Severn Trent Water chooses Capital Bonds to ‘Say Thanks’ to employees Background

Severn Trent Water serves over 8 million people in the heart of the UK, supplying nearly 2 billion litres of drinking water a day in Europe. Since privatisation in 1989, Severn Trent Water has invested nearly £5 billion in improving the quality of its service to customers.

As a company, they wanted to enhance the quality of their service to employees by improving employee satisfaction and motivation.

Objectives
Severn Trent Water required an employee motivation and incentive scheme that empowered managers at a local level to recognise individuals for their exceptional contribution to the company, which directly or indirectly related to improving customer service.

It was essential that the provider that undertook the administration of the scheme did so in a cost effective manner as the business operates in a tight regulatory environment.  It was also important that rewards offered would appeal to all across the wide spectrum of business processes.

Solution
Severn Trent Water turned to Capital Incentives and Motivation to implement a cheque book based reward and recognition incentive scheme called ‘Saying Thanks’.

To launch the campaign, each Business Manager was given a ‘Saying Thanks’ branded cheque book with a range of serial numbered cheques ranging from £25 - £250 with a covering letter and instructions confirming their reward & recognition budget.  The cheques are presented with a personal letter of thanks at the discretion of the Business Manager, to employees who have provided an exceptional contribution.  The recipients simply return the cheque to Capital Incentives in a pre-paid envelope, specifying their choice of voucher from a selection on the rear of the cheque.

Rewards
Severn Trent Water chose Capital Bond vouchers to provide recipients with unlimited choice as they can be spent at over 140 famous high street stores from fashion and accessories, home and DIY, leisure and travel to food and drink.

To complement the Capital Bond voucher and ensure the employees have maximum choice, vouchers from Argos, Kingfisher, Leisure Vouchers, M&S, Next and WHSmith were also recommended.

‘Saying Thanks Awards’ are distributed to the recipient in a ‘Saying Thanks’ personalised voucher wallet, accompanied by a letter of Congratulations.

Capital Incentives & Motivation also manages the administration of the scheme including the implementation of comprehensive audit procedures for every cheque received, the processing of cheques and the distribution of vouchers, this is supported by provision of detailed management information.

Results
The scheme proves to be an ongoing success according to the Pay & Benefits Manager,:

"The 'Saying Thanks' scheme has helped develop the manager and employee relationship as there is a significant 'feel good factor' due to the fact the award is a personal one made by the manager. The scheme has definitely been one of the factors in helping the company improve its customer service levels reported to the industry regulator. The overall company perception has also dramatically improved through the introduction of the scheme.

"Employees’ achievements are now recognised upstream in the management hierarchy and as a result this has increased job satisfaction and increased motivation".

The employees were also impressed with the scheme as one recipient comments - “I always really appreciate receiving a 'Saying Thanks' award. It's nice to be recognised for doing a bit extra and the Capital Bonds are useful as they can be spent in so many different ways."