Successful business cultures are supported with carefully put together employee benefit packages. We work closely with you from planning to implementation to ensure that what you have in place is valued, communicated and fully understood by your people.
We help our clients look after the physical, financial and health and wellbeing of their people. We take the time to understand your culture, your business, your goals, your budget – so we can carefully align benefit solutions that work.
We specialise in partnering with creative, media, art, film, TV and tech companies. We share a common way of thinking with our clients – it’s a complimentary combination.
We consult and advise on the best solutions to use.
We will work closely with you to understand your business and to implement a pension arrangement that suits your current position and future growth plans.
At the heart of everything we do, we look to ensure that your pension scheme offers value for money, is low maintenance from an administration perspective and will be delivered to your employees in a language that they will understand.
When establishing a new company, your pension duties start on the day that you employ your first person.
We know how to get you up and running, and most importantly in a compliant, quick and efficient way but without having to sacrifice the quality of your pension scheme or the experience to your employees.
Is your scheme still fit for purpose?
The pension landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. With all companies now having Workplace Pension responsibilities, what was right for you a few years ago might not be now. We can audit what you are currently doing, telling you what you are doing correctly and what can be done better.
With pension contribution often being your largest benefits spend, we often find that employees don’t value what you are doing for them.
An education and communication programme can help employees understand the subject, the value of saving the value of what you do and the type of investment within their pension. This understanding can significantly improve the return on investment for you as an employer on your pension spend.
Talk to us and see some of the many testimonials we have from companies about the impact this has had.
Is your pension scheme running as efficiently as it could be?
Whether an existing pension scheme or a new arrangement that is being implemented now, salary exchange offers an efficient method for employers to run their pension scheme.
Commonly referred to as ‘salary sacrifice’, our salary exchange package can be added to an existing arrangement or built in to the implementation planning of a new workplace pension scheme. Upfront, easy to understand communication is essential to a successful salary exchange project.
This method of making contributions has benefit for both employee and employer and can potentially generate some significant cost savings for the company. These savings can be used to offset employer costs, passed back to the employee as a ‘top up’ contribution or used to help fund additional employee benefits.
We do all the work of making sure you receive HMRC clearance of your salary exchange scheme.
Speak to us to understand the potential costs savings you could make.
Flexible benefit schemes enable employers to allow staff to select the benefits that suit them. With greater workplace diversity, this choice of perks is highly popular among employees.
Flex is seen as a popular way to integrate benefits packages during mergers and acquisitions and at other times of company change.
Flexible benefit schemes can include a wide range of options for staff to select from, including tax-efficient benefits such as childcare vouchers and mobile phones or salary sacrifice pension contributions. Flex schemes initially came to the market in seemingly expensive bespoke packages before the development of the off-the-shelf format. However, the growth of technology means more providers in the market have reduced costs and bespoke flexible benefits plans have become increasingly popular as a means of offering more tailored employee choice.
You generally need 250+ employees to run a flex based scheme.
Often employees are asked to travel for their roles but are they adequately covered? Often standard ‘personal’ Travel Insurance will exclude Business travel.
The plans can cover employees, not just for their Business trips, but when they are off on holiday, skiing or laying on the beach making this a benefit to the employee as well as ensuring that the company’s protecting it’s employees.
Contact us for help with arranging Business Travel Insurance for your travelling employees.
Group income replacement (also known as Group PHI) provides a replacement income, via the company pay-roll if an employee is unable to work as a result of a long-term illness or injury. This benefit is paid after they have been absent for a predetermined time, known as the deferred period, which can be anything from 3 months to 2 years.
The insurer will continue to pay income until the employee returns to work or until their normal retirement age, although it is also possible to get a limited payment term policy, which will pay out for up to five years.
We use our market knowledge to make sure that you pay the correct premium for the right terms, whether this is the amount of benefit, how long it pays for or when it starts, we’ll make this benefit work for you.
One of the more traditional benefits, this benefit provides a payment to an employee’s beneficiaries if they die while contractually employed by you. This enables you to discharge a moral or financial responsibility to an employee’s dependents.
