How Perkbox helped schuh’s culture stand out from the crowd

"It’s all about standing out"

If you had to sum up schuh in five words, that would be it. 

Their mission, as communication and engagement partner Lauren tells us, is: 

“At schuh we are the ‘Same but different’.  By embracing diversity and promoting inclusivity, we aim to empower our people to be fiercely and unapologetically themselves.”

A large part of her role is upholding this mission by creating initiatives to engage, motivate and encourage employees to come on the journey with schuh. 

“We aim to create a culture that truly reflects our values: Authentic, Inclusive, Collaborative, Brave, Passionate, Unique.” 

A unique brand with conventional challenges

In the fast-paced world of retail, attracting and retaining talent is a big challenge—and one that schuh is no stranger to. Engaging a diverse workforce, from those on the shop floor to head office staff, adds another layer of complexity.

“The challenges we face are general, industry-wide challenges: attracting and retaining talent and trying to reduce turnover.” 

“Add a workforce spread over 120 retail stores, two countries, four distribution centres and three corporate offices—and connecting everyone to a shared purpose that we know helps people stay on board becomes an even greater challenge.”

Piecing the puzzle together

It isn’t easy creating connections in a workforce spread so far and wide, but schuh found a way. 

“With Perkbox, we can unite everyone. It isn’t one team on one platform or a different team on another—everyone is using the same platform, and everyone has access to celebrate each other.” 

“It's not just management to colleagues… Someone in head office can recognise someone in-store. Someone in-store can recognise someone in the warehouse, and vice versa.” 

Adding their own style

The first step is connecting everyone, and the next is empowering employees to make it their own – a key part of schuh’s mission to embrace diversity and promote inclusivity. With multiple ways to use Perkbox, teammates can personalise how they celebrate each other.

“It's the freedom. They've got the freedom to use it how they want.” 

“We launched it, but managers can take it and make it their own. One of our regions has a dedicated day, and they all put their recognitions on Perkbox.” 

“We always encourage them to link what they’re saying to a schuh value. In any message they post, it’s a great way to connect back to the company values and highlight what they’re doing for schuh.

Celebration made simple

When it comes to rewarding employees, it’s important to tie everything back to schuh’s values. This wasn’t always easy, but using Perkbox to reward their people has made it simpler, while putting the power of choice in employees' hands.

“Something we do each quarter is collate all the recognitions and send them to our Leadership Team. They review the ones linked to a Schuh value and select a winner for each value. The winners are then rewarded through Perkbox.” 

“Before, we used to organise vouchers or load money onto gift cards. Now, with everyone having a Perkbox account, we’re no longer trying to source gift cards or figure out how to get them to people. It’s quick, instant, and it’s brilliant.”

“Using Reward points leaves it down to the person and gives them ownership over what they're getting.

In the end, it’s all about engagement

The initiatives launched through Perkbox have helped to create a more engaged workforce, where employees share how they uphold and are inspired by schuh’s values every single day. 

“For us, it’s about engagement in line with our business goals, our beliefs and values. Since we launched our values on Perkbox, we’ve had over 1,300 recognitions on Celebrations, with more than 900 linked to the schuh values. This shows that people are aligning with what we’re doing and with the company. Ultimately, that’s the aim—we want our people to live and breathe what we stand for as a company.”

schuh has built a unique culture that truly supports its people, offering meaningful perks that make a real difference. With employees saving over £90k through the platform in the last 12 months alone, it's clear how Perkbox is helping bring schuh’s vision for a supportive and standout workplace to life.