Employee Benefits Live 2025: Building a reward culture needs a clear demonstration of return on investment as well as engagement, according to Naomi Alexander, head of reward and recognition at Utility Warehouse.
Speaking in a session titled Reward and recognition: making the case for employee investment, Alexander explained how reward teams can build a strong case for investment in reward that demonstrates value.
A starting point in building a reward culture and getting buy-in from senior executives is to collate data about the strategy that helps to build the story, said Alexander. This can include feedback from employee surveys. Alexander explained that at Utility Warehouse she will gather feedback from employee forums, network champions as well as senior leaders.
“Employees are usually honest and I’ll always get direct feedback. Employees are our biggest advocates,” she said.
In addition, Alexander works with providers to gather details on benefits usage. “All of that information builds a story, and that narrative forms a business case,” she added.
Demonstrating the outcome for employees adds weight to a business case, said Alexander. Utility Warehouse improved the number of calls to its employee assistance programme using feedback from an employee survey that stated wellbeing was one of the top priorities for employees. As a result, the organisation focused on detailing support available for things like mental health, stress and financial wellbeing.
“We went right back to basics and explained details on payslips, where all the information and access to benefits are, and also provided other information on financial literacy,” Alexander explained.
The outcome was that calls to its employee assistance programme on financial wellbeing matters reduced from 11.9% to 1.1%.
For Alexander, there are some focal key points to say to senior leaders about what benefits should be offered.
“We should be offering regular meaningful acknowledgements of efforts, achievements and moments that matter through recognition,” said Alexander. “This doesn’t have to just be about work, it could be about those moments that matter personally to our employees.
“We should be offering them comprehensive benefits packages that provide flexibility and support for all of the physical, mental and financial wellbeing that we can. That can be really expensive, but you can start thinking about things that are low cost, go all the way back to basics and make sure people have access to the information that they need. And then finally, opportunities for growth in role or through career development and progression.”
