Telecommunications organisation sees 450% increase in CTW applicants through hub, equivalent to £3M salary increase across business

What they needed

Vodafone wanted to transform their current benefits offering into an emotionally engaging proposition because engagement was low, particularly amongst the offline population whose participation in the voluntary benefits and discounts on offer was low.

The complexity of the salary sacrifice products provided by various suppliers and a high administrative workload for Vodafone’s HR Team meant a platform was needed which was simple to use, provided choice, flexibility, and low administration. Getting buy-in from senior managers to make a change would be challenging.

Increasing engagement and awareness across the business to create enthusiasm amongst employees was seen as a top objective. Vodafone has a diverse and challenging demographic that would make this objective seemingly tough to achieve as 31% of employees work in retail stores across the UK and 21% in customer operations. With large numbers of staff working set shift patterns, with limited access to email and desktop computers – communicating to this group would be hard. 

How we helped

Aligning with their existing internal initiatives and communication strategy, Vodafone created an engagement and communication plan with Reward Gateway. It looked to maximise all existing channels which fitted alongside their annual calendar of events, as well as reaching all areas of the business to touch every stage of the employee journey. A fundamental part of this strategy was to use enrollment windows for payroll benefits and build campaigns around them. This had the aim to encourage more applications through Vodafone’s My Choices platform and increase higher engagement with the other benefits surrounding them.

A targeted email campaign was designed for each window to promote existing and new benefits for any employees who had not yet selected their choice. For retail staff who did not have regular email access, branded pens and postcards were sent to each store, along with letters home which were also sent to those off sick or on maternity leave. Branded merchandise was sent out too, and My Choices jelly beans caught the attention of many! The HR Team supported all of this by attending retail conferences during the enrolment window to get air time with retail staff, running roadshows targeted at their large UK contact centres and at corporate strategy and functional events held throughout the UK. Available benefits were highlighted in a revamped People Brochure and, during highly interactive inductions, new starters are encouraged to sign up on day one. 

What they achieved

Vodafone has seen a 450% increase in Cycle to Work, 9% increase in uptake of Childcare Vouchers, a 50% increase in PMI, and a 39% increase Critical Illness – all of which continue to grow. In fact, across all benefits, usage of the platform has tripled following the relationship with Reward Gateway, and the amount that Vodafone staff has saved is the equivalent of a £3,000,000 salary increase across the business.