Success story:

TFG London 

TFG London is part of The Foschini Group Limited (TFG), a leading South African retail business. TFG entered the UK market in 2015 with the acquisition of Phase Eight and have since added Whistles, Hobbs, Inside Story, and White Stuff to their portfolio of premium UK womenswear, and contemporary homeware and gifting brands. 

TFG London had a range of benefits available to their employees when they approached us about our benefits platform, but they had identified the need to repackage and optimise their offering. An engagement survey revealed employees wanted to see improvements in the visibility, clarity, and accessibility of what was available to them.

As an existing customer, and having explored the market to find the right benefits and rewards solution for them, TFG London decided to opt for what Dianne calls the “one source of truth” approach. 

“When you’ve been in this arena a long time, you know the benefits of only having to load data into one system, so it flows smoothly across each function. You don’t need to think about different systems which don’t speak to each other, and which have their own individual terminologies. And there was no expensive integration with Access. Both from a user and administrative perspective, it just made sense”, Dianne told us. “And another reason for choosing this platform was the function to map eligibility to certain benefits, as this can vary across the business dependant on a number of factors. Our employees only see the benefits that apply to them, which is a key feature".

TFG London employees had voiced their needs and preferences clearly in their engagement survey, so Dianne and her team knew exactly what they wanted to deliver. “We needed a one-stop shop solution with scope to deliver accessible benefits in a wide range of areas”, she told us.

So how successful was the launch? “Extremely successful”, Dianne says. “As soon as we went live, we were getting an average of 150 logins every day. Instant discounts were immediately very popular. In our first month we had over 1000 clicks on instant discounts alone. People engaged with the app while they were out and about, at restaurants for example, and because it was so popular we’ve added significantly to this area of the platform. Plus the fact the platform is completely bespoke means we can adapt as much as we want to, whenever we want to. I’ve added three new offerings just this month, including a mortgage broker who wants to work with us”.

And Dianne has instant access to a wealth of data to support TFG London’s compensation strategy. “Steve (Steve Lapham, TFG London’s Customer Success Manager at The Access Group) sends us a report every month which tells me everything I need to know, all in one place. It’s integral to optimising and refining our offering, and knowing what we need to promote more effectively. If there’s a dip in engagement with volunteer days or our online GP for example, we’ll want to look into that. Steve also sends key resources such as flyers and posters and he advises me on new benefits and rewards he thinks we would want to offer our employees”.

TFG London can now offer their employees the one-stop shop they asked for, to provide:

• Improved engagement, giving employees greater control with flexible benefits
• Rules and eligibility for different employee cohorts
• Marketing for effortless and consistent engagement
• An employee benefits app for instant access to discounts in-store or online
• Branding, including company logo
• Comprehensive employee benefits, HR and Payroll, all in one place
• Simple employee benefits to fully bespoke and highly technical solutions

Dianne told us a vital aspect of the platform’s success is the ease of use for its employees. “Because the app is clear and easy to navigate, and only the relevant benefits are visible to each person, engagement is high. Our employees can make savings that really mean something to them and their families. That’s important to us because our people are important to us, and we want them to know that”.

Since launching, TFG London employees have saved over £1000 in instant discounts alone. “Cinema vouchers are particularly popular, but also we saw significant savings made around Christmas, which is really important to people at such a costly time of year. We couldn’t have delivered that outcome without the employee benefits platform”.

We asked Dianne what it was like working with our team throughout implementation and launch, and to date.

“The team are absolutely 100% outstanding. It’s felt like a proper collaboration right from the outset, and it still does as we work on our future plans. I am valued as a customer, I am listened to, queries are resolved quickly, and all my ideas are taken on board. The service is personalised, and we have always felt that nothing is too difficult. The team are always invested and interested in us, and they always want the very best for us. I cannot praise them highly enough – the service is perfect”.

Needless to say, we’re absolutely thrilled to hear about Dianne’s experience of working with us and we’re looking forward to delivering more positive outcomes for TFG London in future.

There are exciting times ahead for TFG London with their recent acquisition of the White Stuff brand and when Dianne spoke to us about bringing them on board with the benefits platform, she requested the very same team as with the original launch. We were happy to oblige of course, and White Stuff will be up and running shortly.

At the same time, the team are busy getting ready to launch our Total Reward Statement (TRS) product which shows employees the complete value of their compensation package, including salary, bonuses, and benefits. TRS has been designed to enhance retention, demonstrate transparency, and help employees to understand and appreciate the full value of their employment package.

But it’s not just TFG London who’ve benefited from our partnership. As an expert in her field, Dianne has shared her wealth of experience and knowledge, contributing her recommendations for the optimisation of some of our processes and our reporting package. Thank you, Dianne.

And of course, given the success of the employee benefits platform, we’re all looking forward to the results of TFG London’s next engagement survey! 

We hope this customer success story has given you plenty to think about. If you’d like to find out more about TFG London’s partnership with Access, you can read about their experience with our on-demand payroll solution, EarlyPay here. And if you’d like to explore what we could achieve together with your organisation, please get in touch. Our experts are always on-hand to talk with you.