This is a low cost benefit that is often a core part of an employee benefit package.
Critical Illness cover pays a lump sum (tax free) if an employee is diagnosed with a qualifying Critical Illness.
The idea of this benefit is to give employees options. Fortunately, often being diagnosed with a Critical Illness is not the same as it was 10 years ago, now rather than paying off your mortgage, it may be that you want to take some time out from work, go on the holiday of a lifetime, spend some time with your family or just get a second medical opinion.
A Critical Illness policy will allow your employees to do this whilst showing them that they have the support of their employer.
If you run a business then you know that the success of your business can be largely influenced by the exceptional contributions of a small number of KEY people within your company.
These key people may include people like directors, sales people, relationship holders or business partners.
The premature death or critical illness of any of these people could ultimately threaten company profit or, even worse, could threaten the future existence of the business.
We are very experienced at working out what level of key person cover is necessary to secure a business and what types of cover are best used in different circumstances.
On death of a shareholder (unless sole) a company will continue and the shares of the deceased shareholder will often pass to their estate. Often the bereaved beneficiary will not want to be involved with the running of the business and will wish to sell the shares. However, this can be difficult if they are only minority shareholders and are trying to sell outside of the company.
The existing Directors and stakeholders may not want the shares going outside of the company and this may even include a wish to prevent an ex-directors family being involved with the company. The solution is for all the Directors to come to an agreement where they will buy out a Director’s share if he or she dies.
Share purchase assurance allows Directors to make provision for such a possibility and ensures:
• The business stays in the hands of the current Directors. • A fair value is paid for the shares. • Costly loans are avoided. • Quick payment for the relatives of the deceased Director. • Company does not fall into outside hands
With over 25 years experience in providing solutions which help to improve the overall physical and mental wellbeing of your most important asset – your staff, we can enhance the productivity of your workforce.
As the popularity and demand for employer-provided healthcare increases, how can you provide the best value benefits for your employees?
With new providers entering the market and new products and services being launched, it can be a challenge. That is where we can help.
Whether you are looking to set up a new healthcare benefit programme or review your existing one, we can provide the expertise you need. Our specialist team can arrange, amend or re-broke a full range of healthcare benefits, including • Group private medical insurance • Group international medical • Group travel insurance • Group dental insurance • Employee assistance programmes • Health screening and occupational health • Healthcare cash plans
Private medical insurance provides employees with fast, efficient treatment when they need it and assists employers with getting staff back to work quickly.
We provide our clients with high quality advice and expertise to guide them through the complexities of Private Medical Insurance and ensure that they choose the right plan tailored to their own requirements.
Whether you are a small business or large organisation, we can deliver the best solutions tailored specifically for you.
Private medical insurance can be a contentious area. Through our education and communication programme delivered to our client’s employees, we will ensure that they know exactly what is covered.
For those organisations who operate overseas, it is crucial that your expatriates have access to comprehensive international medical insurance to avoid gaps in cover which can be costly to your business.
UK employers posted abroad may need some form of health insurance. The type of cover will depend on which country (or countries) the employee is based in, how much they will be travelling for work, the level of risk, whether their family is accompanying them, and where they are likely to receive treatment in case of an incident (back in the UK, in the country they are posted in, or in a third country).
Health screening is an important tool in highlighting potentially serious medical conditions at an early stage and then providing the information to help an employee to take evasive action and even combat the possible outcome.
There are many different levels of health screening available from pre-employment to full executive health screens.
We will advise you on what best suits your employee base or your recruitment objectives.
With access to an NHS dentist becoming increasingly difficult, it means that in many cases private dental treatment is the only option.
This leads to an increasing number of people postponing trips to the dentist making the inevitable treatment more costly to the individual and to the organisation, more days lost to the business through dental problems.
Dental insurance can provide your employees with a low cost and flexible solution.
There is a broad range of plans to suit all types of budgets – from preventative care to major restorative treatment.
