Bolton Young Person Housing Association

About Bolton Young Persons Housing

Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme (BYPHS) is a registered charity that accommodates and supports young people. The work their employees undertake can be tough at times, as they deal with young people in need.

In the words of Maura Jackson, their Chief Executive, “I believe we do a brilliant job and I think without it, a lot of young people would be really in dire straits. Our staff are expected to deal with multiple crises every day.”

Challenges

When dealing with emotionally draining work, how you spend your time outside of it can help you to recharge and come back with a fresh mindset. So BYPHS wanted a way to better support their staff outside of work.

Maura is acutely aware of this, telling us, “It's very emotionally draining work and staff have to be giving 150% when they're here. It's a very serious place to work most of the time, you need to be able to let your hair down when you're off.”

Showing appreciation for the hard work of employees in the charity sector is also a challenge, often made more difficult through a lack of budget to spend on staff. Maura sees this first-hand, stating, “The challenges we face are a lot about funding and the economy, and the money is charitable money.”

Solution

When BYPHS launched Perkbox, it gave their staff a platform which supports them outside of work, provides tools to support their mental health in work, and gives managers a way to show them their important work is appreciated.

“The Perkbox scheme allows staff to maximise their time off work and I think that says we value them and will invest in them, not just financially but emotionally,” says Maura.

Results

BYPHS saw 89% of their employees engage with the platform and save £289 each within three months of launching Perkbox.

Due to the hundreds of perks, freebies and discounts available, the platform made a big impact with staff, with Maura saying, “Everybody is using Perkbox in a different way because it's so diverse. Our team is diverse, so they all want to access different options.”

This has added to the levels of appreciation felt by staff. “People are saying that this is unheard of,” was Maura’s response to being able to offer Perkbox as a benefit to her people.

And the platform wasn’t out of reach for the charity’s budget either. “I would say to anyone else considering using Perkbox, to do it. I put it off for far too long, assuming we couldn't afford it and that it wouldn't be worth it – and I was completely wrong.”

Having Perkbox has also resonated with prospective employees. “The most feedback we've heard has been from people applying for jobs when we've done recruitment,” says Maura, “because the membership of Perkbox is advertised on our website.”