How Paul Smith turned employee engagement into a business asset - with 97% platform adoption and £30,000 in NI savings annually

What they needed

Paul Smith is one of Britain's most iconic fashion brands. A founder-led business with 55 years of history, enormous personality and a deliberately diverse identity. With 920 employees spanning retail, warehousing, distribution, design and administration, keeping that workforce connected and motivated presented a real challenge.

Store teams were being incentivised manually - a process that worked to a point, but lacked personalisation and couldn't scale. Previous intranet-based tools had been tried and found wanting; they failed to reflect the richness and character of the Paul Smith brand. Leadership needed a solution that could bring every function together under one roof, drive performance, and communicate the things that matter - from policy to culture to strategic direction - in a way that felt authentically Paul Smith.

How we helped

Paul Smith partnered with Reward Gateway | Edenred to co-develop and present the business case, with the RGER team leading the pitch directly to the CEO and CFO. The presentation made a credible, compelling case for the long-term value of a recognition and reward platform - securing the executive buy-in needed to move forward with confidence.

The result was The House: a fully branded employee engagement platform, launched in 2018 and continuously evolved ever since. Built to reflect Paul Smith's distinct visual identity and customisable in the back end by the internal team. The House became the single destination for employees across every function.

What they achieved

The House has become a genuine business asset. With 97% active users across the workforce, adoption speaks for itself. Managers have embraced the autonomy to reward their teams - driving £40,000 in rewards sent and redeemed in a single year, with engagement running high at both the manager and employee level.

The salary sacrifice benefits have delivered financial impact in both directions: employees are saving on everyday costs, while the business is saving £30,000 annually in NI contributions, generating measurable payroll savings while building a concrete, ongoing ROI case for leadership.

Perhaps most importantly, The House has moved beyond a benefits tool. It's become the connective tissue of the Paul Smith employee experience. Aplace where people feel informed, recognised, and part of something bigger.