Merseyrail Case Study: Employee Engagement with a Personal Touch

Hapi, the Next Stop on Merseyrail's Engagement Journey

The Challenge

Merseyrail have always been very focused on providing a good benefits package to their staff. However, in order to keep up with the new benefits being offered they had a number of different platforms scattered across several providers which had to be accessed individually.
This created a problem for employees, as they were often unable to find the benefits they desired, and frequently logged on to the wrong systems. Additionally, much of the information for their benefits was communicated via paper booklets, and being an environmentally conscious company, this was something that Merseyrail wanted to change.
As 40% of their staff are hopping on and off trains during the working day, being connected to the platform while on the move was essential – both in terms of access to benefits and for Merseyrail’s broader internal communications.
The idea was to utilise a single platform, that still managed to offer the same diverse range of benefits, with the added bonus of acting as an integrated internal communications tool.

The Solution

Personal Group helped Merseyrail develop a mobile app that functions as an online benefits portal, complete with single sign on to their other systems, and employee communications channel. This incorporated both the employee benefits and rewards and recognition systems into one platform.
Information about the platform was communicated to staff in a diverse range of methods; Face to Face, e-shots, intranet articles and via team meetings. By combining human interaction and electronic communication, Personal Group was able to cut down the use of paper within the company. Personal Group also sent engagement teams down to Merseyrail’s different sites to help staff get to grips with the new system, including one to one assistance.

The Personal Touch

Personal Group’s assistance was invaluable for those staff members who were not particularly technologically savvy. Employee Engagement Executives were available on site to assist each member of staff through their one to one sessions, guiding employees through the registration process and helping improve their technical know-how. The Engagement Executives also walked staff through the new Merseyrail employee website and app to make sure everything was clear.

Results

The new platform has been huge success and Merseyrail are still building on the forward momentum. Benefits have seen a big increase in participation, with the mobile app increasing usage and sign up by 100%. Not only are they seeing more downloads of app than ever before, but benefits take-up has also risen over 200% since the system has been implemented.
This increase in benefits usage has also had a knock-on effect on broader employee engagement, with the latest engagement survey being the best they’ve ever had. 68% of staff stated that for the work they do their pay and benefits are appropriate, an increase of 9% from the previous year.

Discover more companies improving their workforce benefits with Personal Group on our case studies page.