How the Salvation Army Trading Company embarked on a journey to become a world-class employer, saving its colleagues almost £12,000 along the way

Following an in-depth procurement process, SATCoL partnered with Reward Gateway | Edenred. Starting small with a view to building out the platform over the following months and years, the company launched with the three solutions most important to them – Wellbeing, Communications and Benefits. They also included other initiatives such as “Ask Trevor”, providing an opportunity for colleagues right across the organisation to directly ask a question to the Managing Director, which he would personally respond to.

To drive engagement with the platform and its offering, the team built a multi-channel approach by branding the platform re:connect; aligning it with an existing hardcopy newsletter that was sent to colleagues across all shops. They added all company policies and procedures, pulling everything together in one central place.

The re:connect platform began to evolve as momentum grew and grew. The team at SATCoL soon added eCards, a virtual GP and Holiday Trading. They also adapted the look and feel of the platform as the company changed and developed over time. Information about how and when to use re:connect was included as part of SATCoL’s mandatory manager training, encouraging greater engagement across the company

What they achieved

The introduction of re:connect has connected colleagues across the entire country, showcasing the Salvation Army Trading Company’s great culture. Employees across all 260 retail shops can now easily access policies, documents, benefits and information, which has resulted in an 85% active user rate. From the viewpoint of SATCoL’s Head of HR & Training, “Re:connect enables people to be heard, seen and involved. It makes the company more accessible.”

Employee wellbeing has always been a top priority for SATCoL, and the launch of the Wellbeing Centre was a huge success – receiving 3,400 visits in just 12 months. Employees’ financial wellbeing has also been boosted with the workforce saving £11,700 through discounts in one year, and having £33,000 worth of technology and white goods orders covered through SmartTech™. Holiday Trading enabled employees to better manage their work-life balance, trading £123,000 of annual leave over a rolling one-year period – saving employees £39,600 and the company £17,100 in National Insurance contributions.

As a result, employees feel more appreciated and valued by the company. Every year since launching the platform, the engagement survey results across the areas of wellbeing, communications and benefits have continued to improve. And since the launch of re:connect, Salvation Army Trading Company has engaged more colleagues – helping to foster its ‘Dare to Care’ culture which has enabled the organisation to raise millions for its parent charity.