Making employee rewards count: three case studies from the CIPD conference

Whether an organisation is looking to retain its staff, embark on a significant recruitment drive, open a new head office in an unfamiliar jurisdiction or enter new markets, access to great talent and key skills is essential to business growth, writes Marianne Curphey.

Marianne Curphey

13 February 2025

This article is taken from the Leadership Supplement from

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“It is not rocket science that if you treat your people well, then they are going to give more discretionary effort.” Lucy Carter, senior employee experience manager, Seasalt Cornwall

While flexible and remote working are an important part of international recruitment strategies, employers also need to offer staff attractive benefits. These encompass healthcare, training and support, and career growth.The Mercer Employee Benefits Market Trends 2024 highlights the need for benefits for all. Increasing the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion and developing benefit strategies that cater to the diverse needs and preferences of various employee groups within a workforce is crucial. As life becomes more intricate, unpredictable and digital, leveraging benefits as a reflection of company values and making benefits more personal is also important.Mercer’s report says it is increasingly crucial to provide a diverse range of benefit options and empower employees to select the ones that align with their lifestyle and priorities. This could include considering wellbeing across the entire career lifespan, providing comprehensive, age-inclusive women’s and men’s health, consideration towards caregiving benefits and transitioning to and from the workforce.It is also important for employers to assess the competitiveness of plans in the market and to adjust their offering to ensure cost-effectiveness and attractiveness to employees.

Case studies from the CIPD annual conference 2024

On this theme of making employee benefits valuable and meaningful for employees, the CIPD conference session, ‘Compensating fairly: reward, recognition and the importance of pay transparency’, discussed the impact of reward and recognition on employee motivation, engagement and retention.The panel debated how to design effective reward and recognition programmes tailored to diverse employee needs. They also discussed if benefits always needed to be financial to offer the best value to staff.

Bank of Ireland’s reward transformation: navigating change to rebuild trust and retain talent

David Keogh, head of reward at Bank of Ireland, presented the first case study. He has over 20 years’ experience in the field of reward management and is transforming the bank’s rewards.He described how Bank of Ireland had recently undergone a significant restructuring of its employee reward system, evolving from years of state-imposed restrictions into a more flexible and transparent approach. At its heart is a new, accessible online system. The shift reflects both a changing landscape in banking and a deeper commitment to understanding and meeting employee needs.While the bank's historical context constrained its flexibility, the recent reforms in its reward system signal a new phase of revitalised engagement and empowerment for its 10,000 employees. He explained how Bank of Ireland's journey towards a modernised reward system was deeply rooted in its past financial challenges and government intervention. During the global financial crisis from 2009 to 2011, the bank, like many other financial institutions, received significant state aid to stay afloat, taking in €4.7 billion from the Irish state. This lifeline, though critical, came with stringent limitations.David Keogh said these constraints created a sense of stagnation within the organisation. With a lack of variable pay and limited scope for benefit enhancement, Bank of Ireland struggled to retain talent and to align employee rewards with its performance. This environment bred frustration, as employees, unable to see the tangible value of their benefits package, often viewed it as uncompetitive.In December 2022, the Irish government sold its remaining shares in Bank of Ireland and the regulatory restrictions on remuneration began to ease. This turning point allowed the bank to reintroduce performance-linked bonuses up to €20,000 and adjust its benefit offerings. However, this also meant that employee inquiries surged, with questions about bonus schemes and demands for greater transparency, placing the bank’s reward function under new pressure.“There was a perception that our reward package was not competitive,” he explained. “Now, bear in mind we hadn't been allowed to enhance or change benefits for 14-plus years, that's understandable. But when we looked at what we spent versus the market on benefits, we were market median for companies our size. There were a huge amount of benefits.”The problem for the bank was that a lack of transparency and access to the package meant that employees had the perception that the bank was uncompetitive. “Colleagues were saying that we didn’t have a decent benefits package. People were leaving us to go to other companies on the basis that their benefit package was better, and when we looked at it, it wasn't.”Another issue was that there was a lack of flexibility in the bank’s benefit package and difficulties in finding information about it.“This was causing problems with retention and a lot of internal challenges,” he said. “We had a difficult decision to make about what benefits we were going to offer and we made sure that our colleagues were at the heart of that decision. Now, obviously, that has to be based or balanced against cost, because I don't want my chief financial officer chasing me around.”Surveys showed that employees wanted flexibility. The new benefits scheme enabled people to buy and sell annual leave, brought in a personal benefit allowance where colleagues could claim for health and wellbeing expenses, and a health allowance that enabled colleagues access to 100 different health insurance policies through three providers, maximising their choice.In addition, David’s team implemented more flexibility around pensions and set up a new online system where staff could view their benefits across personal devices. This was particularly challenging for a bank where information needed to be kept very secure.“It works because when you can actually see the financial value of that on the system, the actual numerical value, that's really important and it's really impactful,” he said. “While we brought in some new benefits, actually we gave colleagues the information they needed to show what the value of the package was.”The response from employees has been overwhelmingly positive. It is having a beneficial effect on morale and loyalty. Bank of Ireland’s reward team even received an internal group recognition award and the new flexibility in working hours resulted in 6,500 annual leave days used flexibly during the year.“This was a real game changer,” he said. “We received fabulous feedback. I've worked in the reward function for a long time. You don't necessarily get feedback from running a bonus scheme, or a solid review process, or maybe amending some benefits, but we were happily shocked with the feedback we received from colleagues, line managers and senior management. It was a brilliant project. I’m really passionate about what we did, and I am really excited about what we're going to do in the future.”