Healthcare Cash plans are a low-cost, high impact healthcare benefit.
Offering your employees reimbursement for costs such as dental check-ups or contact lens prescriptions, among others, it puts cash back in your employee’s pockets.
The amount of benefit that can be reclaimed far outweighs the premium, meaning your employees won’t put off treatment they need.
Additional benefits such as retail vouchers, discounted gym membership and Employee Assistance Programmes can be built into these plans.
There is an increasing responsibility on employers to help their employees manage the work/life balance. We partner with Mental Health First Aid England to offer workshops that can help train your HR and line managers (along with other employees) in how to look out for mental health issues, to try and prevent bigger problems.
It’s not yours (or your Mental Health First Aider’s) responsibility to fix these problems, however having a resource than can direct people in the right direction can be invaluable and is expected.
Working in conjunction with other benefits, we can provide solutions to help with the mental wellbeing of your employees.
Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) are designed to provide information and access to counselling services on a range of issues, including stress.
An EAP might offer a 24-hour helpline employees can call for confidential advice and some packages also include face-to-face counselling.
EAPs are often used as part of a whole stress and wellbeing management strategy to improve employee health and wellbeing.
Where employers do use EAPs they may be interested in their potential to limit exposure to the long-term costs associated with stress, such as increased premiums for the use of private medical insurance (PMI), income replacement and critical illness insurance. EAPs may be limited by confidentiality issues. Only when there is a significant level of work-related stress can providers notify the employer, and then they can only do so in general terms.
The price and degree of service for EAPs can vary widely. As a low cost HR management tool an EAP is an essential part of your employee benefits package.
It may not be your responsibility to look after your employee’s finances, however offering workshops to educate employees on subjects like budgeting, mortgages, savings along with nudges and assisting their financial behaviours can be beneficial in increasing productivity of your staff.
Is financial stress affecting your team?
● Financial worries are the leading cause of adult stress and has the biggest impact on well-being
● 94% of UK employees are suffering from money worries
● 74% say that money impacts them at work
● 500,000 Private sector workers took time off work last year due to financial worries resulting in 4.2
millions days of lost work and £1.56 bn in costs to employers
● Money is a wellness issue as money and mental health are intricately linked
Talk to us about our financial well-being workshops.
Many clients engage us to work for them to review their existing benefits schemes.
If you are less than 100% certain that your existing employee benefits are not achieving the maximum objective, impact or return on investment – or you are just concerned to know you are paying the right premium for the right benefits – contact us and we will be pleased to discuss your situation.
Benefits and reward communication is the biggest issue facing most employers who frequently tell us that staff do not understand or appreciate the value of the benefits on offer.
Ensuring that communication is effective is therefore a huge challenge for employers when communicating employee reward – we have developed a wide range of ways to help our clients achieve an effective communications strategy.
Effective and regular communication of benefits to employees is one of the best ways to improve your return on investment – but it only works if you do it in a language and style that works for your people. We have in-depth experience of how to tailor a simple but effective communication programme for the type of employees you have.
Working with you, we will agree what works best for your type of workforce and practices. Great language, real life examples, humour and honesty, whilst avoiding jargon and tech speak.
We use solutions such as: • face to face presentations • one to one meetings • email circulars • dedicated employee helplines and email addresses • in house Q&A sessions • existing pensions advice • intranet / extranet content • branded employee announcements • fun ideas that capture attention
A variety of methods are all combined to get the corporate message across – all done in way that suits your company culture.
No matter how great the benefits package, if the administration that HR/management has to deal with is causing problems or costing too much in terms of people and time, then the benefits are not working properly and return on investment drops.
We make admin work by allowing you to outsource as much of it as you like, to us. We will put together a fixed cost administration plan that suits management and HR and allows you to get on with more important things – like your people and your business.
Talk to us if your benefits are great but your admin. is causing you pain.
We consult and advise on the best solutions to use.
We will work closely with you to understand your business and to implement a pension arrangement that suits your current position and future growth plans.
