Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR december 15, 2014 16 FeAtures COST: $69 + applicable taxes REGISTER ONLINE: www.HRReporter.com/CPDCentre For more Live and On-demand Webinars, visit us online. WEBINAR SERIES MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT – FINDING THE PROGRAM THAT FITS Striking the balance between the benets of allowing employees to access employer information on personal devices and the risks of privacy breaches. PRESENTERS: Ryan Treleaven & Carol Chan – Sherrard Kuzz LLP | DATE: On Demand Ryan Treleaven Carol Chan Credit: little Whale/Shutterstock emPloyee engagement Discount programs a popular benefit Employees at Deloitte, EllisDon appreciate range of options, mobile access By Sarah Dobson A few years back, deloitte was working with sev- eral vendors to offer dis- counts to employees — but it wasn't going so well. With various organizations in- volved and multiple contracts and deals, it was difficult to manage, according to Diana Bartolic, as- sociate partner within the talent group at Deloitte in Vancouver. e setup was also dependent on Deloitte's intranet, and there was no sense of usage. But for the past couple of years, the company, which has just under 9,000 employees in Canada, has used just one platform: Venngo's WorkPerks. "We're working with one ven- dor who manages all the other vendors and makes it available to us in a very simple-to-use web- site," she says. e program gives employees access to a co-branded site where they can pick from a selection of discount offers and deals from well-known retailers and local businesses. "It's gone extremely well," says Bartolic. "We get a lot of positive feedback from our employees. e number of discounts that they have access to, particularly in the bigger cities, the bigger market- places, is great. (ere's) lots of variety in the different categories, so people feel that they get a lot of value for their dollar with that… People really like the exposure that the program has." And while there might be fewer options in the smaller markets, Venngo is good about reaching out to those communities to look for different vendors to bring on- board, she says. ere are more than 1,200 ven- dor partners, according to Paul Weissman, president and CEO of Venngo in Toronto. "Clearly, the big brand-name companies are the most popular in certain categories, so we have about 20 categories of merchants or vendors and, traditionally, we'll find five categories always the most popular…: restaurants, shoes and apparel, entertainment, travel and electronic goods." When an employer signs on — paying an annual flat fee based on headcount — Venngo builds a private, co-branded site employ- ees can access. ere's also a pre- launch, launch and post-launch to promote the new benefit — which helps with the engagement and penetration factor, he says — fol- lowed by continual e-newsletters and communications. ere's also a mobile app that can be used on any type of phone, says Weissman. "During the day, whether they're pulling out their iPhone or they're online, there's a posi- tive engagement and moreso after work, when they go home, they're with their families or they go into the mall on weekends, taking the families out, they're constantly having this engagement factor where they can check out the app, go into the local mall, see what's around… and just start taking ad- vantage of the program. So it's a high level of satisfaction." Not your typical benefit It's a unique perk, according to Sandra Wilson, manager of pay- roll and benefits at EllisDon in London, Ont., which has offered the benefit for about six years. "It's not your typical health, dental, insurance or pension ben- efit and it was something else that we could offer that's kind of a fun benefit — that usually involves travel, shopping, entertainment, dining out — that we felt the em- ployees could take advantage of and appreciate," she says. "Compensation and benefits and how employees are treated and respected are the main rea- sons why we attract employees, but discounts and giveaways, I feel they're kind of like the icing on the cake. It's an extra thing that we can give to the employees to show how we appreciate their hard work and their dedication and, in turn, that makes employ- ees loyal to EllisDon." People who opt in receive monthly emails updating them on the benefits. And the mobile app is popular, says Wilson. "When you're going to the mall, you don't want to be printing off a whole bunch of coupons for dif- ferent stores you may not be go- ing to, so the mobile app is really handy, it's a great addition." e program is very easy to use, says Bartolic. "It's not a concierge service but it kind of has a little bit of that flavour to it," she says. "At my desktop, it's very easy to find discounts that I can take advan- tage of that are really close to home." Bartolic doesn't necessarily view the service as an engagement platform but more as an addition- al benefit. "(Employees) are able to save money, use their dollars more effectively. It's a cost-effective strategy for them and gives them a chance to emphasize the ben- efit or realization for them from a take-home pay kind of idea," she says. "Do benefits add to engage- ment? Sure, probably down the road they do but I think we went more so from the fact of we want something that our people can find value-add to them." And to keep people motivated and interested in the program, De- loitte might share anecdotal stories about how the program is being used, she says. Employers can also host vendor days or run contests. There are category-specific newsletters sent out — around categories such as health and wellness, dining and food or en- tertainment — that usually go out two or three times per month, but people can opt out if they want, says Weissman. "e open rates for these news- letters are typically well over 70 per cent which, in the industry, is pretty high," he says. "People are looking forward to them, they want to see what's the latest, how can they save money." Regular reports Venngo sends out regular reports to employers with stats that in- clude how many people are on- board, how many were brought onboard during a given month, the top 25 categories and the top 25 most popular perks or mer- chants, says Weissman. "Also, we'll show them how much traffic each one of those had both in the mobile world and in the online world," he says. "We continually look at and review what the usage patterns are to see what people are doing, what they like within our perks platform it- self. We have a suggest-a-perk tool which anybody can leverage and they do leverage." And the reports are always being tweaked and enhanced, says Weissman. "Right now, we are develop- ing something that's going to give (employers) a sense of how much the staff overall has saved in a given month." In one month, EllisDon saw it had 1,200 active accounts, 1,100 employees subscribing to the emails, 16 new accounts, 312 vis- its to different perks, about 3,000 page views, 35 perk coupons were printed and 175 visits to online perks, says Wilson. "It's important that employees are using it because if they're not using that as much, then I need to bring it to their attention and if still no one's using it, then may- be it's something the employees aren't interested in and we don't need to offer it anymore. But it's nice to see employees are using it and enjoying it." Usage rates are important, says Bartolic. "When we think about it from a communications perspective, (we know) what should we be empha- sizing or promoting more… those are useful stats," she says. "We would definitely be concerned if we saw a drop in usage rates because to provide a benefit, we want to make sure people are tak- ing advantage of it. "As with any of our benefits, whether it be pension, dental, health, we'll always look at our us- age rates because as the workforce has progressed and transitioned, people need different things at different times. So we're always looking at: 'Is the money we're spending, are we spending it in the right place?'"

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