Case Study

Ambassador Theatre Group

World leader in live entertainment
World’s number one live theatre company
Founded in the UK in 1992

Introduction

Founded in 1992, ATG have grown to be a world leader in live entertainment. They operate venues, run major ticketing platforms and produce award-winning shows.

ATG were looking for an improved user experience for employees eligible for flexible benefits.

We spoke to Gemma Skuse, HR Benefits Partner at ATG, to find out more about their experience of Zest.

Why were you looking for a new benefits provider and platform?

“We’d been talking about finding a new option as our previous platform was getting a little dated, but we didn’t have any budget to make the change. Our previous provider then gave us notice as they were no longer going to support the platform that we were using so this obviously impacted the decision.”

What was the onboarding process like? And how long did it take?

“We had about four months to build the portal, test and then launch to the business. It was quite an intense process but I felt supported throughout by our consultant (Maddy) and overall had a positive experience.”

How did you find the process of launching your platform with Zest for the first time?

“As we already had a portal it was quite a simple process to launch Zest to the business as it was more of an update as opposed to introducing a totally new concept. The overall process is similar to what we had before so we didn’t need to spend a lot of time explaining how to use the system. The introduction of SSO was great but there were a few bumps along the way with some areas of the business where email addresses differ but this was easily resolved once we understood what the issue was. Again, our consultant was very supportive during our first enrolment window and was able to quickly resolve any issues that we had.”

What they say

‘Engagement has improved since introducing Zest. It’s much easier for employees to find the information they need about the various benefits which in turn has resulted in higher uptake.’

Gemma Skuse /
HR Benefits Partner - ATG

Can you share specific examples of benefits that have seen increased participation among employees?

“PMI is definitely an area that’s seen a significant increase in members.

“I think this is due to a combination of us changing the scheme rules slightly (enabling eligible new starters to sign up from the start of employment rather than after completing their probation) and using the portal to schedule emails to those individuals with a reminder being sent towards the end of the window.

“The scheduled emails also work well for our pension scheme and has resulted in less chasing from an admin point of view.

“PMI membership has nearly doubled.”

What do you think of your relationship with Zest?

“I’m happy with our relationship, I know where to go for help/support and any issues are resolved pretty quickly with updates communicated throughout. When we had our first renewal earlier this year we received the same support and everything went smoothly.”

Would you recommend working with Zest Technology Ltd? If so why?

“Yes, I would recommend Zest. Great support, good product and a friendly, approachable team.

“It’s also good to see that there are regular updates being made to the system and great that you can make suggestions for improvements as well, although not everything is possible of course!”