At the heart of everything we do, we look to ensure that your pension scheme offers value for money, is low maintenance from an administration perspective and will be delivered to your employees in a language that they will understand.
When establishing a new company, your pension duties start on the day that you employ your first person.
We know how to get you up and running, and most importantly in a compliant, quick and efficient way but without having to sacrifice the quality of your pension scheme or the experience to your employees.
Is your scheme still fit for purpose?
The pension landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. With all companies now having Workplace Pension responsibilities, what was right for you a few years ago might not be now. We can audit what you are currently doing, telling you what you are doing correctly and what can be done better.
With pension contribution often being your largest benefits spend, we often find that employees don’t value what you are doing for them.
An education and communication programme can help employees understand the subject, the value of saving the value of what you do and the type of investment within their pension. This understanding can significantly improve the return on investment for you as an employer on your pension spend.
Talk to us and see some of the many testimonials we have from companies about the impact this has had.
Is your pension scheme running as efficiently as it could be?
Whether an existing pension scheme or a new arrangement that is being implemented now, salary exchange offers an efficient method for employers to run their pension scheme.
Commonly referred to as ‘salary sacrifice’, our salary exchange package can be added to an existing arrangement or built in to the implementation planning of a new workplace pension scheme. Upfront, easy to understand communication is essential to a successful salary exchange project.
This method of making contributions has benefit for both employee and employer and can potentially generate some significant cost savings for the company. These savings can be used to offset employer costs, passed back to the employee as a ‘top up’ contribution or used to help fund additional employee benefits.
We do all the work of making sure you receive HMRC clearance of your salary exchange scheme.
Speak to us to understand the potential costs savings you could make.
Flexible benefit schemes enable employers to allow staff to select the benefits that suit them. With greater workplace diversity, this choice of perks is highly popular among employees.
Flex is seen as a popular way to integrate benefits packages during mergers and acquisitions and at other times of company change.
Flexible benefit schemes can include a wide range of options for staff to select from, including tax-efficient benefits such as childcare vouchers and mobile phones or salary sacrifice pension contributions. Flex schemes initially came to the market in seemingly expensive bespoke packages before the development of the off-the-shelf format. However, the growth of technology means more providers in the market have reduced costs and bespoke flexible benefits plans have become increasingly popular as a means of offering more tailored employee choice.
You generally need 250+ employees to run a flex based scheme.
Often employees are asked to travel for their roles but are they adequately covered? Often standard ‘personal’ Travel Insurance will exclude Business travel.
The plans can cover employees, not just for their Business trips, but when they are off on holiday, skiing or laying on the beach making this a benefit to the employee as well as ensuring that the company’s protecting it’s employees.
Contact us for help with arranging Business Travel Insurance for your travelling employees.
Group income replacement (also known as Group PHI) provides a replacement income, via the company pay-roll if an employee is unable to work as a result of a long-term illness or injury. This benefit is paid after they have been absent for a predetermined time, known as the deferred period, which can be anything from 3 months to 2 years.
The insurer will continue to pay income until the employee returns to work or until their normal retirement age, although it is also possible to get a limited payment term policy, which will pay out for up to five years.
We use our market knowledge to make sure that you pay the correct premium for the right terms, whether this is the amount of benefit, how long it pays for or when it starts, we’ll make this benefit work for you.
One of the more traditional benefits, this benefit provides a payment to an employee’s beneficiaries if they die while contractually employed by you. This enables you to discharge a moral or financial responsibility to an employee’s dependents.
This is a low cost benefit that is often a core part of an employee benefit package.
Critical Illness cover pays a lump sum (tax free) if an employee is diagnosed with a qualifying Critical Illness.
The idea of this benefit is to give employees options. Fortunately, often being diagnosed with a Critical Illness is not the same as it was 10 years ago, now rather than paying off your mortgage, it may be that you want to take some time out from work, go on the holiday of a lifetime, spend some time with your family or just get a second medical opinion.
A Critical Illness policy will allow your employees to do this whilst showing them that they have the support of their employer.
