Employee discount schemes that offer your people vouchers and savings from retailers and other services are one of the best ways of bulking up pay packets without a pay-rise.

Yet if you want to make sure your employees benefit from this benefit, it isn’t enough simply to put a scheme in place – here are five tips for making the most out of employee savings:

1 Understand your audience  – Employee savings benefits different people in different ways. Older workers or empty nesters with no children will be interested in different things from working parents or employees who are still young, free and single. Think how you can promote the benefits which will interest these different demographics.

2 Target and time your communications –employees can make big savings at times of year when there is pressure on household budgets. Target your communications ahead of summer holidays, Christmas or the new school year to remind your employees what they can save on.

3 Communicate the cash savings – The real value of employee savings is the hard cash it saves your people each month. Think creatively and use charts and infographics of typical employees to illustrate simply the specific areas where they can save.

4 Go mobile –  Employee Savings schemes now longer need to be confined to a booklet or logging in to a web portal. Now, mobile Employee Savings give people access to vouchers and discounts when they are out shopping pick a scheme which allows you to do this.

5 Ask for feedback and find advocates – People use employee savings schemes in different and surprising ways. Ask your employees how they are making the most of the scheme you have in place and which savings the find most useful. Use these examples or if possible as advocates to promote your scheme.

Andy Philpott is sales and marketing director at Edenred – you can access more insight on benefits and reward at our knowledge hub –  www.edenred.co.uk/ehub/

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