A new joint venture 

• Creative communication partnership will provide new service for employee benefits, reward and HR markets
• Traditional empoyee communications programmes don't do enough to engage, excite or drive employee action, argue both organisations

Hymans Robertson and like minds today announce the creation of a new joint venture that will bring together Hymans Robertson's communication practice with like minds, an award-winning employee communication company.

The combined organisation, which will retain the like minds branding, will deliver dynamic and imaginative communication to the employee benefits, reward and HR market, setting a new standard for employee communication. The partnership will marry the existing, complementary expertise of the two entities, combining the creative edge and operational effectiveness of like minds, a boutique company, with the market and consulting insight of Hymans Robertson, one of the UK's leading pension and benefits consultancies.

The existing Hymans Robertson and like minds communication teams will be combined, working from offices in London and Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The like minds co-founders and directors, Nick and Moira Throp, will lead the expanded organisation. Hymans Robertson will have a 50% financial stake and, based on market demand, the organisation plans to double in size within five years.

Commenting on the partnership, James Entwisle, managing partner, Hymans Robertson, said:

This is a fresh approach to providing engaging employee communication. Many existing providers have a communication team submerged within a large actuarial business which doesn't enable them to effectively demonstrate their skills. We want our clients to experience the nimbleness and creativity of a specialist team that lives and breathes the communication challenges of enthusing and engaging people about pensions and benefits. There's a gap in the market for this kind of service and we intend to fill it. The recent pension changes announced in the March Budget and at the Conservative Party Conference are two examples where we believe this approach could bring to life real and important issues for employees. There is a clear need to rethink how employers communicate about the new range of options open to their people. In our view, many of the current approaches will fall short on this. like minds has a strong reputation and standing with its clients which include many blue-chip companies. By adding our own team of consultants we're able to bring this capability to even more clients. We will also add value through our market insights and technology platforms, including Guided Outcomes which is already being used by companies whose employees hold more than £2 billion of defined contribution pension savings.

Nick Throp, co-founder and director of like minds, added: 

The cultural fit with Hymans Robertson is perfect. We have quickly come to appreciate their collaborative and client-focused culture which values innovation and creativity. These values are the cornerstone of our business, which is to share a passion with like-minded clients for clear, simple and imaginative communication. Part of our success comes from the creative culture we've established at like minds. Copywriters and designers think and behave differently from consultants and actuaries, and it's important to support this in a flexible, free-thinking environment that can also meet their development needs. The challenges of insufficient retirement savings call for more effective and imaginative communication, especially in the new flexible pension regime. This means thinking outside the box about how to overcome the current inertia and confusion about pensions, and engage with people emotionally. Our partnership is well placed to meet this challenge.

The agreement also comes at a time of new communication development challenges, including web and smartphone technology, animated graphics and social media.

Mr Throp continued: 

Some companies are apprehensive of adopting these new communication channels but many employees now expect and rely on them in their personal lives. Inevitably they will play an important part in HR communication in the future.

The organisation will initially have a combined staff of 13. It will offer a full range of communication services including concept development, creative design, copywriting and programme planning and management. The focus will be on benefits, reward and HR communication, supporting in particular, pension change, benefit adequacy, financial education, flexible benefits, workplace savings platforms, shares and long-term incentives, total reward, diversity, talent management, learning and development and the employer brand.