Are Your Employees Engaged?

There is nothing more frustrating than spending money on something that turns out to be unpopular. No matter which facet of life – whether it’s gambling on a risky Christmas gift, suggesting the newest restaurant in town, or taking a risk with buying a loved one some jewellery.

We can’t always keep the gift receipt.

The same is true for businesses. If you’re going to take a risk and invest your money in a business reward or benefit for your people, you want to ensure they enjoy and use it.

One of the major concerns we are finding in the world of employee rewards at the moment is employee engagement. Far too many businesses find they are spending money on a solution which isn’t actually solving anything. Their people aren’t engaged with the product, often being unaware what it is for or what it does, and the money is going down the drain.

Choosing the Right Fit

How does a business combat this? Unfortunately, the answer is obvious, yet not straightforward. The answer is research, both of potential partners and your own people.

This is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly, and time and effort should be placed on it. Given the importance of staff attraction and retention in today’s market, your employee rewards package can make or break your hiring policy. Simply brushing the decision off and choosing the cheapest option will leave you with a low engagement expense piling up month on month.

Researching potential partners is all well and good; however, you must first decide what is going to work for your team. What are their hobbies, interests, needs, and wants? Once you understand what they are likely to engage with, then the decision to match the right partner with your business can begin.

Finding the Right Match 

Once you know what your people want, how do you find the right provider? The employee rewards market is bursting with options, and all will likely tell you that they are the best option for your business.

There are some key factors to look out for in a benefits or rewards provider that will help to ensure user engagement.   

They Are Relevant

This is probably the most important factor to take on board. Ask yourself if the provider is relevant to your people. Are they suited geographically? Are their perks and discounts in the right industries? Does the price point of their discounts match what your people are looking for? These are just soe of the important questions to ask.

Also, you need to ask if the platform is relevant. Many providers will offer discounts and services which are stale and out-of-season as this is the best way to get a larger discount. If they aren’t offering things that people actually want, then why would your employees use it?

You need to find a way to cut through to what matters, and that is matching what the business offers with what your people are looking for.

They Evolve

Another question worth asking is how does the provider adapt to keep up with the times? Many perks and discounts providers will work with a few big-name businesses to get discounts and then assume this is all anyone needs. While it’s great for a time, how are they continuing to adapt?

If you want to ensure engagement, you need to ensure something new and exciting. Once people have perused the platform, they won’t return unless there’s something new causing them to do so.

They Offer Variety

Similar to the previous point, engagement comes from variety. If you bring on a platform that offers a load of discounts for fast food providers, you will get likely get high engagement from fast food lovers. But what about people in your team that don’t enjoy fast food? Or ones trying to watch their weight? Or ones that prefer vegan alternatives?

Variety is the spice of life, and it’s also what will help to encourage a larger number of your team to engage.

They Speak to Your People

While discounts are a brilliant perk of employee rewards, they are not the be all and end all. Employee rewards are a fantastic way of showing people that you understand their values and what’s important to them. 

There are other areas that employee rewards can touch upon that really matter to people. Familial support, such as fertility or maternity resources, is a huge ask for many employees on the market.

The same goes for physical and mental health initiatives, as well as ways that people can help reduce their carbon footprint.

Choose a platform that offers more than just discounts and you will yield a greater result when it comes to engagement surveys.

They Listen to Your People

How does the platform you’ve chosen adapt to its users? How do they bring new perks on? What causes are they helping to fight for, and how do they decide which ones?

If the answers to the above are a closed book, then it might not bode well in the long run.

After all, employee rewards are driven by the employees. If they’re not being used, it’s not solely the fault of the employees. The provider has to be analysing user engagement to try and provide the best possible experience.

They have to allow users to give their feedback, make suggestions for improvements and nominate things they would like to see on the platform. This is crucial for ensuring engagement.

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We hope this guide to finding the right employee reward provider has helped. If you’re looking for a platform that provides all of the above, while also remaining affordable, check out Mór Corporate Membership.