A complete guide to employee discount schemes

Typically, employees can access their employee discounts through a dedicated platform such as an employee discounts platform.

Through this, they can get their discounts while in-store on their mobile or at home shopping on their desktop or tablet. This is how our employee discounts scheme works at Caboodle.

Employees access the Salary Extras app or log on to their employee benefits platform on desktop or tablet, find the retailer they’re looking for, enter their purchase amount and get a discount code instantly in their inbox.

Employees also get access to a huge range of discounts from the weekly shop to DIY, holidays to dining out, from books to flowers.

Employee benefits in general play a huge part in the success of many areas of your business, including recruitment, retention and the overall wellbeing of your team.

• 75% of employees say they’re more likely to stay with their employer because of their benefit programme (Willis Towers Watson)
• 80% of employees would choose additional benefits over a pay raise (Harvard Business Review)
• 69% of employees report that they might choose one job over another if it offered better benefits (One Medical).

We’ve taken a more in-depth look at which benefits employees look for previously on our blog and the research helps paint an insightful picture of the types of benefits employees expect and how they can support key HR and business goals.

Research by Glassdoor shows that 17% of employee value employee discounts more than a pay rise and is one of the top 10 most popular employee benefits.

The popularity of your employee discounts scheme may depend on the variety and choice of discounts on offer for staff. 

The wider the choice, the more areas an employee can save and therefore the more they’ll benefit. When sourcing an employee discount scheme, this is crucial to keep in mind.

Fortunately, with our employee discounts platform, your employees can access a range of discounts catered to them from discount codes to cinema vouchers.

Employee discounts schemes can benefit your employees in the following ways:

• Employees save on the weekly/monthly shop
• Save further on sale prices
• Save big on big purchases
• Makes brand new tech more accessible with technology schemes.

Speaking of choice, a wide variety of employee discounts can help staff save on just about anything.

Savings on regular expenses like the weekly shop can really add up throughout the year, and as employee discounts can usually be used on top of sale prices, the savings can be even greater.

Employees can save on big purchases like holidays, appliances, or even whole kitchen suites. Big purchases like these can come with big savings through an employee discounts scheme.

In addition, employee discounts can help staff save on brand-new tech too. Now more than ever we’ve become reliant on tech for work, education, entertainment and keeping in touch with our loved ones. Being able to make big savings on new tech is a great benefit for your employees.

A scheme like the employee discount scheme can really help here, helping make newer and more reliable tech more affordable for staff.

These are just a small number of ways in which an employee discount scheme can support your staff.

Key benefits of an employee discounts scheme for employers include:

• Improved employee retention
• Improved employee financial wellbeing
• Improved employee benefits platform engagement
• No admin, removing the need for manual processes.

By helping make employees’ paycheques go further and by providing savings they may not find elsewhere, businesses can improve employee retention by introducing financial wellbeing benefits for employees.

Companies can support their employees with their financial wellbeing through helping them save money and giving greater control over their finances through financial education.

Hosting employee discounts through your employee benefits platform can help improve engagement with your platform and therefore your other benefits too.

And as the scheme doesn’t require any management or administration over application processes for example, it’s quick and easy to set-up and easy to run.

• We’re facing difficult economic times
• Employee discount programs can help staff save in the short and long term

The world and indeed our finances have faced dramatic change in recent times and despite the economy gradually recovering, this will be a gradual process meaning that employees need support more than ever.

But what does this have to do with employee discounts?

Well, any employee benefit that can help employees save and give greater control over finances is going to be incredibly important right now and in the coming years.

An employee discount program has the potential to save your staff hundreds and potentially thousands over the course of a year and over the course of their employment with you.

In short, the scheme is a no-brainer to implement, especially considering how low-cost and low-admin it is to set up and run.

So, you’ve decided to implement an employee discount scheme, but now you need to find a suitable provider who not only provides a world-class platform, but also possesses the expertise to assist you and your employees. Finding the right provider is crucial for a number of reasons.

Budget has been a big barrier for many businesses in implementing employee benefits, 84% of businesses in-fact, according to research.

The employee discount scheme is usually a low-cost scheme, however it can help to find a supplier with various options when it comes to the scheme to help fit it into your employee benefits budget.

The scheme also needs to appeal to all the demographics within your workforce, with discounts everyone can take advantage of. Our employee discount program offers discounts and savings catered to a variety of needs. Whether your employees have a long commute, work from home, or like to prioritise their wellbeing, our employee benefits platform can help.

Lastly, look for a provider that can incorporate your existing benefits into their employee benefits platform and add new schemes as you expand. This way, you can keep the benefits that your employees love while having access to a whole new selection.

Through Access Engage, we provide all this and more.

So, if you’re looking to introduce employee discounts to your staff, get in touch and we’ll walk you through your options.