Ruth Spencer
Finding a benefits platform to meet the needs of a diverse workforce is a challenge for many organisations, and ensuring that employees are accessing and using all of the benefits on offer is even more difficult. This was a familiar struggle for Royal British Legion (RBL), a national charity that supports members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, whose workforce of 1,700 consists of mainly offline employees who don't use a computer as part of their job role.
The charity first approached Reward Gateway in September 2020 with the need for an employee benefits platform to drive employee engagement and create an easy user experience that every member of staff could buy into. RBL's previous benefits were made up of unconnected services that needed to be accessed separately, and the difficulty of use meant that many staff weren't aware of the full range of initiatives happening at the charity.
Led by Ian MacFarlane, part of the Learning & Organisational Development team, RBL began its journey to find a flexible benefits platform that would strengthen its Employee Value Proposition beyond pay and connect its entire workforce, from care homes and nursing staff to HR and regional operations.
The platform needed to be inherently flexible and future-proof enough to underpin the organisation’s strategy for years to come.
RBL launched its employee benefits platform, 'Rewards Hub,' which consolidated all of the company's benefits to make it easier for staff to access them and for managers to track and approve applications as needed. Some key initiatives featured on the platform include Cycle to Work, Holiday Trading, an employee discounts and cashback programme and more.
“Before partnering with Reward Gateway we had a few separate relationships with external benefits providers, but no central platform to manage everything. We wanted that platform to be accessible and engaging for all our staff, and give us a better chance to connect with teams that don’t work with a computer. Our new system does all this and more – so much so that I’ve already recommended Reward Gateway to two other organisations I’m in contact with!” says Ian.
Planning for the future was a key driver for Royal British Legion when choosing the right system and the company made it clear from the outset they wanted to continue to identify gaps and build on their initial benefits offering.
Ian’s team worked closely with Reward Gateway to tailor a rental deposit loan initiative specific to RBL’s needs, which offers staff financial support whenever they’re making a move to a new rental accommodation. Although this isn’t a daily occurrence, it’s already proving a big help to employees that are looking to move house. RBL’s season ticket loan benefit also helps to make travel more affordable for employees that face a regular commute as part of their role.
In just over a year since launching, employees have spent over £239k through the platform, saving £16k on everyday purchases. Holiday Trading has also proven to be a huge success across all levels of the organisation, with a total order value of £115k.
Ian and his team have done remarkably well to get more than 1,500 of their 1,700 staff registered on the platform so far, 66% of which are active users. This stat is even more impressive when you consider the majority of employees don’t use a computer as part of their job role. Read the full case study here to learn more about how Royal British Legion has transformed its benefits offering to transform the employee experience and boost its overall EVP.
Having a well-rounded employee benefits strategy is a great first step to driving employee engagement and providing support to employees, but your benefits are only effective when employees are actually using them. If your organisation is struggling with benefits uptake or is looking for more ways to build a strong Employee Value Proposition, reach out to us and a member of our team will walk you through ways we can help.
