Australian Payments Network: Using Perkbox across the employee lifecycle

About Australian Payments Network

Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet) is the self‐regulatory and member association for payments in Australia. They work with members, government, regulators, and other stakeholders to improve payments systems and deliver convenient and secure payments for all.

AusPayNet prioritises fostering a culture of collaboration, teamwork and ownership, where everyone is valued. Their relatively flat organisational structure means that their people feel comfortable interacting with leaders at all levels. People & Culture Business Partner Donna Quizon explains how the employee experience links with core elements of the company culture.

“Our goal for our employee experience is to be collaborative and rewarding. We have a large emphasis on employee wellbeing and open communication. Also, as a medium-sized business, everyone has the opportunity to make an impact. These are things that our people tell us is important to them, so that’s what we try to hone in on.

We run an annual engagement survey, and are currently at 83% engagement, which we’re very happy with. Alignment is also a big thing for us and the way we set goals. 98% of our staff agree that they know what the company strategy is, and 97% tell us they know how their work contributes to AusPayNet’s goals. This tells us our employees feel aligned with the strategic direction of the organisation.”

 

Creating connections

Australian Payments Network moved to a hybrid working environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Donna noticed a decline in general, day-day recognition — “we were no longer getting the recognition that you would get with talking to people and seeing them regularly in the office.”

This is a common challenge for many businesses with a hybrid or remote working policy. To help address this, AusPayNet implemented Perkbox, with a particular focus on it’s ability to enable employees to send each other recognition at any time — whether they’re across the desk, country or globe.

"The key winner for us was definitely the ability to introduce something that had that peer-to-peer recognition, which is what we were seeking to round out our formal recognition programme."

 

Building a consistent culture of appreciation

The platform has helped AusPayNet build a culture of appreciation — and just as importantly, create positive habits across the business.

"Previously, we had a system where managers could nominate a team member for recognition, and that would go to our leadership team for review and if successful, a monetary reward would be offered.

Now that we have Perkbox, it’s allowed for more consistency and the recognition is more visible to all staff. Aside from performance, we use Perkbox to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays and personal milestones — they’re all being recognised through the platform for everyone to see.

We also regularly talk about people that have been recognised on Perkbox, just to reinforce that appreciation. Last year we rewarded the six people who were using the platform the most — a way to recognise the recognisers! That was something they really appreciated."

 

There were other benefits as well, with Donna especially pleased with the ability to link recognition to the company’s values.

“The ability to tie recognitions to values helps us reinforce those values across the business. I regularly get requests from department heads on what values are being recognised the most, and I’m able to obtain that information for them from the Perkbox platform.”

 

Savings for both employer and employees

While recognition was a key selling point for Donna, Perkbox’s discounts platform has also become a key part of AusPayNet’s employee offering.

“We weren’t previously offering anything in terms of perks and benefits,” says Donna.

“I started looking at what to do and how to introduce it, but it didn’t make sense for me to do this individually. The Perkbox system had all the perks there, so it was the right fit for us.

It’s definitely had an impact during inflation and the rising cost of living. I’ve heard staff make positive comments about the discounts at places like supermarkets, and encourage colleagues to make savings too.”

 

As well as $18,000 worth of savings for employees, Donna is keen to highlight the time and cost efficiencies for the business.

“We used to go out and buy physical gift cards for rewards, but now we’re using Reward points, so that’s a definite saving for us. We’re also able to use the points for things like birthdays and anniversaries, rather than having to do everything manually."

 

These points can be instantly sent to employees, who can spend them on a reward from our huge catalogue. This guarantees that every reward will be meaningful to that individual, and since the introduction of Reward points, AusPayNet’s platform engagement has skyrocketed to 94%.

It’s another example of the regular enhancements we make to the platform, something Donna appreciates.

“It’s constantly evolving, which we love. I think back to when we started partnering with Perkbox and how much evolution there’s been to today. We couldn’t be happier with Perkbox.”

 

A tool for talent attraction — and beyond

Since implementing Perkbox, AusPayNet has seen tangible results, particularly around recruitment.

“Before we had Perkbox, we didn’t have a detailed employee discounts and benefits package. Now we are able to highlight our remuneration package as well as what Perkbox offers — not just the recognition, but the wellness and discounts — this has helped to entice people to join us. I definitely have seen a difference in the recruitment phase. We now talk about a whole reward package rather than just salary and incentives.”

 

The impact goes further than the hiring process, with Donna pointing out how Perkbox has become an end-to-end solution.

“It’s now a key part of our employee experience. It touches the entire lifecycle — it helps our recruitment efforts, forms part of our onboarding induction. The celebration and recognition keeps the benefits alive, and the wellness and discounts are regularly promoted. We definitely see it as part of our EVP and an extension to our business.”