Centrica’s award-winning benefits and wellbeing strategy

Sandra Dyball, Director – Health, Wellbeing & Benefits, Centrica

A few years ago, at Centrica, we identified that despite having generous benefits and impactful wellbeing initiatives, they were disconnected, leading to a fragmented employee experience.

To address this, we made a significant change. We unified our health, wellbeing, and benefits teams under a single strategic direction. This shift laid the foundation for something much bigger — an integrated, always-on approach to drive everyday engagement across the business.

Our rationale was straightforward: Life doesn’t fit into neatly timed enrollment windows, so neither should benefits. This led to our “real anytime benefits,” allowing employees to access, adapt, and engage with what they need, when they need it.

This always-on approach transcends convenience; it’s about fostering a supportive culture. This approach has yielded tangible results: increased engagement, higher benefit usage, and a stronger sense of ownership among employees. These aren’t just programs we offer; they’re everyday resources that our people use.

The Benifex platform provides a unified space where health, wellbeing, and rewards are seamlessly integrated into one cohesive story. This single home for benefits, wellbeing support, and resources has been key in helping employees connect the dots and see the bigger picture of what is available to them.

Last year, we were honored with seven industry awards for our innovative approach to employee health and wellbeing. But external accolades aren’t what drives us. What matters is that our people understand what’s on offer, feel confident navigating it, and believe it’s there for them — not just the company.

Achieving this integration required not just vision, but also extensive collaboration. We work closely across teams — from comms to reward to tech — to ensure the employee journey is intuitive and personal. We listen to employee feedback, use data, and act on it.

Looking forward, our next step is the rollout of ‘Home’. It’s about taking what we’ve already built and elevating it further — making it even easier for employees to interact with benefits as part of their daily routine. We’re also exploring how AI and smarter analytics can help us personalize the experience without making it more complex.

Delivering value through benefits today means more than offering a menu. It means making sure people can feel that value. And that’s what we’ve done at Centrica: closing the gap between policy and experience.

To other leaders, I’d say this: benefits don’t need to be revolutionary to be transformational; they need to feel real. The closer you bring them to the employee, the more powerful they are.

Read all expert takeaways from the Benifex Forum here.