How a dedicated communication strategy helped unite two iconic biscuit brands and drive platform usage to 91%

Working with Reward Gateway | Edenred, Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK (FBC UK) designed and delivered an award-winning communications and engagement strategy to unite employees and create one strong team.

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£32,000

saved through Discounts in one year

91%

active user rate 

£57,000

spent in Rewards in one year

1,300

annual visits to the Wellbeing Centre

What they needed

Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK (FBC UK) was born in 2022 when a Ferrero-Related Company acquired two biscuit manufacturing giants – Fox’s and Burton’s. With a heritage dating back to 1853, it was no secret that Fox’s and Burton’s had been rivals for many years, going head to head to compete in the biscuit world. The HR and Internal Communications Teams had a challenge on their hands – to bring the companies together by establishing a fresh identity and culture that still honoured the rich traditions of the past.

With a new FBC UK workforce of 4,000, spanning the length and breadth of the UK, the team organised focus groups with employees from Burton’s Biscuits, Fox’s Biscuits and Ferrero. They discussed company culture and invited feedback about what was working well, and what could be improved. The discussions helped the team to establish clear objectives to shape their new strategy, which included developing a new set of values that would resonate with all employees, connecting and engaging employees from all three brands, creating a culture of recognition and introducing a more consistent approach to rewards and benefits.

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Industry:

Food Manufacturing

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Number of employees:

4,000

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Platform features:

Discounts, Wellbeing, Communications, Recognition & Reward

How we helped

2024_Fox_s Burton_s Companies imagery eCards_UKThe first step was to use the feedback from employees to define the new values and devise a comprehensive launch plan. FBC UK staff already had access to the Reward Gateway | Edenred Platform, but the team wanted to further connect and engage employees across the newly unified brand. The platform, Bake My Day, was used as one of the key communication channels to introduce the new values, alongside face-to-face briefings, workshops and branded merchandise. A new online values booklet and other digital assets were created and uploaded to the platform, encouraging people to engage and interact with the content.

New Recognition & Reward features were added to Bake My Day that enabled employees to recognise each other by sending eCards and submitting nominations, which the team branded as the Nomination Station. To further embed a culture of recognition, the Internal Communications Team began publishing weekly updates that included announcements of nominations and best-in-class examples of the new values being brought to life.

 

What they achieved

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive following the launch of the new values and the rollout of the Bake My Day platform. Over 80% of all FBC UK staff have attended a values workshop so far, and the online values booklet has achieved more than 1,200 unique visits. The Nomination Station has been a huge hit, with 288 nominations being submitted in under three months… a whopping 213% increase on the previous quarter! 81% of employees have now proactively signed up to Bake My Day, of which 91% are active users of the platform.

Employees spent £57,000 in Rewards in just 12 months, saved £32,000 in Discounts and visited the new Wellbeing Centre 1,300 times. From its bakeries to its offices, FBC UK’s innovative communications and engagement strategy has helped every team member to see how they are stronger together, as one united team. Their journey has only just begun!

FBC UK won the Most creative employee engagement communications strategy category at The Appreciation Awards 2024. Congratulations!