How Holland & Barrett supported their employees through the cost of living crisis with £106,000 saved through Discounts

• Engagement rate is 22% over the industry average
• Discounts have saved employees £106,000 a year on average
• £302,000 given in Rewards 
• £720,000 of salary saved and reinvested through Holiday Trading in two years

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What they needed:

As Holland & Barrett transformed from a retailer to a wellness business, they realised the growing need to overhaul their reward programme as they recruited new roles in Science, Technology and ESG. Their previous offering was no longer sufficient and was dispersed across different platforms, which resulted in a drain on resources in paying different providers. As a result, the Change, Communications and Engagement Team looked to Reward Gateway as a one-stop-shop from which to launch their communications, reward and recognition systems and offer their workforce a diverse range of easy-to-access benefits.

How we helped:

Step one for the Holland & Barrett team was establishing a central hub for employees to access savings and recognition tools. As a result they launched EPIC Extras, an upgrade to their former rewards programme. The name links back to the Holland & Barrett values: Expertise, Pioneering, Inclusive and Caring.

Alongside the support of their Client Success Manager, Holland & Barrett have worked hard to continually evolve and expand their offering across EPIC Extras. Having established the platform as a “Pick n Mix” offering of benefits for their diverse employees to choose from, they now offer a healthcare cash plan, holiday trading and fitness benefits amongst others. In the near future, Holland & Barrett will be launching Reward Gateway’s Total Reward Statement, allowing employees to see all the different benefits they receive, both from the platform and the company, as well as the value of these.

We had so many things around the business that we were paying different providers for. We just looked at how we could consolidate that into one, so it’s easier for colleagues to access those benefits, and we can work with one industry-leading partner.

What they achieved:

As a response to the cost of living crisis, Holland & Barrett implemented SmartSpending™ to help staff save on everything from cinema tickets to their weekly shop. With an impressive uptake, employees have saved over £106,000. With recognition a priority for Holland & Barrett, they introduced eCards, a peer-to-peer recognition tool for their staff to send and receive. In the first 12 months of EPIC Extras, 15,000 eCards were sent – all from a workforce of 8,000 people. Instant Awards were also added to the programme, allowing managers to send a monetary award alongside recognition – a move that has been well received, with employees redeeming over £300,000 in rewards in the first 24 months. EPIC Extras has also delivered savings to the business through the launch of Holiday Trading, allowing staff to purchase or sell their annual leave. As a result, the company has saved £720,000 in their salary budget over 2 years, a saving that has been reinvested back into the business.

One of the key benefits for the team has been their ability to report on platform usage and use the data to inform their communication and engagement campaigns. For example, using the reporting function of their Reward Gateway platform, they were able to see that SmartSpending™ usage was thriving, whilst the Wellbeing Centre engagement needed improvement.

This insight informed their internal communications strategy and as a result they launched a campaign to drive awareness and usage of the Wellbeing Centre benefit. Whilst engagement across the platform has been a proud achievement for the Holland & Barrett team, better yet, they have seen an improvement in labour turnover over the last three years, with help from EPIC Extras supporting the diverse needs of the workforce and adding value to all their employees.