Case Study

Benenden Health

Founded in 1905
A not-for-profit organisation that cares deeply for people’s health
Bring people together to help pay for medical care when they need it

Introduction

Pay and Reward Manager at Benenden Health, Katie Frain, joined us to talk about their experience of using Zest’s technology and how it has benefited them so far.

Have you caught a glimpse of our Zest Sessions series yet? Our very own Pete Blyth-Tancock sat down with Katie at EB Live 2023 to catch up and talk shop. Watch the video here.

Benenden Health case study

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

Financial wellbeing is a core part of our company ethos at Benenden Health. We’ve got 420 employees and we wanted to really support them with financial wellbeing while showcasing our benefits, and zest helped us to do that.

Why did you choose Zest to provide your benefits platform?

We had lots of benefits, but no one place to have them all and no easy access for employees to select those benefits. We looked at providers in the market and we selected Zest as our preferred supplier.

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

It was a really smooth experience.

All in all, it was about six months with a slight delay on my side as I was the only one working on the project. Despite that, the Zest project team were fantastic and it was a really smooth implementation.

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

It was the height of lockdown, so it was a really, really tricky launch, but actually it worked really well.

With everyone being at home, we could do lots of things virtually. We ran some benefit presentations which went down really well and everyone being online actually helped the launch.

Do you think Zest’s technology and has it helped engage your employees?

Yes, it’s definitely engaged our employees.

We had quite a low engagement with our benefits beforehand without a platform to have people engage with, and I’m delighted to say we’ve seen a huge take up in engagement. A huge, huge take up in our benefits. So it’s been a success.

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

We welcomed 5 new benefits at the same time as launching Zest. So of course we’ve seen an increase there. But even in our core benefits that we had before, we’ve seen an increase. We’ve seen people engaging with the pension more, because they’ve got an easy way to increase contributions now.

Can you share any stats on engagement, benefits uptake/selection, retention before and after implementing Zest platform?

I would say not before and after, but Holiday Buy and Sell annual leave is our most popular benefit and our employees love it. So that one has got a huge take up and I’d say overall with our benefits we’ve got about a 30% take up rate on or across our benefits which is quite high.

What do you think of your relationship with Zest?

We have a great working relationship, so everybody’s really nice and friendly, keeping in regular contact. All the support desk are really helpful and everyone’s really responsive. So I really enjoy working with zest.

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

Yes, I’d definitely recommend working with Zest. Honestly, everyone’s really responsive and friendly. They’re really good at sharing the road map. Even when I give feedback when I can I often see the development team jumping into action.

Zest are a great company. They share Benenden Health’s values and ethos. We work really well together. They’re very personable, so I know quite a lot of people there. Our account manager keeps in touch regularly. So yes, I would definitely recommend Zest.

Was there any specific customization or integration requirements for the platform to align with your company’s needs?

Yes, we did build quite a few bespoke processes and reports. The Zest project team were really good at helping me through creating those reports and those processes. I really rate the implementation, it was really smooth and successful. What’s more, Zest we’re always on hand to help us through that.

Could you share a specific success story or scenario where Zest’s platform played a crucial role in addressing a particular challenging or enhancing positive outcome?

Benenden Health were looking for a platform that had exceptional employee experience, so we wanted it to enable our people to tailor their benefit package. We wanted good reporting and on all counts we got that.

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