EXCLUSIVE: As at 7 November 2019, and since launching a new perks and recognition platform in January 2019, hotel chain Dakota Hotels has seen its 490 employees share 318 moments of thanks and save an estimated total of £15,000 through discounted and free perks.
The hotel chain has locations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and, as of May 2019, Manchester. The organisation launched a perks and recognition platform, provided by Perkbox, as part of an effort to scale its employee experience during a period of expansion.
In data sourced on 7 November 2019, the organisation reported a take-up rate of 79% and a total of 318 instances of peer-to-peer and top down recognition. Savings of approximately £15,000 have been estimated based on perks with trackable, real values on items such as free coffees and discount supermarket shops transacted via the app.
Using Perkbox's platform, Dakota Hotels employees can select whether to navigate to the perks programme, which provides a range of discounts and vouchers for brands including Tesco, Amazon Asos and River Island, or can click through to the recognition platform.
From the latter, staff can pick a fellow employee's name, leave a message of thanks and tag which organisational values their positive behaviour or achievement should be recognised against. Dakota Hotels is then able to send rewards to employees who have demonstrated these values.
The nominating individual can choose whether recognition should be shared privately or broadcast to either the relevant team or the entire organisation.
Samantha Hamilton, group HR manager at Dakota Hotels, said: “Delivering impeccable service to our guests is the foundation of our luxury brand, and that can only be achieved by a happy, contented team.
"At Dakota we employ passionate people and we partnered with Perkbox as part of a wider strategy to ensure our team members are rewarded for their hard work. We’ve had great feedback so far and it’s encouraging to see it being used by our team members during their leisure time.”
