With a workforce of 5,500 employees spread across 29 locations and 350 different business units, Welcome Break has to use various communication methods to keep staff up-to-date with benefits information.
The motorway services operator has an offline workforce of around 85% to 90%, and cannot rely on emails alone. Nicola Marshall, people director, says: "When we are communicating either new or enhanced benefits, or just reminding people what there is, we will use very channel that is available to us."
Every new Welcome Break employee joins on the same day of the week, Welcome Wednesday, and has an introduction to their benefits, as well as receiving a handbook with information on how they work and how they can be accessed.
All of the organisation's provisions are available through its platform, provided by Reward Gateway, including core benefits such as pension and holiday entitlement, in addition to perks such as free parking and free meals onsite.
With such a large workforce, ranging in ages from 16 to 87, Welcome Break has to consider the different demographics, and the various mediums through which to communicate with them.
Every fortnight, an email is sent out to all staff with relevant news. A recent example covered the changes to the auto-enrolment contribution levels. A newsletter is also circulated, primarily to managers, with information to cascade to their teams.
Welcome Break also hosts its own internal social media platform, on which any employee can post and tag colleagues. The people team uses this to disperse reminders or news about benefits, and to respond to feedback.
"We have a really open communication forum where we say, 'if there is something we are not doing to make your life easier, tell us'. We’re really open to feedback," says Marshall.
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