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Worrying about money is one of the leading causes of employee stress in employees’ lives – stress that inevitably leaks into the workplace. 80% admit it affects their productivity, wellbeing, and work-life balance.
As an employer, you might be wondering how you can improve your team’s financial wellness. And while it isn’t always viable to give everyone a big pay rise, there is a way to help employees stretch their income further: an employee discounts scheme.
There are many different schemes that offer exclusive employee discounts, so knowing which one is best for your business can be tricky. We’ve put together this guide so you can find the right employee discount scheme for you and your employees.
An employee discount scheme is a benefit offered to employees alongside their salary. It gives them access to a range of savings across a number of different retailers all year round.
These employee perks can range from discounted gym memberships, low cost cinema tickets, or savings on everyday essentials such as groceries.
Different employee discount schemes offer employee perks in different ways. Before deciding on a scheme, it’s important to know what formats they offer as some are easier to use than others. Formats include:
For example, reloadable gift cards provide big savings, but they have to be physically delivered to an employee, whereas online cashback might offer a smaller discount but can be used immediately.
Staff discounts are a cost-effective benefit which can help save employees hundreds, if not thousands of pounds a year. These employee perks are a great addition to your benefits package, showing your team that you value and appreciate them.
You want to make sure that the discounts on offer are ones your team will actually use. For example, if your staff want to save money on their weekly shop, you might choose a provider with the biggest supermarket discounts. Or, if they are very health conscious you may want to offer a wider range of gym and nutrition savings.
Nick Nelms
Senior Consultant, Employee Benefits
You want to make sure that you offer your staff the best possible discount scheme for the budget you have. Before committing to a scheme, ask yourself the following questions:
Do you want to help employees stretch their income further and help to reduce money worries? Maybe encourage a healthier lifestyle and get people more active? Or do you just want to improve employee satisfaction, work life balance, and company culture?
Knowing why you’re implementing a scheme will also help you to measure its success later on.
Agreeing a budget from the outset will help you narrow your search straight away. Prices vary depending on which scheme you go for – the more you pay, the bigger the discounts you’ll secure for your team.
There’s no use implementing a reward scheme that your team won’t use. Get employee feedback around where they shop, and where they’d appreciate the biggest discounts. Do you have a large number of parents who’d really like bigger discounts on groceries and days out? Or do you have jetsetters who’d like to save on their holidays? Knowing this from the outset will help you make informed decisions – and boost your employee engagement at the same time.
Our Drewberry specialists live and breathe employee perks, and can help you find the right scheme for your company culture.
We’ll do the heavy lifting for you while you focus on what matters. Give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk to find out your options.
Nadeem Farid
Head of Health & Wellbeing Benefits
It’s not just vouchers and small savings: a discount scheme for your team can save them thousands of pounds a year on everyday items.
Many schemes offer discounts on holidays, gym memberships, eating out, wellness services, and more. We’ve provided some examples of the best discount scheme savings available below.
Employee Discount Examples | Retailer | Discounts |
|---|---|
🛒 Food & Groceries | Up to 7% |
🍔 Eating Out | Up to 12% |
🚘 Motoring & Fuel | Up to 15% |
👖 Fashion | Up to 25% |
🍏 Health & Fitness | Up to 32% |
✈️ Travel | Up to 15% |
🍿 Days Out & Experiences | Up to 20% |
A discount scheme has the potential to make your employees’ income stretch that much further – helping ease their money worries and increasing your employee engagement. Give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk to find out more.
A good staff discount scheme is one that employees will genuinely value and find easy to use. By offering relevant discounts, seamless accessibility, and a variety of options, the scheme can become a meaningful part of your benefits package. Below we’ve provided some of the key features to look out for.
Finding the right discount scheme isn’t just about what works for your employees—it also needs to work for your business. While it’s important to offer a benefit that your team will appreciate and use, the scheme should also fit seamlessly into your organisation, aligning with your budget, operational needs, and long-term goals. Before opting for a scheme it’s important to consider:
The first step is to understand what your employees truly value. Consider conducting a survey or gathering feedback to identify the types of discounts that would make the biggest impact. For example, younger employees might prioritise retail and entertainment discounts, while others may favour savings on groceries or travel. Tailoring the scheme to your team’s preferences ensures it will be used and appreciated.
Scalability is a vital consideration when choosing an employee discount scheme, particularly for organisations planning for growth or managing a workforce with fluctuating numbers. A scalable scheme ensures that as your business expands, the benefit can effortlessly accommodate more employees without compromising on quality or value. Whether you’re onboarding new staff or opening additional locations, the right scheme will adapt seamlessly to your needs.
When deciding what the best employee discount scheme is for your company, you need to consider the terms and conditions that come with it:
Make sure to ask these questions of your provider before committing to anything.
A discount scheme should make life easier, not harder, for your HR team. Look for providers that offer straightforward onboarding processes, minimal day-to-day management, and robust customer support. A seamless experience for both employers and employees ensures the scheme runs smoothly.
When it comes to discount schemes, it’s important to understand how flexible they are. For example, do you want a platform that can be white labelled to align with your branding? Does it offer just discounts or can you add other employee benefits?
The best employee discount schemes will provide you with a platform that you can tailor and mould to fit with your specific needs, giving you the functionality to add and remove employees easily.
Many organisations already offer a variety of employee benefits, so the discount scheme should integrate seamlessly with any existing platforms or systems. This reduces administrative complexity and creates a cohesive experience for employees accessing their benefits.
To help you find the right employee discount program, we’ve compiled a list of the biggest providers in the UK. When researching, keep in mind what you need from a scheme, along with what discounts will motivate employees.
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My.Drewberry offers an all-in-one solution for employee perks. Employees can access hundreds of discounts for leading retailers via their unique portal. Our flexible platform gives you the option to add and manage your complete benefits suite, including Workplace Pensions, Group Life Insurance, Group Private Health Insurance, and Salary Sacrifice benefits such as Cycle To Work or Holiday Trading. Give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk to book a demo. | 
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Boostworks is a leading provider of employee reward and recognition benefits. It offers a discount scheme which provides a wide range of savings across various different retailers. | 
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Reward Gateway is an established global employee discount scheme provider. It has access to a large range of savings for your employees to boost their financial wellbeing | 
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Perkbox offers a large range of discounts and employee perks, all available online or via a mobile app for your team to use on the go. | 
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Edenred Savings offers an easy-to-use digital platform. It also provides dedicated support via their customer service personnel. | 
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Highstreet Vouchers offers a range of discount formats. These include one-off reward gift vouchers, bulk purchase gift cards, digital gift cards and rewards schemes. | 
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Avantus Employee Benefits offers discounts and benefits for employees via three flexible platforms. These include FlexGenius, perkpal and Benefit Select, so you can choose the one that best suits the needs of your staff and your company. |
Setting up and maintaining your employee perks requires a decent bit of admin, so it quickly becomes time consuming. We do the heavy lifting for you, giving you more time to focus on what matters.
We live and breathe employee benefits, doing this day in-day out for businesses just like yours. Looking at the bigger picture, we get to know your unique workforce and bench your offering against competitors.
Best of all? We have access to the most competitive rates on the market for core benefits such as Group Life Insurance, Group Health Insurance, and Group Critical Illness Cover. Give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
Employee benefits can be a headache. But our specialists do this day-in, day-out, offering first class service when you need it most. Here’s why you should talk to us:
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