The challenge: making budgets count

Like many organisations in education, Wickersley Partnership Trust is working within tight budgets while facing ongoing recruitment challenges. 

At the same time, they wanted to improve how recognition showed up day to day. While staff awards already existed, recognition was largely manual and not consistently visible across the organisation. 

"One piece of feedback that we had in years gone by was that staff wanted more of a variety of reward and recognition.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

They also needed to increase the value they offer employees without increasing spend. 

"Working in the public sector, we're held accountable for every penny spent, so we have to invest very wisely.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

A standout comms strategy

Wickersley treated Perkbox as more than a benefit. They treated it as an ongoing campaign and comms strategy.

It starts before day one. Perkbox is included across recruitment materials, helping strengthen their overall offering and making benefits visible from the outset. 

“Our colleague benefits are front and centre of our recruitment and retention campaign - we take every opportunity to shout about them.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

From there, it is embedded into onboarding, with every new starter introduced to the platform as part of their induction. 

“Right from when we induct our new starters… we talk to them about Perkbox.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

The team keeps engagement high through consistent internal campaigns. A key part of this strategy is sharing real savings stories from employees. 

By using the platform themselves and turning those experiences into simple, relatable examples, they make the value of Perkbox tangible. 

“Through using Perkbox for everyday purchases, especially having recently moved house, I managed to build up 1300 points. We used this as an example in our comms strategy.” 
Daniela, Senior Marketing and Communications Officer, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

These stories show how small, everyday actions can build into something meaningful. 

“If you’re doing online shopping, there’s no reason why you can’t take that extra 30 seconds.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

This approach works because it is genuine. 

“You can’t really shout about something if you don’t believe in it yourself.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust

From yearly awards to everyday recognition

Before Perkbox, recognition was managed through manual processes to support staff awards. While effective for one-off moments, it lacked visibility and consistency. 

The Trust wanted to build something more continuous. With Perkbox, recognition quickly became part of everyday working life. 

“It kind of launched itself which is a marketer’s dream.”
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

Employees can now recognise each other in real time, making appreciation visible across the organisation. 

Recognition also feeds directly into wider initiatives across the Trust. 

“It started linking into lots of different things that we do as well.”
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

This includes: 

• Employee of the half term 
• Trust-wide staff awards 

The central team reviews nominations, focusing on the quality of contributions, and works with school leaders to select winners. This ensures recognition is fair, meaningful and consistent across all schools, without adding admin burden.

The impact: stronger engagement, real results

Since launching Perkbox, Wickersley Partnership Trust has built strong engagement across the organisation: 

• 81% activation rate 
• 3x the volume of award nominations 
• £65,852 saved by employees in 12 months 
• 5,881 recognitions shared in last 12 months 

Recognition has seen a significant uplift since WPT launched Perkbox. They've gone from 600 nominations a year, to over 2500 nominations annually. 

This success is driven by a combination of strong communication, real employee advocacy and a recognition approach that is embedded into everyday work. As well as using Perkbox's own communication with end users, WPT has their own comms strategy running in the background, too. 

Crucially, the Trust has been able to deliver this impact while making their budget go further. 

“We invested strategically in Perkbox to help our staff out during the cost of living crisis. It's been well received across the Trust, and the statistics speak for themselves.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

Recognition is now more consistent and visible across the Trust, helping employees feel acknowledged for their contributions. 

“I think over the last two, three, four years we’ve really smashed through that barrier and Perkbox has been the enabler for that.” 
Scott, Senior Marketing & Comms Manager, Wickersley Partnership Trust 

With strong adoption and clear value, Perkbox is now embedded into how the Trust supports and engages its people.