The Wine Society: Valuing colleagues and empowering voices

Streamlining recognition, reward, benefits and surveys.

blank
blank
About The Wine Society

Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, The Wine Society is the world’s oldest member-owned community of wine lovers. Proudly putting its members before profit, The Wine Society has maintained its heritage as a co-operative since 1874. With a growing workforce of 260 employees, the Cheers platform launched in 2020 and streamlines recognition, reward and benefits into a mobile community that empowers the brilliant people behind The Wine Society. In 2023, Cheers further expanded with an additional survey feature to amplify colleague voices, ideas and insights from across the business.

Key facts

Industry: Retail

Number of employees: 260

Geography: UK

Valuing colleagues and empowering voices.

The Wine Society prides itself on providing a people-led, supportive workplace. As its team managed the increase in demand for wine during the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it wanted to ensure a consistent and fair culture of recognition reflected its values in all corners of the business.

Launching in 2020, the Cheers platform placed recognition and reward into colleagues’ pockets to celebrate their contribution and value they bring.  Since then, Cheers has continued to expand in delivering multi-dimensional engagement features, including a dedicated benefits hub for colleagues to access their perks around the clock.

In June 2023, Cheers was further elevated with the launch of its survey feature. Looking to improve feedback loops across the business, The Wine Society wanted to deliver a frequent and streamlined experience that amplified voices at all levels and streamlined manual processes behind collating and reporting on colleague insights. Through hosting pulse surveys, Cheers ensures colleagues are seen, heard and valued while providing actionable data to improve overall satisfaction levels.

blank
blank
Engaging features.

Cheers streamlines a bespoke blend of features into a desktop and mobile app to engage and empower the people behind The Wine Society:

  • Social timeline. An exclusively branded platform centralises updates, recognitions and stories, enabling colleagues to engage with in a digital community where they feel at home.
  • Recognition. From achievements and birthdays to service anniversaries and exemplification of The Wine Society’s core values, Cheers ensures every triumph big and small can be recognised by both managers and peers with branded digital cards.
  • Reward. Managers can pair recognitions with digital reward points for colleagues to redeem within the Cheers voucher catalogue showcasing more than 300 retail, hospitality, travel and leisure brands. Seasonal competitions and prize draws further elevate the reward experience.
  • Benefits. A dedicated hub enables 24/7 mobile access to colleague perks including discounted vouchers, savings on days out and cinema trips, as well as the Cycle2Work scheme.
  • Surveys. Following its recent launch, pulse engagement surveys are delivered straight to colleagues’ inboxes to assess and optimise satisfaction levels across the business, collecting confidential data and providing customisable reports around target insights.
  • Reporting. Real-time insights in a live in-platform data dashboard evidence programme adoption and engagement.
Success.

Since January 2023:

  • 87% of employees registered
  • 590 recognitions delivered
  • 37% of recognitions paired with reward
  • 13,565 platform visits
  • 7,340 platform likes and comments
  • 440 news articles read
  • 170 poll responses
  • £32,840+ spend on discounted vouchers, generating employee savings of £1,700
  • A roadmap to launch colleague long-service awards in 2024!

Since June 2023 surveys launch:

  • Colleague response rates have increased by 31%
  • 2 in 3 colleagues rate The Wine Society 8+ or above out of 10 as an employer (an increase of 24% since first survey)
  • 90% of colleagues vote 6 or above out of 10 on ‘How proud are you to work at The Wine Society?’ (an increase of 30% since first survey).
blank
blank
  • 87%
    employee registration rate
  • 37%
    of recognitions paired with reward
  • £32,840+
    spent on discounted vouchers
  • 31%
    increase in survey responses since launch
  • 2 in 3
    colleagues rate The Wine Society as 8+ or above out of 10 as an employer
blank
We have been partnering with Rippl for four years and they have always been extremely supportive and enthusiastic. They are a pleasure to work with, as they communicate effectively and promptly and offer us suggestions on how to increase our employee engagement with the platform. They also regularly introduce new possibilities for us to explore and apply. They represent the essence of the platform – constantly engaging with us and updating us on the latest trends and feedback from their other customers. We appreciate their excellent service, thank you!
MAGGIE O'CONNOR, HEAD OF HR - THE WINE SOCIETY
blank
Book a demo
Want to see Rippl in action?