How Reward Beans can encourage healthy saving habits

It’s a well-known fact that a financial reward scheme for employees can improve engagement as well as make a significant impact on the bottom line. For many employers, however, offering a pay rise or bonus is not always feasible, particularly during these challenging economic times where every penny counts for both organisations and employees.

According to a report from the CIPD, offering financial rewards can boost motivation and provide an effective management tool. That said, making sure that the financial offering is relevant and timely is the key to its successful uptake. After all, no one wants an employee benefit that no one wants!

Making money work harder for your staff

An impactful way to engage employees is by curating a benefits offering that provides true value and financial gain. The My Staff Shop Platform and mobile app allow employees to access discounts on everyday spending across all the major supermarkets, discount stores, and high street brands. This way, they get money off at the checkout every time they shop. This is a timely reward that provides an instant financial benefit which in turn gives real value to the individual. The percentage of savings varies but can be from 1% to 5% typically. 

What are Reward Beans and how can employees get more out of them?

Our virtual currency, ‘Reward Beans’ offers an opportunity for employees to save up their discounts by banking them. They can be redeemed against purchases at any point and the money can then be spent on bigger ticket items. The best part is that Reward Beans provide an additional 0.25% saving on top of the original discount. So, for example, a 4% saving on a supermarket shop converts to 4.25% in Reward Beans.
Here are the main ways employees can better manage their money and optimise this helpful and value-driven employee benefit.

Saving for mid-term goals

Some employees save up their Reward Beans for luxury items, clothing, new tech, mini-breaks, and holidays or even pay for gifts at Christmas time. The savings they make over the duration of a year (depending on how often they pay for goods and services via the My Staff Shop Platform or app) can be up to £1300.

Long-term investment in an ISA

If long-term savings is something that your people are interested in, we can set up an Instant Savings Account (ISA). Every month the balance from their Reward Beans allocation will be transferred automatically. The minimum amount they can add is £10. This type of saving is ideal for those wanting to purchase a more expensive item or, for example, put money towards their mortgage repayments.

Setting goals and encouraging healthy saving habits

Reward Beans can help educate employees on the benefits of saving rather than spending, and offers employers a means of supporting their people’s financial wellbeing: “Setting up goals and being able to track progress helps to maintain focus, provides motivation, and allows employees to decide on something that they really want to save for. Then once they’ve hit their goal, it gives a sense of personal satisfaction,” explains Martin Jones, Head of Finance at My Staff Shop.

To this end, we provide three categories under which people can save:

• Material refers to the smaller regular purchases that can be made using incremental savings
• Financial refers to the holidays or bigger ticket items that a Member wishes to save for
• Charity/environment might be particular contributions that your employees wish to make to support a personal charity or an environmental cause

“We would always encourage HR managers to build the confidence of their staff to make sensible decisions when it comes to spending money. By making those mid-term or long-term savings with an ISA, you are helping improve their financial wellbeing, and at the moment, anything you can do to relieve the pressure from all the economic stress will make a huge difference in their daily lives,” adds Martin.

For more information on Reward Beans or how we can help you help your people save smarter, fill in a contact form or call us for a chat about how we can work together.