If you run a business then you know that the success of your business can be largely influenced by the exceptional contributions of a small number of KEY people within your company.
These key people may include people like directors, sales people, relationship holders or business partners.
The premature death or critical illness of any of these people could ultimately threaten company profit or, even worse, could threaten the future existence of the business.
We are very experienced at working out what level of key person cover is necessary to secure a business and what types of cover are best used in different circumstances.
On death of a shareholder (unless sole) a company will continue and the shares of the deceased shareholder will often pass to their estate. Often the bereaved beneficiary will not want to be involved with the running of the business and will wish to sell the shares. However, this can be difficult if they are only minority shareholders and are trying to sell outside of the company.
The existing Directors and stakeholders may not want the shares going outside of the company and this may even include a wish to prevent an ex-directors family being involved with the company. The solution is for all the Directors to come to an agreement where they will buy out a Director’s share if he or she dies.
Share purchase assurance allows Directors to make provision for such a possibility and ensures:
• The business stays in the hands of the current Directors. • A fair value is paid for the shares. • Costly loans are avoided. • Quick payment for the relatives of the deceased Director. • Company does not fall into outside hands
With over 25 years experience in providing solutions which help to improve the overall physical and mental wellbeing of your most important asset – your staff, we can enhance the productivity of your workforce.
As the popularity and demand for employer-provided healthcare increases, how can you provide the best value benefits for your employees?
With new providers entering the market and new products and services being launched, it can be a challenge. That is where we can help.
Whether you are looking to set up a new healthcare benefit programme or review your existing one, we can provide the expertise you need. Our specialist team can arrange, amend or re-broke a full range of healthcare benefits, including • Group private medical insurance • Group international medical • Group travel insurance • Group dental insurance • Employee assistance programmes • Health screening and occupational health • Healthcare cash plans
Private medical insurance provides employees with fast, efficient treatment when they need it and assists employers with getting staff back to work quickly.
We provide our clients with high quality advice and expertise to guide them through the complexities of Private Medical Insurance and ensure that they choose the right plan tailored to their own requirements.
Whether you are a small business or large organisation, we can deliver the best solutions tailored specifically for you.
Private medical insurance can be a contentious area. Through our education and communication programme delivered to our client’s employees, we will ensure that they know exactly what is covered.
For those organisations who operate overseas, it is crucial that your expatriates have access to comprehensive international medical insurance to avoid gaps in cover which can be costly to your business.
UK employers posted abroad may need some form of health insurance. The type of cover will depend on which country (or countries) the employee is based in, how much they will be travelling for work, the level of risk, whether their family is accompanying them, and where they are likely to receive treatment in case of an incident (back in the UK, in the country they are posted in, or in a third country).
Health screening is an important tool in highlighting potentially serious medical conditions at an early stage and then providing the information to help an employee to take evasive action and even combat the possible outcome.
There are many different levels of health screening available from pre-employment to full executive health screens.
We will advise you on what best suits your employee base or your recruitment objectives.
With access to an NHS dentist becoming increasingly difficult, it means that in many cases private dental treatment is the only option.
This leads to an increasing number of people postponing trips to the dentist making the inevitable treatment more costly to the individual and to the organisation, more days lost to the business through dental problems.
Dental insurance can provide your employees with a low cost and flexible solution.
There is a broad range of plans to suit all types of budgets – from preventative care to major restorative treatment.
Healthcare Cash plans are a low-cost, high impact healthcare benefit.
Offering your employees reimbursement for costs such as dental check-ups or contact lens prescriptions, among others, it puts cash back in your employee’s pockets.
The amount of benefit that can be reclaimed far outweighs the premium, meaning your employees won’t put off treatment they need.
Additional benefits such as retail vouchers, discounted gym membership and Employee Assistance Programmes can be built into these plans.
There is an increasing responsibility on employers to help their employees manage the work/life balance. We partner with Mental Health First Aid England to offer workshops that can help train your HR and line managers (along with other employees) in how to look out for mental health issues, to try and prevent bigger problems.
