Challenges
Summed up by Gary Griffiths, HR Business Partner at Wasabi, “The challenges that we face are definitely around engagement, trying to reduce turnover and also trying to attract talent to the business as well. The challenges are not specific to Wasabi.”
In addition to that, Gary told us, “The food and beverage industry is driven by a large population of EU and international and team members and they've come to London for very specific reasons. It could be to study, to learn English or to earn more money and together they pose a lot of challenges for our business that are definitely a priority.”
Solution
Seeing that their benefits package at the time was being under-utilised, Wasabi chose to reinvest their budget into the Perkbox platform.
“The only benefit that we had was a healthcare cash plan and even that was being under-utilised,” said Gary. “So [Wasabi’s HRD] decided to reinvest the budget in Perkbox and because she knew that the return we were going to get on that was engagement across the board.”
A big part in their decision to launch Perkbox was from Wasabi seeing how the platform and the hundreds of perks, discounts and freebies resonate with their business.
Gary told us, “Perkbox is compatible with our business because as well as being entrepreneurial, there's a thread of fun that runs through everything that both companies do. And I think that's really important to remaining authentic for our customers.”
Results
Within 12 months of launching Perkbox, Wasabi saw a dramatic decrease in staff turnover rates.
“Perkbox has impacted our business because our turnover since we signed up 12 months ago has actually reduced by 13%,” says Gary, who added, “we've been able to create a culture of recognition and start making a difference for all of our teams in the business.”
Perkbox has also helped Wasabi to pass on a great level of benefits to their employees.
Gary told us, “Perkbox has made a difference to our organisation because when we began, we really wanted to pass on real savings to our employees that will make a difference to their wallet.”
And Gary went on to add, “So when I hear about an employee who says they got a discount on a hotel when they were going on holiday, they got a free coffee or they got reduced price cinema tickets so they could hang out with their friends and family – I know we've started to make a difference.”
