Now that the rush season is over and open enrollment is behind us, we’d like to take a few minutes to look back on Access Perks’ 2017.
Wait, you mean the rush season isn’t over yet? There are still enrollment audits, seasonal bonuses, and party planning to be done?
Okay, so maybe things never really slow down in HR and benefits.
To help accommodate those crazy schedules, we’re going to summarize the five big highlights from our year.
1. Employees Saved a Load of Money
As we said in our ultimate guide to employee discount programs, it’s not really a benefit if employees aren’t saving money. We’re proud to report that employees on the Access Perks network saved in the tens of millions of dollars. That’s a lot of money staying in their pockets, which makes a big difference during months like this one, when wallets are stretched thin.
The top merchants on our network? Papa John’s Pizza, Redbox movie rentals, and Bob Evans restaurants were incredibly popular, but our deals at Walt Disney World and Six Flags won out as the most redeemed of all.
2. We Expanded Our Client Base
With the cost of benefits rapidly expanding, companies are getting creative with how they enhance their perks and compensation. Thankfully many of those companies now work with us, as our client base more than doubled in 2017. If you’re curious about how some of those accounts are going, we’ve created a few case studies that tell their stories (with more to come).
3. Our Content Shaped the Industry
After hundreds of thousands of individual pageviews at AccessPerks.com, it’s been fairly clear we’ve struck a nerve among employers nationwide. Of course, many of those came to our employee engagement and benefits stats pages.
As an employee discount program provider, we know quite about building successful programs. We compiled much of our knowledge and distilled it into a free guide for you to download.
We also published a couple of pieces on major media sites - perhaps none more significant than Andrew Graft’s article in TLNT about the looming war for talent. That article generated thousands of shares and almost as many passionate discussions online and in offices around the country. If you need help making a case for why HR and benefits are important, print that article out and share with your executive team.
4. We’re a pretty cool place to work
We talk about the significance of employee benefits and the value of engagement, but we also walk the walk. Access Development (our parent company) took home five workplace awards in the past 12 months. That includes a SHRM When Work Works honor, and The Salt Lake Tribune named us the #1 Top Midsize Workplace in the state of Utah. Speaking of, know someone who’s looking for a new career? We have openings available right now!
5. Big things are coming in 2018
2017 was good, but we think 2018 is going to blow it out of the water. We (and Access Development overall) are laser-focused on the member experience and making this network more valuable and user-friendly than ever.
The headliner is going to be our new travel booking engine, further enhancing what are already the best travel deals in the industry.
But you can also count on more of our most popular deals (specifically dining and retail), more opportunities for employees to refer their favorite merchants, and higher merchant acceptance and engagement.
Perk Up - 2018 is Almost Here
While Access Perks, as a service, is just two and a half years old, our company has worked with employer groups for nearly 35 years.
We all know how difficult the world of talent retention can be and have seen things become even more challenging in the past couple years. Healthcare costs, recruiting challenges, engagement, wellness - there’s a lot on your plates right now.
We also know that HR and benefits have some of the most dedicated, strongest professionals we’ve seen anywhere. Things will get better because the good people in this industry will make good things happen.
We’re grateful to each of you for letting us play a role in your efforts, and we hope to play even more of a helpful role in 2018 and beyond.
Happy holidays from our family to yours,
The Access Perks Team
