CarShop, the UK’s largest omnichannel retailer of used cars, employs 1,600 colleagues across 15 different store locations in England and Wales. As well as a competitive salary, it offers discounts on cars and services, discounts on high street stores, enhanced annual leave, good maternity and paternity pay, a company car scheme, and various health insurance schemes.
HR business partner Tom Parnell says: “Ensuring that our employee benefits offering is known and understood by all our colleagues requires a well-thought-out approach, especially given the different ages and backgrounds that we employ. For example, social media can be a great communication tool, but using it in a silo could risk alienating colleagues who don’t use it.”
Benefits are communicated through a range of mediums. Every new starter, for example, receives a benefits infographic as part of their onboarding pack, so they can see what they are entitled to from the start.
“We use regular email communications and find Facebook useful for immediately updating colleagues through the CarShop’s Colleague Noticeboard,” adds Parnell. “However, only 1,300 colleagues are members of Facebook, so we always need to be aware of that.”
Colleagues are also enrolled into the company’s Engage Perks platform and given a unique log-in for access at any time. They can also use the platform to find out more about their benefits, ask questions and get confirmation very quickly. In the event that they need more information, the system has an email facility that sends queries directly to the HR team.