It’s not yours (or your Mental Health First Aider’s) responsibility to fix these problems, however having a resource than can direct people in the right direction can be invaluable and is expected.
Working in conjunction with other benefits, we can provide solutions to help with the mental wellbeing of your employees.
Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) are designed to provide information and access to counselling services on a range of issues, including stress.
An EAP might offer a 24-hour helpline employees can call for confidential advice and some packages also include face-to-face counselling.
EAPs are often used as part of a whole stress and wellbeing management strategy to improve employee health and wellbeing.
Where employers do use EAPs they may be interested in their potential to limit exposure to the long-term costs associated with stress, such as increased premiums for the use of private medical insurance (PMI), income replacement and critical illness insurance. EAPs may be limited by confidentiality issues. Only when there is a significant level of work-related stress can providers notify the employer, and then they can only do so in general terms.
The price and degree of service for EAPs can vary widely. As a low cost HR management tool an EAP is an essential part of your employee benefits package.
It may not be your responsibility to look after your employee’s finances, however offering workshops to educate employees on subjects like budgeting, mortgages, savings along with nudges and assisting their financial behaviours can be beneficial in increasing productivity of your staff.
Is financial stress affecting your team?
● Financial worries are the leading cause of adult stress and has the biggest impact on well-being
● 94% of UK employees are suffering from money worries
● 74% say that money impacts them at work
● 500,000 Private sector workers took time off work last year due to financial worries resulting in 4.2
millions days of lost work and £1.56 bn in costs to employers
● Money is a wellness issue as money and mental health are intricately linked
Talk to us about our financial well-being workshops.
Many clients engage us to work for them to review their existing benefits schemes.
If you are less than 100% certain that your existing employee benefits are not achieving the maximum objective, impact or return on investment – or you are just concerned to know you are paying the right premium for the right benefits – contact us and we will be pleased to discuss your situation.
Benefits and reward communication is the biggest issue facing most employers who frequently tell us that staff do not understand or appreciate the value of the benefits on offer.
Ensuring that communication is effective is therefore a huge challenge for employers when communicating employee reward – we have developed a wide range of ways to help our clients achieve an effective communications strategy.
Effective and regular communication of benefits to employees is one of the best ways to improve your return on investment – but it only works if you do it in a language and style that works for your people. We have in-depth experience of how to tailor a simple but effective communication programme for the type of employees you have.
Working with you, we will agree what works best for your type of workforce and practices. Great language, real life examples, humour and honesty, whilst avoiding jargon and tech speak.
We use solutions such as: • face to face presentations • one to one meetings • email circulars • dedicated employee helplines and email addresses • in house Q&A sessions • existing pensions advice • intranet / extranet content • branded employee announcements • fun ideas that capture attention
A variety of methods are all combined to get the corporate message across – all done in way that suits your company culture.
No matter how great the benefits package, if the administration that HR/management has to deal with is causing problems or costing too much in terms of people and time, then the benefits are not working properly and return on investment drops.
We make admin work by allowing you to outsource as much of it as you like, to us. We will put together a fixed cost administration plan that suits management and HR and allows you to get on with more important things – like your people and your business.
Talk to us if your benefits are great but your admin. is causing you pain.
We are a highly skilled employee benefits team advising the most forward thinking creative, media and tech companies. London based and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we bring our experienced and personalised approach to all benefits areas.
I formed Parallel (and in its previous form, Music Media) more than 25 years ago and feel incredibly lucky…
every day to work with such great people, both clients and colleagues, who make this a fantastic place to be.
In addition to various high-level technical qualifications from The Chartered Institute of Insurance, I hold Certified Financial Planner status and qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments to supplement my more than 30 years’ experience in financial planning.
Outside the office, my main interest is post war and contemporary art along with plenty of time for family, friends and travel and can often be found polishing my old classic car.
I joined Parallel in July 2024, bringing nearly 20 years of hands-on experience in the employee benefits industry and related areas. My expertise spans B2B and B2C businesses, focusing on strategic proposition development, execution, and delivery of comprehensive plans, including across employee benefits in the workplace and its impact on business areas like HR, finance, SAAS, marketing, and insurance.
