INSIGHTS

The Advantages of Employee Discount Schemes.

Posted on March 20, 2025

3 minute read

Providing meaningful employee discounts do more than just save your people money – they’re a key tool for enhancing wellbeing, boosting morale, and valuing your teams for their contributions. From savings on everyday essentials to elevating more special experiences, delivering an employee discount scheme makes a real difference to colleagues in- and outside of work.

But what are the real benefits that deliver meaningful and measurable impact for employers? In this blog, we’ll explore the key advantages of employee discounts and give step-by-step insights for how to introduce a purpose-led scheme in your business.

Let’s dive in.

What Is an Employee Discount Scheme?

An employee discount scheme is a tailored, company-wide programme offering colleagues access to an exclusive range of savings, with discounts selected and set by the business. From supermarket shops, to city and seaside breaks, to travel savings and future car purchases, employee discount schemes are as diverse as your workforce and tailored to the unique needs of every business. Employee discounts are key to elevating your existing rewards and benefits offer and enhancing employee compensation in the rising cost of living, particularly in a climate where blanket pay rises are unfeasible for many.

Types of Employee Discount Schemes

So, what types of employee discount schemes are there to offer your teams? Well, depending on the size of your workforce and its set up – whether the majority of your people are based in-office on-site, work remotely or operate in frontline, customer facing roles – there are different options to choose what discounts you offer and how you deliver them.

1. Vouchers & Gift Cards.

By offering employees physical or digital vouchers to use with high street shops, online stores or wider service providers, your people can take advantage of discounts to a wide breadth of retail, travel, hospitality and leisure brands. Importantly, your employee discount scheme should reflect the geography of your teams – so, if applicable, both UK and international brands should be incorporated. Employees can buy vouchers of their choosing at a reduced price – for example, spending £45 at a supermarket to receive £60 worth of groceries. This enables their salary to go the extra mile, whilst giving them the freedom to choose where to spend their money or reward points. A good platform supplier (like Rippl!) will also enable you to enhance a tailored selection of chosen discounts further in line with your workforce needs, elevating savings even more.

2. Discount Codes.

Discount codes differ from vouchers in giving employees a set cash amount or percentage saving on selected brands, products or services, such as £5 off a beauty bundle at Boots. These codes often align to retailers seasonally promoting specific items while giving employees an easy way to save on targeted products.

However, to make this more personalised to your business, you’re able to select brands and products of interest specifically for your workforce and feature your company name to make codes easier to remember and enhance engagement, while also offering a trackable way to monitor what’s most popular among employees.

3. Cashback.

Cashback is another way to provide employee discounts by offering colleagues money back on specific purchases, from groceries to large expenses like furniture or vehicles. Even if you’re cashback rate might start small, these can quickly add up over time and help employees to earn money back from their everyday purchases.

4. Reloadable Reward Cards.

Another way of providing an employee discount scheme is through reloadable reward cards, which offer a convenient way for employees to save money on regular purchases, whilst allowing the freedom to choose where they spend their discounts. Reloadable cards can be physical, digital or both and work by allowing employees to top up a card with reward points or by debit card to spend at a discounted rate – for example, a colleague may load £50 onto their card, to enjoy redeeming £60 on a meal out.

5. Retailer Partnerships.

Building partnerships with retailers is another way to offer employees access to exclusive, pre-agreed savings on a wide range of products and services that support their wellbeing. Examples of established schemes can be through providers like Halfords, who offer Cycle to Work, where employees save on a new bike through salary sacrifice, EV purchase schemes through the likes of Octopus Energy, who providing discounts on electric vehicles, or eyecare vouchers offering reduced-cost eye tests and glasses via retailers such as Specsavers. These employee discounts schemes are more pre-set savings to offer, and champion specific workforce demands whilst complimenting discounted voucher and gift card offerings.

What Are the Benefits of an Employee Discount Scheme?

Happier Employees.

As employee discount schemes help ease financial pressures, this creates happier teams with much higher employee satisfaction levels. In fact, 69% of employees say they’d be more loyal to a company that offers discounts and perks. By offering exclusive employee savings on everyday expenses and special purchases, employers can boost morale, job satisfaction, and overall workforce wellbeing.

Enhanced Engagement and Productivity.

When employees feel valued through meaningful perks, they’re more likely to be engaged and productive at work. Research shows that highly engaged teams are 21% more productive than those with low engagement rates. Employee discount schemes strongly contribute to this by improving financial wellbeing, demonstrating employers’ commitment to a satisfaction both in- and outside of work, and therefore enhancing engagement across the workforce.

Improved Financial Wellbeing.

