Adactus Housing Group has achieved a 60% take-up of its voluntary benefits scheme since its launch through the use of tailored and continuous communications.

The independent housing group introduced a new employee discounts scheme and recognition programme, which it integrated with its bikes-for-work scheme in November 2011, under a single site called Adactus Perks in Employment (Pies).

Communication of the scheme was designed to suit an online and offline workforce, with only 200 of its 550 employees able to access the internet on a daily basis.

Michelle Grundy, HR advisor at Adactus Housing Group, said: “We have had to tailor it quite significantly to our workforce because we have a lot of employees who have email access every day, but other employees who do not.

“Employees can log on whether they are a remote worker or part of the maintenance team without access to computers.”

The scheme, which is provided by Asperity Employee Benefits, has been communicated through a variety of channels since launch. It was introduced in a presentation by the organisation’s chief executive, and has been followed up by seasonal, themed flyers and emails, a poster campaign that ran up to Christmas, and details on the intranet and payslips.

It includes discounted retail vouchers and reloadable cards for high-street retailers. The recognition programme allows staff to send out e-cards to colleagues to recognise their achievements.

Both new schemes were brought in to provide benefits that would be valued across the organisation, as well as refreshing its communications strategy.

“We wanted something that would be useful to employees, bearing in mind the recession and everything that the country is going through,” said Grundy.

“We have not been able to give the regular cost-of-living rises we had been giving for the last number of years. We wanted something that would help reinforce the fact the organisation is willing to put money into employees and give a benefit that benefits everybody.”

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