The Refresco Success Story: Overhauling Benefits to Strengthen EVP

The challenge

In 2023, Refresco faced challenges in engaging employees with their benefits offering. Employee satisfaction with benefits was low, with Refresco scoring only 30% on the question, “Do we have special and unique benefits?” in their Great Place to Work Survey. Additionally, the company had limited voluntary benefits, with minimal uptake. Leadership recognised the need to make their EVP more attractive to improve employee engagement, attraction and retention.

They needed to:

• Improve engagement: Employees did not fully understand the value of their existing benefits, and uptake was poor.
• Enhance the EVP: Refresco wants to become an employer of choice, particularly in competitive locations where they compete with other large local employers for talent
• Standardise and simplify: They needed to make their benefits offering more equitable and flexible to meet diverse employee needs

The solution

In 2024, Refresco partnered with Benifex to implement OneHub, deploying Benefits, Discounts, and Wellbeing modules. This solution aimed to:

• Centralise benefits: Bring all benefits into one place, making it easy for employees to access, understand and see the value of everything Refresco offers.
• Expand the offering: Introduce new benefits, including improving life assurance cover (with the ability to increase to x10 cover), private medical, dental, cycle-to-work scheme and many more via Benifex’s Marketplace.
• Communicate effectively: Develop a comprehensive, multi-channel communications strategy tailored to their dispersed, deskless workforce.

An innovative deskless-first approach to communications

Given that 75% of Refresco’s workforce works in factory settings without regular access to tech, traditional email communications alone wouldn’t suffice. With the support of Benifex, Refresco treated the launch of their new benefits program as a high-profile product launch.

Multi-channel strategy

The team sent out:

• Physical materials such as posters, brochures, and leaflets were distributed at factory sites
• TV screen promotions to raise awareness on-site
• Letters to employees’ home addresses ensured visibility.
• Brochures with everything employees needed to know about benefits and the platform
• An email cadence was sent to all employees: pre-launch, during enrolment and for new starters

Taking benefits on the road

Beyond sending direct mail assets, the HR team knew they needed to ensure colleagues truly understood what the programme could mean for them personally – and there was no better way to do this than taking the campaign to employees in person.

Refresco’s Head of Reward and Head of Communications travelled more than 700 miles across the UK over two weeks to speak with over 1,200 colleagues at Refresco’s six sites. The team spoke with groups of 30 employees at a time – over 2 days at each location, covering most shifts. Sessions were supported by providers and Benifex.

Results

Thanks to the multi-channel, comprehensive communications approach, Refresco saw exceptional results:

• 70.5% of employees logged into the platform during the enrolment period.
• 55% of employees selected benefits, with many choosing more than one benefit.
• The platform became a go-to for employees, with 10 logins per person on average.

Improving employee wellbeing

• Employees are better protected; for example, 542 employees increased their life assurance coverage.
• 59% of employees registered for OneHub Wellbeing – 1036 employees completed wellbeing sessions.
• Employees saved £39,850 through the OneHub Discounts module, stretching their salaries further. 334 downloaded the Discounts app, enabling access on the go.

A stronger EVP

The successful overhaul of Refresco’s benefits offering and new platform is helping to position Refresco as an employer of choice, with increased employee engagement, satisfaction, and wellbeing. Employees now value their benefits.

• Employee satisfaction with benefits increased by 66.6%, from 30% in 2023 to 50% in 2024.
• Benefits were the most mentioned area by colleagues in Refresco’s 2024 Great Place to Work survey. This is especially impressive given the programme had only been running for three months when employees took the 2024 survey – showing benefits have already been established as central to the offering for Refresco colleagues.

Continuing to evolve

Refresco’s HR team is committed to continuously enhancing benefits engagement, using employee feedback to evolve and improve the platform.

Refresco will also be implementing Total Reward Statements to give employees a view of everything the organisation does to support them.