Financial stress can have a significant impact on employee wellbeing. In fact, 57% of HR leaders report they observe the effects of poor financial wellbeing in their workforce, while 66% say employees are noticeably more stressed. In the rising cost of living and hikes in employer National Insurance, offering an employee discount scheme is a meaningful way to enhance financial remuneration for employees and create a healthier, more empowered workforce.

Reduced Staff Turnover.

Offering employee discounts can improve retention by adding another dimension to rewards that truly make staff feel seen, valued and supported. Research shows that companies with strong benefits programmes see a 25% decrease in voluntary turnover. By helping employees save money on everyday expenses, businesses can increase loyalty and reduce recruitment costs in a workforce that feel appreciated.

5 Steps to Introduce a Successful Employee Discount Scheme.

So, now we’ve covered the business advantages of employee discounts scheme, what are the next steps for implementing this within your business? Well, for your programme to be successful, it needs to be well researched, measurable and most importantly, personalised to your employees’ unique needs.

Let’s explore.

Step 1: Define your goals.

First and foremost before investing in an employee discount scheme, you need to identify the key business priorities behind this. What are the key focus areas, and how will you measure this? Are you looking to deliver a nice suite of higher discounts on specific products or services, or offer savings on a wide and diverse range of retailers? The most important step here is to gather employee feedback – your discount scheme will only be successful if it truly reflects what your teams want and need.

Step 2. Research Vendors.

With many perks platforms now available to choose from, it’s important to compare options against your specific business needs. Some cater to all businesses, while others focus on specific industries, workforce set-ups and unique requirements. How will employees see and access their benefits? Is mobile accessibility vital for this? Are you seeking a fully-branded platform? Would you like to streamline discounts into your existing benefits offer? Do you need to offer global discounts, as well as UK? Research, shortlist, and evaluate each different platform before making a decision.

Step 3. Tailor and Finalise Your Strategy.

After selecting a platform or vendor, now it’s time to finalise the details to ensure a smooth launch. Think subscription plans, discount types, and retailer partnerships. Set a programme launch date and plan an internal communication strategy to communicate and promote the scheme to employees in every corner of your business. A well-prepared rollout ensures maximum engagement and a seamless experience from day one.

Step 4. Launch Your Employee Discount Scheme.

A strong launch starts with clear communication. Right from when you launch the scheme, be clear to colleagues how it works, its benefits and how they can maximise their discounts. Storytelling is key to this. Encourage managers and team leaders to share which discounts they’ve taken advantage of to help build excitement and drive higher engagement from launch.

Step 5. Remain Agile and Evolve.

Launching your employee discount scheme is just the beginning. For it to remain relevant in line with both market trends and employee priorities, it’s fundamental to implement regular feedback loops across the business to understand what’s working – and what’s not. Choosing a platform provider with comprehensive, real-time reporting will also be key to forming a full picture of how successful your programme is, observing purchase trends and overall savings. Then, when it comes to renewing retail partnerships, enhancing discounts, or exploring new perks, you can feel confident in making informed decisions your people will love.

Streamline Your Employee Discount Scheme With Rippl.

At Rippl, employee recognition, reward and benefits are our bread and butter. That’s why we enable customers to deliver a tailored employee discount scheme into a streamlined platform, alongside their wider benefits offer and engagement features. Everything, all in one place, and tracked within a live reporting dashboard. Your employee discounts are made meaningful and measurable.

Book a Demo Explore Rippl Discounts

FAQs on Employee Discount Schemes

An employee discount scheme is a tailored programme offering exclusive savings on everything from groceries to travel and car purchases. Designed to complement existing benefits, it helps employees save money and elevates their reward experience, while supporting businesses in enhancing compensation without relying solely on pay rises.

An example of an employee discount is providing exclusive supermarket vouchers, where employees can buy £60 worth of groceries for just £45, using their debit or credit card, or reward points. Other examples include cashback on purchases, retailer partnerships like Cycle to Work schemes, or discount codes for savings on beauty, travel, or lifestyle products.

Begin by gathering employee feedback to ensure the scheme reflects their needs. Conduct thorough research to find the right platform, prioritising mobile accessibility. Develop a strong internal communications plan for launch, and continuously refine the scheme using real-time data and ongoing employee input.

We keep rewards dynamic and innovative, offering a range of ways to motivate and reward your people – whether they’re desk-based or working in a frontline role. These include:

Recognition-led rewards
Awards Finalist and Winner rewards
Pre-paid reward cards for managers
Configurable sales incentives
Personalised seasonal competitions and prize draws
‘Spin to Win’ configurable feature
Ad-hoc rewards