BPI taps Xurpas unit for employee benefits

AYALA- LED Bank of the Philippine Islands ( BPI) has signed an agreement with Storm Benefits Inc., a subsidiary of mobile content provider Xurpas Inc., on providing employee benefits for BPI workers.

In a statement, BPI said it signed an employee benefits deal with Storm covering 15,000 executives, professionals, specialists and management trainees.

Storm’s employee benefits system works like an e- marketplace where individuals can purchase products using Flex points that can be used within the system like a currency.

The points may be accumulated from unused company benefits such as sick and vacation leaves.

“When you transfer from one company to another, the benefits are usually the same, you don’t even have to ask. But it’s a waste. Research says that our country spends as much as $ 2 billion on benefits that don’t really make us an employee of choice or rise above the rest of the field because we’re always offered the same things. That’s something we want to change,” Storm founder Peter Cauton said.

The system is expected to receive positive views from BPI employees, of which 66 percent are already millennials aged 18 to 34 who are now tech savvy and “digital natives.”

“In BPI we nurture a culture of performance and we believe that key to this is recognizing the needs of our ever- evolving workforce. We pursue programs that enable and inspire our people. This partnership with Storm is one of those,” BPI Senior Vice President and head of Human Resources Florendo Maranan said.

“I think there is a good reason why BPI is the country’s leading bank. They invest in human capital as much as they invest in securities and notes – they are congnizant of the fact that individuals in the workforce respond well to programs that empower them. Storm operates in the same philosophy, so we are very glad to have BPI as our partner,” Cauton said.

Storm has enrolled about 100,000 people in its benefits platform from industries such as financial services, IT and BPO, communications, and real estate. Acquired by Xurpas this year, Storm is also present in Indonesia.