As our clients face new workplace challenges due to shifting demographics and increasingly complex employee value propositions, my expertise will be very beneficial across our team in addressing these changes. In my CEO roles I am dedicated to fostering an inclusive yet driven work culture. I am looking forward to deploying these skills within Parallel.
What fuels me? Accountability for my actions, daily learning, and continuous self-improvement, getting the right things done which provide momentum. For relaxation, I enjoy long woodland walks, yoga, kickboxing, baking, and uninterrupted family time.
I have worked at the company and with Malcolm for over 15 years and really enjoy what I do.
The part I find the most rewarding is helping employees understand what they have and how best to use it; it’s really rewarding helping a young employee realise why they should pay in to a pension, knowing what a difference you are making to their future.
But outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, visiting new places and countries. I love films (especially all things Superhero, it’s the geek in me!) and get to the cinema as often as I can.
I joined Parallel in April 2004 having worked at Standard Life which provided me with an excellent…
understanding of the financial advisory, insurance and pensions market.
I have a degree in Human Resources & Finance from Buckinghamshire University. I hold my Certificate in Life and Pensions having completed my studies from The Chartered Institute of Insurance. In my spare time, I am a proud Mum and love to socialise and have fun (when its possible!).
Over the past 30 years, having delivered Employee Benefits consultancy services to large corporate clients during my time with Mercer…
…Jelf (now part of Mercer Marsh Benefits) and also Client Management support on the Insurance side with Cigna, my focus has been on supporting clients through designing, sourcing and implementing their health related benefits as well as working on various projects including; acquisitions, harmonisations and demergers, ensuring that the benefits remain robust, relevant to the workforce and cost sustainable through a changing environment.
What I love about Parallel is that we see our role as being twofold. Whilst we are there to solve problems for the companies we work with, we are also there to support employees and help them understand why their benefits package is so valuable and how they can get the most out of it.
In my downtime, I enjoy spending my time with family and friends as a priority, cooking and entertaining, taking long walks in the nearby countryside and generally looking after myself by keeping fit through running and taking regular exercise. I’m also a bit of culture vulture and love going to art galleries and fashion exhibitions, reading literature, listening to music, travelling and soaking up the vibrance of other countries and just generally learning new things.
I joined the Parallel team in March 2022 following 3 years at another employee benefits firm.
The all-encompassing service that we provide at Parallel keeps me and the team busy, however my main role is ensuring that our clients workplace pension schemes meet all their requirements and are super competitive within the market.
Outside of employee benefits I study part time for a degree in Business Management.
When I am not working or studying, I am either playing rugby, in the gym or socialising with friends.
I work on the Employee Benefits team as a corporate client services administrator.
I joined the financial services sector without any experience on pensions or insurance providers. However, this new challenge of working within this role has helped me develop my skills and new knowledge which I didn’t know I had!
I intend to continue to build my skills and gain qualifications by completing pension exams.
Outside work I enjoy spending time with my family, and friends and planning trips abroad
I joined Parallel and moved to London in September 2018 from Bristol.
I hold a degree from University of Kent and gained experience in Pensions working for a large pension provider.
I enjoy spending time with friends/family socialising, watching sports and box sets and when possible, love to jet off for a city break.
I joined Parallel in April 2022. I have 4 years previous experience in the Employee Benefits industry.
I enjoy working Part time as a Personal Trainer and Certified Nutritionist helping people in their health and fitness goals.
I joined Parallel so that I could be a part of a team dedicated towards helping many different clients have better work wellness too!
I joined Parallel in June 2022 having recently moved to the UK from Poland.
I have graduated from the University of Economics in Krakow with a master’s degree in Marketing. In my spare time I enjoy creating art, socialising with friends, having a good cup of coffee and travelling.
I joined Parallel in October 2022, moving to London from Gloucestershire where I previously worked in Adult Social Care but wanted a new challenge.
