheme is being measured through Loughborough University, and our combined aim is to show how improved health and fitness, improves fitness to work and productivity. Flexible Working - Standard Life's Flexible Working policy offers everyone the right to request to work flexibly, not just those with children.  (Flexible working hours apply to certain levels and posts only.)Vielife - Through a blend of on-line assessments and targeted guidance, vielife gives its users a confidential personalised snapshot of the state of their wellbeing, as well as the support to become both healthier and happier. Take time out from the office to take part in Community Investment activities (Community Investment, Team Challenge or Children's Panel) or a Community Investment secondment.)FAST FACT …. From June 2008 to June 2009, 199 people took part in community investment activities.Counselling and legal advice (Solutions)Flex leave (applies to certain posts only)GP Advice LineMaternity payPaternity payAdoption payReserve forces trainingRecognitionService awards – After five years of service with the company, employees are able to select from a wide range of gifts in the service award catalogue. As an alternative they can choose to take their service award in the form of retail vouchers or extra cash (as either a lump sum or as payable through monthly salary for a year). There are also special recognition events taking place throughout the year that you may be nominated for by colleagues for your contribution to success, such as the annual Edinburgh Festival fireworks and Edinburgh Festival events.Development and career opportunitiesWe believe everyone should be given the opportunity to make the most of their career and fully encourage all members of staff to develop their personal potential.We have created an environment that allows you to develop new skills, try new ideas and aim for new goals - to develop yourself, as well as your career. We encourage you to think differently and foster an environment where your ideas and contribution are allowed to bloom. As individuals we all think differently, what is essential in our competitive business world is the power and potential of that thinking when we work as a team.Developing and Challenging our Talented People.  We believe that each individual possesses a unique blend of skills, knowledge and talents and our ambition is to identify, attract, develop & retain talent throughout our organisation.We achieved our ambitious target of introducing a talent discovery tool for all our people by the end of 2008. This means, that we have given each individual an insight into their talents and how they can use this increased awareness to continually enhance their performance.By actively helping our employees to understand and leverage their talents, they are enabled to do what they do best which will ultimately lead to superior business performance. Line of sight – aligning business goals to personal outcomes.  During 2008 and 2009 we are rolling out an innovative performance management framework, which will focus on individuals’ strengths and outcomes in line with our business goals – we believe that by focusing on this we can, individually and organisationally, deliver excellence.       This framework will help individuals to understand their strengths and aspirations, ensure that they know what is expected of them, provide ongoing opportunities to give and receive meaningful feedback and to review and recognise successes and outcomes.      Ultimately we want to help each of our people to maximise their contribution to the success of Standard Life and realise their full potential.  Leadership Development – Developing leaders to support our aspirations.  We are continually seeking to create an environment which challenges and develops the aspirations and capabilities of our leaders.      'What Matters Most' has been developed to set out our leadership aspirations and to support the development of our leaders in line with our future direction. At the heart of 'What Matters Most' is ‘being real’. This is about really knowing yourself, being true to who you are and your beliefs, and playing to your strengths in a way that makes a genuine and meaningful impact on others.      Our approach to development is one based upon enabling an individual leader to play to their strengths in the context of our strategic agenda. Therefore all leaders have access to a strengths based coach, supporting a development plan, identifying appropriate development support.  How we help you developAs an organisation we invest in the development of leaders at all levels providing access development tools, resources and programmes. How your career develops is largely down to you, your attitude and skills. We will however, support you at every stage, providing the relevant training, helping you identify development opportunities and encouraging you to develop your career to its maximum potential. You can expect internal training, as well as on-the-job experience and in some areas, work assignments, as a matter of course.Qualifications Centre.  Standard Life’s Qualifications Centre is our answer to the concept of an in-house college. The potential range of qualifications relevant to a business as diverse as ours is staggering. So whatever career path you take with Standard Life you can expect the Qualifications Centre to help you with your professional aspirations, whether it be one of the dozens of relevant certificates, diplomas or NVQ’s on offer to qualifying as a ‘Finance Professional’. FAST FACT … From June 2007 to June 2008, 286 employees attained qualifications ranging from Certificates in Personnel Practice to Customer Service NVQ’s to Chartered Insurance Institute qualifications.Open Access Development Centre (OADC).  Standard Life is committed to life long learning.  To help you become fully competent in your current role and to help you prepare for your future career challenges, you will work with your manager to prepare a personal development plan.       To help support you with your learning activities, we have a centre of learning called the Open Access Development Centre (OADC). In the OADC you will have access to over 3,000 on-line courses, over 2,500 books, CD’s and DVD’s, as well as the latest business publications and language course.  You will also have access to study booths, which are ideal places away from the office to quietly learn, read, surf the net or even check your email. Study Leave and Study for professional qualifications.  We may provide financial help and study leave to study for professional qualifications and for your continued benefit we may even pay membership subscriptions relevant to your job role.  FAST FACT … From June 2007 to June 2008, 656 employees were sponsored to undertake a qualification that was relevant to their role.

At Standard Life, we recognise that our employees are vital to our success, and therefore it is important for both us, and potential employees, that we take time to recruit the best people possible - people who are capable of responding to the challenges that will be placed upon them now and in the future.We view recruitment as a two-way process giving you the opportunity to find out some more about us as well as for us to find out more about you. To ensure we get it right, our recruitment process highlights each applicant's skills, talents and experience.Depending on the role applied for, you may be asked to undergo one or more selection processes; from a Gallup Structured Interview - where we highlight qualities which make people succeed in particular jobs or occupations, a Competence-based interview - where we ask you a series of structured questions that relate to the prospective job, Occupational testing - where we assess your suitability for the particular role that you have applied, or by simply asking candidates to come in to an Assessement centre.