How Affinity Water turned the tide on employee appreciation to promote a more people-first culture and increase platform engagement to 94%

Affinity Water partnered with Reward Gateway | Edenred to design and execute an industry-leading approach to people appreciation that had something for everyone. The result was an awardwinning strategy that recognised and engaged the entire workforce.

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£41,000

saved in employee discounts in one year

94%

active user rate 

£47,500

of employee electrical purchases covered through SmartTech™

4,600+

eCards sent in one year

What they needed

Faced with a poor employee survey, low performance scores and high attrition in some teams, Affinity Water needed to re-engage and re-inspire its 1,500-strong workforce. As the UK’s leading drinking water supplier, the organisation was experiencing a transitional phase after a number of senior leadership changes.

Affinity Water needed to take action, and fast. So the organisation set out an ambitious objective: to create an industry-leading people appreciation strategy with something for everyone. But with such a broad mix of employees – from teams who fix burst pipes, to contact centre advisers, environmentalists and engineers – one size would certainly not fit all.

The first task was gathering feedback to understand the things that mattered most to the people of Affinity Water, the team then mapped activities and organised a series of company roadshows to take the new Executive Team to all Affinity Water locations, meeting over 850 employees and hosting 509 minutes of Q&A.

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Industry:

Utilities

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Number of employees:

1,500+

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Platform features:

Discounts, Communications, Recognition & Reward, Wellbeing, SmartTech™, Cycle to Work, Holiday Trading

How we helped

2024_Affinity Water imagery laptop_UKAfter reviewing the feedback from both the survey and company roadshows, the next step was to introduce new and simplified versions of the purpose, vision and values to help reconnect employees to the why behind Affinity Water. Working alongside Reward Gateway | Edenred, the team then introduced peer-nominated awards to its Tap4Perks employee experience platform, embedding the new company values. In the first five months, 150 nominations were submitted and winners were surprised by a call from the CEO, a £50 voucher, a badge and certificate. Fun ‘thank you’ cards were also introduced, with managers encouraged to share at least four per month.

Using the platform’s built-in communication tools, Affinity Water refocused its internal communications approach to be more people-led, spotlighting employee stories and achievements. To tackle high attrition and low engagement in the contact centre, operational challenges like shift patterns and working hours were addressed. But the real gamechanger came from the introduction of Friday “Spin the Wheel”, where employees would vote for their colleagues to win vouchers through Tap4Perks.

A new Wellbeing Committee was launched, promoting features in the platform’s Wellbeing Centre and organising fun fitness activities to raise money for charity. Joe Wicks, better known as The Body Coach, even got involved, sharing a personalised video with “Affinity Water legends”!

 

What they achieved

More than 4,600 peer-to-peer thank you eCards have been sent so far, and 1,845 on-the-spot rewards distributed. And it turns out that a simple “thank you” goes a long way – the most recent people survey revealed a significant increase in results relating to both recognition and overall engagement.

Affinity Water’s eNPS shifted from 33 to 40, with ‘promoters’ jumping from 37% right up to 57% and ‘detractors’ dropping from 25% down to a much healthier 14%.

On top of those fantastic results, the organisation saw a 45% increase in usage of the Tap4Perks platform. And the results from the employee discounts programme were just as impressive, with a saving of over £41,000 in just one year. Employee wellbeing was also brought to the forefront – the Wellbeing Centre received 1,400 views in just 12 months, and employees saved £3,700 through the Cycle to Work scheme.

Affinity Water won the Best overall people appreciation strategy category at The Appreciation Awards 2024 in recognition of the fantastic turnaround that they achieved. Congratulations!

"We set out to create an industry-leading people appreciation strategy with something for everyone. We’ve seen a tidal wave of change across the business and our take up, engagement levels and the overall impact on our people has been immense. It has directly helped us to improve our business results, in July we paid our highest bonus level ever and have moved up in the industry comparison table from mid-table to 2nd position. Phenomenal results."

Reward Coordinator at Affinity Water Limited

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