Mobile phone company O2 Telefonica UK decided to have a taste of its own medicine after publishing customer research that revealed almost one-third of Brits would forsake a holiday abroad this summer in favour of a break in the UK.
To help employees join in the trend for holidaying in the UK, O2 launched a 'summer staycations deals' store on its voluntary benefits platform, provided by Next Jump.
The promotion offered O2's 14,000 employees access to discounts on UK hotels, hire cars, theatre trips and festival tickets. Colin Watt, head of reward at O2, explains: "We saw an extra 500 people registering, so it definitely generated more interest." By the third week of the campaign, nearly half of O2's workforce had clicked to view the staycation deals.
"Since we launched deals last year, our people have spent £1.8 million through the site, so we knew it was worth putting the effort behind the staycation campaign," he adds.
"As an organisation, our strategic approach is connecting people to things that are important to them. Approaching that internally, we want people to connect to things through rewards that are important to them.
"So if employees are spending money on a festival or some other treat, we want to help them and their pay go further."