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How Seasalt Cornwall transformed its employee experience

The second case study centred on Seasalt Cornwall, the lifestyle clothing and homeware brand. It has made impressive progress in reshaping its employee experience over recent years. With a mission to blend business success with employee wellbeing, the company undertook a strategic review and upgrade of its employee offering, shifting from a basic, largely financial benefits package to a dynamic, holistic approach that has won both awards and the loyalty of its workforce.With a legacy of relying on its Cornwall location to attract talent, Seasalt recognised that its growth ambitions required more than scenic surroundings. The company’s reward and recognition package had offered little more than modest salaries and basic pensions, which did not align with its evolving brand or workforce aspirations. As the business expanded from a family-run operation to an international brand, it became clear that employee satisfaction, engagement and retention would require a comprehensive review.“We started with pretty much a blank slate,” said Lucy Carter, senior employee experience manager, Seasalt Cornwall. “We were offering a really mediocre salary to our people. We were offering a below-par pension and we didn't really have anything holistic to wrap around that at all. We simply relied on the fact that 98% of our head office workforce were based in Cornwall. There were no remote roles at this point or hybrid.“We relied on people relocating to Cornwall because it is arguably one of the most beautiful places in the UK. So we knew we had to do more. Our business was super ambitious and we needed to grow our brand to an international level. When we started thinking about our reward and recognition programme, we knew that we were never going to compete with other major organisations out there. We weren't going to be able to afford it, but what we could do was focus in on employee experience.”Aware of the financial constraints that often limit smaller brands, Seasalt’s leadership recognised that competing solely on salary was not feasible. Instead, the company focused on creating a robust employee experience rooted in trust, flexibility and support for individual needs. It adopted a phased strategic approach that would evolve over several years, tackling immediate needs while establishing a framework for future improvements. Through this approach, Seasalt aimed to enhance employee engagement, boost morale and promote a workplace culture centred around personal wellbeing and professional development.“We embarked on a transformational journey to turn employee engagement into employee experience,” Lucy said. “It is not rocket science that if you treat your people well, then they are going to give more discretionary effort. They are not going to leave your business. Then it turns from rocket science into rocket fuel and it makes commercial sense and a return on investment.”From 2016 to 2020, the company’s headcount and turnover doubled. Seasalt went from a small family-based business to an established brand. Lucy and Steve Dixon, Seasalt’s senior learning and development manager, knew that to convince the company CFO and CEO that they needed to invest money in people, they would have to present them with a sound business case.“We started gathering as much evidence as possible to make a really convincing, compelling business case,” she said. “We looked at labour turnover, we looked at absence, we looked at benchmarking, what other people were paying in similar organisations. We looked at our customer data and then we went back to our executive board with the evidence to back it up.”The leadership team agreed to invest in the new reward scheme and enable Lucy and Steve to track future employees.“When we spoke to our employees, they told us that pay was super important and that they wanted us to care about their wellbeing and their work-life balance,” Lucy said. “They wanted us to help them make connections at work. They wanted us to coach them so that they could see what their career looked like whilst at Seasalt. They wanted to contribute and have a voice and they wanted us to congratulate them on a job well done. So that is exactly what we started to build.”Seasalt began introducing measures that directly impacted financial wellbeing. In April 2021, the company implemented a National Living Wage policy, revamped its pension scheme and increased employer contributions to provide more security for the futures of the people in its workforce.“We also reviewed our policies and made sure that we had a sick pay policy and a family leave policy and we introduced the Seasalt Framework,” David said. “This was a success framework that outlines expectations around behaviour and it was across the business.”The second phase prioritised wellbeing through a partnership with Rewards Gateway. This collaboration provided employees with additional discounts and access to a recognition platform where they could celebrate each other’s contributions.An improved communication strategy, featuring regular updates through internal newsletters like Seasalt News and People Post, ensured employees felt informed and valued. The culmination of this phase was the first Seasalt Festival in summer 2022, where team members gathered to celebrate successes and engage with the company's strategic vision, fostering a deeper sense of belonging.Seasalt continued its employee experience transformation in phase three by focusing on inclusion, feedback and personal development. Through initiatives like the “See Me” behaviour profiling tool, Seasalt encouraged self-awareness and facilitated better team communication.“We launched our inclusion strategy and we also initiated our volunteering programme, which has recently been reviewed,” David said. “We now pay two days a year full pay for all our employees to do volunteering and the opportunity for pro bono work.”Seasalt’s fourth phase embraced progressive policies like a gender-blind family leave policy. Hybrid employees come into the office 40% of their time and remote workers now make up a third of the workforce.“We are a National Living Wage employer and we have got our health cash plan, our private medical care, our private dental care,” Lucy said. “Our labour turnover is down, our store reviews are great, our time to hire is reduced and, most importantly, our sales performance and profit are up year on year. Whilst we are ambitious, we have great ambitions for our people.”