I graduated from the University of Kent with a degree in Politics and International Relations and in my spare time I enjoy spending time with friends and watching any and every sport!
I joined the Parallel Employee Benefits team in February 2023 after working for a short period in the Construction industry alongside running my own beauty business. Prior to this, I was in the Data & Business Intelligence arena for 17 years working for blue chip companies in the UK and USA.
I have a degree in Computer Information Systems & Design from Kingston University, and I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge in the financial sector.
In my spare time I enjoy going for long walks, eating out and trying new places, keeping fit and spending time with my friends and family. I enjoy visiting new places and will never say no to jetting off to see what the world has to offer!
I have been a part of the Parallel team since July 2023. For most of my working life to date I’ve been involved with group risk administration. I have also taken on some HR administration roles during my time in the UK.
My experience has afforded me professional exposure to many of the different parties involved and helped me understand the full lifecycle and opportunities that employee benefits can bring.
I am originally from Durban, South Africa and I enjoy music and social sports. I’m a seasoned netballer and currently trying my hand at tennis!
I joined Parallel’s Employee Benefits team in August 2023, bringing 4 years industry experience within the Employee Benefits sectors.
I am excited to be part of this friendly team at Parallel and further develop my knowledge and experience.
Outside of work I love socialising with friends and family, shopping and going on weekend getaways!
I joined in September 2023, bringing 6 years of knowledge and experience from the finance sector – personal finance and business banking to investments and pensions. I am excited challenge myself and expand my learning with the Parallel team. In addition to gaining new valuable skills.
Outside of work, you would catch me baking treats or cooking new recipes. Also love to keep fit so the gym and nature walks are a must – no matter the weather.
I joined Parallel in May 2024 having previously had experience in the benefit sector as a Benefit Coordinator where I realised, I thoroughly enjoyed working in the employee benefit sector.
Having now completed my degree in International Relations I was looking to further career in Employee Benefits.
Outside of work I enjoy socialising with friends and family and travelling whenever I get the chance to explore!
I joined the Parallel in March 2024. Having chosen to take a gap year I joined Parallel and ultimately decided I wanted to continue my journey at Parallel. I have learnt so much about Employee Benefits during my time and look forward to continuing to support our clients.
I was originally born in Cape Town, South Africa and moved to England. In my free time I enjoy socialising with my friends, creating art, baking and am always looking for new hobbies to pursue.
I joined Parallel in August 2024 when I was ready for a new challenge after working as an Account Manager for the last six years. I am excited to start my journey in the Employee Benefits field and be a part of the team.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with friends and family, trying new restaurants, and going on holidays.
I joined Parallel in August 2024, having graduated from King’s College London with a degree in Neuroscience and Psychology. Following my experience in the health and wellbeing sector, I am excited to extend my knowledge on employee benefits alongside a great team.
In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at my temple and spending time with my family and friends! I also love exploring new areas (especially for the views) or restaurants.
I joined Parallel in January 2023 having worked for 30+ years in finance and business management in the City of London, Frankfurt, New York and Chicago. I have a diverse range of business sector experience in commodities, money broking, management consultancy, recruitment and tourism.
It’s great to be working with highly professional and motivated colleagues at Parallel and we all support each other with our diverse range of skill sets.
Outside of Parallel, I enjoy going to the opera, fine-dining and foreign travel especially in sunny climates. If I get a chance, I love to ski as I previously spent a lot of time living near the mountains.
I joined Parallel in October 2021 as Business Operations Assistant having graduated with Business Management degree from Queen Mary University of London.
Coming from customer services background I look forward to supporting the team and clients.
Outside the office hours I enjoy holistic lifestyle, spending time in nature, and artisan coffee.
I joined Parallel in July 2013 having previously worked at a large retail bank. I have a degree in…
Business Management from my time at university.
I enjoy working in a small team as it means I get to understand the many things that go into looking after all the different types of clients we have. Outside of work, coffee, shopping and chocolate form an important part of my social life and even the occasional 10k run!