Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: Discover the public sector organisation that is boosting their employees' salaries through Reward Gateway.
Industry
Public Services
Number of employees:
35,000
Number of locations:
700+
Platform features:
Employee Discounts, Reward & Recognition, SmartTech™, Employee Communications, Employee Wellbeing
With a large and multigenerational workforce, operating across 17 different arms of the organisation, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) faced a challenge in offering consistent and valued benefits to each employee. They were providing several different packages, from different providers, depending on where the employee worked. Naturally, this saw some employees getting more out of their benefits than others.
When Defra’s corporate services merged across the entire department, the Employee Benefits team made it their mission to launch a benefits package that would be equitable and able to support the financial wellbeing of all of their employees, from field workers to Chief Scientists, in a sector that has seen pay restraint for over 10 years.
Through an employee survey and focus groups, they discovered that a key issue was that despite a good offering, a large number of their employees were either unaware of their benefits packages or unable to access them. The survey also helped to inform them of which benefits would be of most value to their employees. With this crucial input, Defra identified the benefits they would need to provide when seeking a new platform and were able to invest their budget in what their employees actually desired.
In seeking a provider who could consolidate their benefits packages, Defra selected Reward Gateway from the KCS Framework and were able to quickly implement solutions in line with the procurement guidelines within the government.
Working with Reward Gateway, Defra created the STaR platform, a fully-branded one-stop shop for their employee benefits, easy to access via computer or mobile for staff of all ages and working from all locations. STaR (or Special Thanks and Recognition) centralised these benefits to offer easy-to-access discounts, alongside other benefits such as Reward & Recognition, SmartTech™, the Wellbeing Centre, and links back to the Defra intranet.
By using Reward Gateway’s Communications tools, the Employee Benefits team have driven uptake with seasonal campaigns throughout the year. They’ve also provided a platform for employees to regularly share stories of their savings, encouraging conversation and, in turn, greater engagement with discounts.
STaR has supported financial wellbeing through the highly popular discounts programme, as well as the provision of SmartTech™, allowing staff to access an interest-free loan for any electrical appliance purchase they need to make. With financial wellbeing a core principle for the People Team, SmartTech™ has been a supportive tool in helping employees on rainy days replace broken down essential white goods and appliances – covering more than 1,800 purchases over 2 years.
Through employee discounts, we've been able to put money back in the pockets of our people, helping them save £47,000 a month on average.
The Employee Benefits team have been delighted with the uptake of the platform, with 95% of their staff actively using the platform after launch. Such strong engagement with STaR has helped the Employee Benefits team achieve one of their main goals in putting money back in the pockets of their employees. From a business perspective, Defra conducts regular pulse surveys to assess the engagement of their workforce, and in the three years after launching STaR, their employee engagement scores increased from 27% to 45%.
Discounts have been one of the most popular benefits with Defra staff, saving them a massive £47,000 a month on average and helping their salary go further showing that the business case for STaR couldn’t be clearer.
And they haven’t stopped there either – Defra are continuing to monitor and evaluate their benefits packages to ensure usage and value for their employees remain at the forefront. Looking to the future, Defra will be working with Reward Gateway to add further employee engagement solutions to their platform and improve engagement within their workforce.
Alexandra Powell
Alexandra Powell, Director of Client Cultural Insights, not only knows American Sign Language, but uses it to secretly communicate with her husband and kids at parties. Alex is a highly experienced employee engagement consultant, trainer and speaker. For over 20 years she has helped HR and business leaders implement strategies that drive true culture change.
Will Elliott
Will Elliott is an Experience Manager at Reward Gateway, using the video wall as his creative muse to spread good cheer around the whole office.
Alexandra Powell
Alexandra Powell, Director of Client Cultural Insights, not only knows American Sign Language, but uses it to secretly communicate with her husband and kids at parties. Alex is a highly experienced employee engagement consultant, trainer and speaker. For over 20 years she has helped HR and business leaders implement strategies that drive true culture change.
Charlotte Neal
Charlotte Neal is the Head of Community Connections at Reward Gateway and loves connecting reward and HR professionals to new ways to engage their teams. As a former journalist, she's most proud of her award from the RSPCA on a story about foster dogs finding their new homes, especially because it meant she got to spend her weeks following puppies!
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Topics
Employee Benefits Scheme | Corporate Perks | Employee Perks | Staff Perks | Social Recognition | Benefits Management | Employee Experience Platform | Corporate Discounts
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