How Southeastern Railway signed up 71% of employees to their centralised benefits platform in just eight months

• 71% active user rate reached eight months after launch
• £31,000 saved through Discounts in one year
• 2,200 eCards sent in one year 
• £43,000 spent in Rewards in one year
• £697,000 spent through SmartTech™, covering 1,000 purchases

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What they needed:

With a remote workforce who operate on trains, in stations and depots, and with limited day-to-day interaction with colleagues and managers, getting the message out about the rewards and benefits on offer at Southeastern Railway was a challenge for its HR team. The important job of maximising engagement with employee benefits was made even harder by the reliance on a number of different suppliers, using separate platforms and a mix of online and paper-based administration. To get more employees using the benefits and rewards on offer and make them easier to use and administrate, the HR team at Southeastern Railway wanted to put its offering in one place with fully tech-enabled access and management. They also wanted to make peer-to-peer recognition easier in order to support the company’s culture of appreciation.

How we helped:

Working with Reward Gateway, Southeastern Railway put in place a new comprehensive employee engagement platform which provides a one-stop-shop for benefits, discounts, recognition, and wellbeing initiatives. The platform called “Extra Mile” is aligned to the Southeastern Railway brand and ‘Ways of Working’ through its user-friendly interface and ensures employees can easily find the different benefits on offer.

The way Reward & Recognition is issued and delivered has been streamlined and simplified with Reward Gateway’s platform making it easier for employees to send eCards and nominate colleagues for rewards. By introducing Employee Discounts, employees get to save money on everyday household spending and, through SmartTech™, spread the cost of buying electrical items whether they are a necessity, like replacing a broken phone, or a treat like a new television.

With a new Wellbeing Centre in place on the platform, the HR team at Southeastern Railways is now able to run campaigns throughout the year in support of its employees’ mental, physical and financial wellbeing, signposting relevant content and the different benefits that can make a difference to its people. To launch and then register as many employees as possible to the new platform, the HR team at Southeastern Railway established a new network of local ambassadors across the company’s sites. These ambassadors played a crucial role in promoting the platform, supporting employee onboarding and helping to overcome the communication challenges posed by the company’s geographically dispersed workforce, very few of whom work in an office.

I’m really proud about what we have achieved with Reward Gateway who have helped us be brave and try something new with our employee benefits. Of all of the great things we have achieved as an HR team in the last year, this is amongst the best.

What they achieved:

The launch of the Extra Mile platform has transformed employee engagement at Southeastern Railway: within just eight months of launch the HR team had recruited 71% of employees as active users of the platform.

Extra Mile has helped significantly reinforce Southeastern Railway’s culture of appreciation with eCards and awards that highlight the company’s ‘Ways of Working’, which are promoted throughout the platform. With 2,200 eCards issued to recognise good work, 1,000 bronze awards and a total of £43,000 in Reward delivered to its people, managers now say reward and recognition is much easier to give.

Employees have embraced SmartTech™, with the scheme allowing them to spread the cost of 1,000 electrical items worth a total £697,000. At the same time, Employee Discounts have helped save a total of £31,000 on shopping, and Southeastern has recently launched their Cycle to Work scheme.

Extra Mile has helped Southeastern to save countless hours on administration by replacing its cumbersome paper-based benefits system, now enabling managers to easily access benefits – a move the HR team describe as “from Excel to Easy!”