Beauty and skincare organisation Charlotte Tilbury has 1,124 employees in 49 global locations. In December 2017, staff surveys and focus groups brought to light the need for a new, unified approach to benefits.
Megan O'Shaughnessy, global senior total reward manager at Charlotte Tilbury, says: “As the brand has been growing globally and all our employees have been working hard to build a brand and a legacy to be proud of, we wanted a glowing benefits package to reflect their hard work. But, following the review, we realised that not only did our benefits not glow, they didn’t really exist.”
The 2017 surveys found that employees were dissatisfied with the existing range of benefits, raising concerns about the potential impact on attraction and retention. The conclusion was that Charlotte Tilbury needed a revamp of its benefits offering, along with a brand new communications strategy to engage employees globally.
Working with consultancy Reward Gateway in spring 2018, the organisation created an employee portal, Tilbury Treats. A range of new benefits, including retail discounts, a wellbeing hub, a cycle-to-work scheme and holiday purchase, were collated on the platform and made available for all employees.
The launch began at UK sites in March 2018, with the US and Irish locations following a month later.
The final phase of the initiative started in the summer of 2018, which saw the introduction of global e-cards and recognition programmes. Next, Tilbury Treats will be expanded to territories such as Hong Kong this year, meaning all Charlotte Tilbury employees will have access to Tilbury Treats across the globe.
O'Shaughnessy says: “While we wanted to give our employees dazzling benefits, we also knew that if we overloaded them, it could cause confusion and ultimately defeat the purpose of improving their knowledge of the benefits we offer. Alongside this, we had to launch the platform to employees globally.”
On communicating the initiative, she adds: “We created our own dynamic imagery inspired by some of our product designs, which resulted in a palette card that could be shared over various mediums, from our own websites to social media channels.”
Other promotional tools included branded balloons, biscuits and stickers. A competition was also launched in March 2018, offering employees the chance to win money to spend on the platform, while the people team visited stores to give out branded merchandise and attend briefings.
“Our results have truly blown us away,” says O'Shaughnessy. “Within 48 hours of our UK site going live, we had engagement rates of over 58%. Globally, 74% of our entire workforce activated their registration within the first month. Between March and December 2018, our UK staff have spent £65,700 and saved £6,900."
Charlotte Tilbury has new country launches in the pipeline for 2019 and plans to introduce Tilbury Treats to all of them.
O'Shaughnessy adds: “We will also build out the current global hub as we introduce our new [organisational] values, and have a global e-card platform linking recognition to our new ways of working.”
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