With the countdown to Christmas underway, people are worrying about the additional financial pressure. After another year of inflated food, energy and housing costs it comes as no surprise that a third of us expect to cut back on Christmas spending this year. A further 40% say they’ll spend less on Christmas food or invite fewer loved ones for Christmas dinner in a bid to keep costs down.
Among this glum news lies an opportunity for employers to show they understand and care about the financial pressures facing their people. Employers can help to reduce the cost of Christmas by offering an employee savings scheme.
As Black Friday hoves into view (24th November!) now is the perfect time for employers that don’t currently have a savings scheme to put one in place, or for the many that do, to remind employees to use it. Staff can start saving straight away in the run up to Christmas. Even better, employers can brighten the cash-strapped gloom of January by reminding employees to use Employee Savings to cut everyday costs such as coffee, lunch, groceries, as well as save money on big ticket items - white goods, tech, mobiles, holidays, days-out and more.
Everyone loves a bargain, so read on to find out how our digital discounts platform can benefit your business, how easy it is to get up and running, and for employees to use.
From an employer’s perspective, Edenred Savings is a cost-effective way for employers to boost staff financial wellbeing, and as a result, help to drive engagement, motivation, and retention. It’s quick, easy, and straightforward to get set up, and just as easy to maintain. We have a strong network of merchant partners, which means we’ve got the best choice of discounts for your employees, with new brands being added all the time.
In addition, we provide an industry-leading comms programme and promotions, competitions, and events to engage users and increase your ROI. The platform comes with an outstanding desktop and mobile user experience - making it easier and quicker to pay less and save more. Our ISO27001 accreditation provides peace of mind that your scheme is completely secure.
Easy for employees to use
From an employee’s perspective, the scheme has been designed to be easy and convenient to use. Here’s a worked example of the user journey to illustrate how straight forward it is for employees to save.
Throughout the example, we refer to ‘gift cards’. That’s because many retail partners in our savings scheme offer gift cards. This is another way of paying for goods - but at a discount - which means that by using them, staff never pay full price. These can be physical gift cards bought via our savings portal and which are then sent to you in the post. Or eGift cards, which are a code also purchased via our savings portal, to redeem at check-out whether that’s online or in real life.
With that in mind, employees follow six simple steps to save money on purchases. First, they decide what they want to buy. Say it’s a new fridge, they’ll then check the Savings portal to make sure which fridge retailers are savings scheme partners. If Samsung is a favourite, browse their website or in-store to choose a fridge, noting how much it is. Return to the portal to buy a discounted Samsung eGift Card or Gift card and make a saving. For example, if the Gift Card is for £500 and there’s a 7% discount, the employee only pays £465 for a card. Use this card to pay for the fridge, making a saving of 7%! Even better, staff can use discounted gift cards or e-gift cards in conjunction with online offers, giving them discounts on discounts!
For every-day, regular purchases such as the supermarket food shop, employees can simply reload their gift card online (or via the app) which means they’ll never miss out on an opportunity to make a saving.
Speaking of our Savings app, employees can use it to purchase eGift cards on the hoof. If they are out and about and see something they like, they can download an eGift Card on the app and use the code to get money off there and then, or to send someone as a present!
Beat the January blues
While staff are enjoying saving on Christmas purchases, remind them they can use Employee Savings to save money throughout the year. Saving on everyday purchases really does add up.
Take the weekly grocery bill for example. If you bought a Sainsbury’s reloadable card with a 4.75% discount and bought £50 worth of groceries every week, that’s £123.24 off your annual budget - which you could put towards Christmas gifts.
Equally, if your daily Costa on the way to work costs you £20 per week, you can make an annual saving of £93.60 with one of their 9.75% discount cards. That’s a saving of over £200 a year on just two regular expenses!
Beyond this, employees can make savings on holidays, gym membership, fashion, kitchen gadgets, tech, insurance, cosmetics - the list is endless.