CleverCards: the psychology of choice and support in employee rewards

The third case study was with Kealan Lennon, founder and CEO of CleverCards. This is a digital payments platform that has grown to serve employees and employers across 92 countries. Its approach to employee benefits and recognition is driven by an understanding of what employees truly value: choice, flexibility and ease of access.“When we began designing CleverCards, we took a unique approach rooted in the psychology of gift-giving,” he explained. “Employers often want to specify exactly how employees use their benefits, imagining that these restrictions enhance the value of the reward.”However, research and surveys, including a recent study of 600 employees across Ireland and the UK, showed that 99% of employees prefer having the freedom to choose how to use their rewards. Rather than a restricted set of gift cards or merchant portals, they value a universal gift card that provides genuine choice and autonomy.CleverCards delivers this autonomy with a digital MasterCard that employees can use anywhere in the world, enabling them to meet their personal needs, whether that is covering household expenses, medical costs or leisure activities. This flexibility not only respects the unique preferences of each employee, but also greatly boosts motivation, engagement and overall job satisfaction.The digital MasterCard is compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay, which means employees don’t have to worry about carrying a physical card or remembering a PIN. They can simply tap their phone to make purchases, making CleverCards a highly accessible and convenient option.“One of the most surprising insights we have gained is seeing where employees actually spend their rewards,” he said. “For many, even at quite a senior level, it is not on luxury items, but rather on essential needs like motor tax, grocery bills or utility payments.”For employers, CleverCards is as simple as sending an email. Whether employees are based in the UK, Dubai or anywhere else in the world, employers can instantly distribute a CleverCard that is ready for use immediately. This universal solution is especially valuable for companies with a global workforce because it streamlines the distribution of rewards, saving time and administrative effort.Businesses have the option to configure cards based on specific requirements. For instance, companies can configure a CleverCard to work solely at healthcare providers, dentists, fitness centres or any category that aligns with corporate benefits policies.One overlooked area of employee frustration is the outdated approach to business expenses. Traditionally, employees often pay out of pocket for business expenses and then wait for reimbursement. This process can create financial strain, especially for those managing larger expenses.Kealan cited the example of a team of senior members of staff who were regularly paying more than £2,000 a month out from personal expenses for business travel, which was later reimbursed by the company. These executives were finding it hard to pay for the initial costs out of their own income, but were too embarrassed to bring the issue up with the company.CleverCards allows employers to issue pre-loaded digital MasterCards for business expenses, configured to expire after a certain date or only work with specific merchant categories. This eliminates the need for employees to cover business expenses personally, helping to relieve financial pressure and streamline the expense process.

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