BSkyB: Sky Benefits Extra
When this internationally recognised multi-media company decided it was time to bring in the discount benefit experts, what they didn’t expect was for that same provider to help them maximise their other employee benefits too!
Employees: c.19,000
Workforce profile: Mostly online
Highlights: Asperity comms used to support other areas of BSkyB employee benefits
BSkyB already offered employees a great benefits package including flexible benefits and a free High Definition (HD) feed to employee homes. A discount scheme that was managed internally also featured in the benefit package. So when this internationally recognised multi-media company decided it was time to bring in the discount benefit experts, what they didn’t expect was for that same discount provider to help them maximise their employee HD benefit too!
Employees at BSkyB are all online and technologically savvy. So while the online aspect of Reward Gateway was sure to appeal to this workforce, the challenge for Asperity was to ensure that employees fully appreciated just what savings were available and why logging into the scheme would prove worth their while.
Ease of access was key. BSkyB already had a flexible benefits scheme with single sign-in capability. So to avoid unnecessary employee process and click through administration, BSkyB’s Reward Gateway was integrated within the existing Flex platform ensuring that employees retained their single sign-in functionality for all their employee benefits.
Wallet size business cards were also produced for all employees giving them quick reference information as well featuring retailers likely to appeal to BSkyB employees. The intranet was another important tool for promoting the scheme. Key messages are updated on a fortnightly basis helping to ensure that the message remains fresh and a constant visual reminder is in place.
After the scheme had been up and running for a while, Asperity took a film crew to BSkyB’s offices and set about capturing employees stories and anecdotes on using Reward Gateway. The film proved to be a powerful communication tool demonstrating not only how easy it was to save money on everyday purchases but also because it gave the scheme employee credibility.
It was when Asperity was able to suggest a competition and Roadshow that would support other areas of the BSkyB benefits package that the flexibility of Asperity’s approach to communication really came to the fore.
BSkyB employees all benefit from free HD feeds in to their homes, however not all employees have HD ready televisions. Asperity had just launched vouchers by SMS text with Comet and this seemed a perfect opportunity to promote this new asset on Reward Gateway while highlighting to BSkyB employees the opportunity to save 10% on the cost of HD ready TVs at Comet. Comet came along to support the roadshow and a competition was also launched on the intranet.
The question based competition created loads of excitement and nearly 10% of the workforce took part.
The BSkyB team and Asperity continue to work together on exciting new initiatives to keep the scheme fresh.
In 2011, the Sky Benefits Extra scheme was shortlisted in the ‘Most effective use of a voluntary benefits plan’ category in the Employee Benefits Awards.
