How Neighbourly is using Bippit to respond to rising living costs

Neighbourly is an award-winning platform helping businesses donate volunteer time, money, and surplus products. This allows businesses (such as Samsung, Aldi, and B&Q) to deliver meaningful and sustainable community investment into thousands of locations across the UK and Ireland.

Neighbourly was one of the UK’s very first B Corporations, meaning they meet rigorous standards of social responsibility, environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

A core part of this is how they support their employees, both at work and in their personal lives. It’s one of the reasons Neighbourly has partnered with Bippit, as Hayley Bradley, the company’s Head of Finance explains…

“We couldn’t have come across Bippit at a more relevant time. As a business we are concerned with the rising cost of living and how this affects our growing team. This is why we decided to implement Bippit.”

“It’s part of a wider plan to support employee wellbeing, which stems from Neighbourly’s status as a B Corp. As we grow we are trying to find practical ways to help our employees.”

Acting as a responsible employer

When a company adopts Bippit, every employee is given unlimited access to a 1-1 financial coach who is matched to their individual needs.

Each coach is a qualified professional – with many years of training and experience – and is on hand to deal with employee queries ranging from pension schemes and equity plans, to taxation and insurance cover.

This comprehensive financial support is what attracted Neighbourly to Bippit.

“Bippit is a platform that delivers a complete financial wellbeing solution for a company’s employees,” Hayley says. “The one-to-one financial coaches, and the easy-to-use dashboard, were what initially drew us to Bippit.”

“It’s fantastic to be able to include Bippit in our benefits package. It’s very important to us that existing and future employees feel reassured about our commitments as a responsible employer, and can see how this links to our B Corp values.”

 

Why financial wellbeing is more important than ever

The impact of the pandemic on people’s finances, along with ongoing concerns about the increased cost of living, mean that more people are feeling unsettled and stressed.

This has a direct impact on companies as research shows employees are twice as likely to leave a job when they’re anxious about their finances.

Bippit can deal with that stress so employees feel more settled in their job, while 81% of younger workers want to work for a company that cares about their financial wellbeing. Adopting Bippit is an effective strategy to ensure staff are happy, valued, and retained.

Hayley adds: “we’ve had lots of positive feedback from employees who are keen to get started and explore what’s on offer.

“Bippit allows us to give employees access to a finance professional, and to lots of tools and resources that help them with all aspects of personal finance.”

 

Want to support your team with the rising cost of living?

Along with the likes of Sipsmith and HelloFresh, Neighbourly is one of the many companies benefitting from Bippit’s all-in-one financial wellbeing platform. 

Looking to support your team? Book a free Financial Wellbeing Lunch & Learn for your workplace.

 

 

Care & Independence is working with Bippit to improve lives

Care & Independence designs and manufactures a wide range of products that aid mobility, independence, and improve daily life for the elderly and less able.

Their company ethos is to ‘Improve Lives’, with their products highly recommended by leading clinical experts including the NHS and Social Services.

However, that ethos doesn’t just touch those who use their products. It’s a value that extends to how the company supports their staff. A value that has been strengthened in the past two years post-pandemic, as James Bennett (the company’s Sales & Marketing Director) explains…

“We had a relatively difficult first lockdown in 2020. A lot of our people were on furlough and the business went through a difficult time commercially.”

“At the time we took a long hard look at the culture we wanted for the business. We came up with a set of values and principles that we wanted to offer our people, over and above a financial package.”

“Mental and physical wellbeing were a large part of this, and our focus on both has really helped us successfully navigate the past two years.”

Reacting to staff feedback

Care & Independence survey their staff on a regular basis, both with pulse surveys and biannual in-depth staff surveys. It was through these surveys that they saw a shift in what staff wanted from the company.

James explains: “our people have increasingly said they want financial wellbeing support because of everything that’s happened and the increasing cost of living. As a senior team we’re very conscious about the price of essentials, like utilities, energy, and food.”

“Living costs are fast-becoming the water cooler topic. In many ways, improving one’s financial health has now overtaken mental and wellbeing conversations.”

Realising the need for a financial wellbeing platform that could support their staff, Care & Independence turned to Bippit.

 

A holistic approach to financial wellbeing

The company went through a competitive tender process before partnering with Bippit. What attracted them to our platform was a holistic approach to finance, as James describes…

“We have a diverse team and wanted to make sure that everyone, from the MD to those on our shop floor, would get something out of a financial wellbeing platform.”

“Other solutions were very focused on a particular area, like pensions or investments. Their platforms were quite inflexible and were clearly geared towards a certain person in a certain place on their financial journey.”

“In comparison, Bippit captures all our staff’s needs. It covers a really broad range of financial wellbeing concepts. From protection and investments, to planning for holidays or retirement.”

 

Creating a forward-thinking, and outward-looking, culture

For Care & Independence, it was important that they gave staff a platform that was simple to understand, and intuitive in both look and feel.

Having spoken to colleagues, James says that Bippit’s ease of use is why the company has already seen a good level of engagement with the platform. “I don’t think we would have got that engagement with another provider,” adds James.

“Partnering with Bippit was very much the result of looking out on the world, seeing what’s influencing our teams, and recognising what our people want from us. Adopting Bippit is a sign to our staff that we’re thinking about them, and giving them the tools they need in their life. Not just at work.”

“Over the past two years our retention rates have been good, and Bippit is part of our strategy for both attracting talent and retaining it. It’s another tool to help us drive our culture forward.”

Adopting Bippit “is just the right thing to do”

Bippit is an entirely independent organisation. We don’t have a hidden agenda to upsell other financial services, meaning all employees get the risk-free and impartial support they deserve. Particularly when they’re talking with their personal financial coach.

“Having quick and direct access to a financial coach is really helpful,” says James. “You get an opinion from a qualified and experienced voice, something that’s very reassuring.”

“Bippit is modern. It keeps the focus on employee wellbeing in a rounded way, and will improve your employee’s financial health so they can feel more secure in their work.”

“With Bippit, our people can leave some of their life concerns at the door and focus on their work. That obviously benefits their stress levels and our productivity levels.”

“But to be honest, adopting Bippit is just the right thing to do. You want to look after your colleagues and friends, and this is a great way to do that”

 

Want to develop your company culture further?

Along with the likes of Sipsmith and HelloFresh, Care & Independence is one of the many companies benefitting from Bippit’s all-in-one financial wellbeing platform. 

Looking to support your team? Book a free Financial Wellbeing Lunch & Learn for your workplace.

 

 

Why Blis is embracing personalised financial support

Blis delivers personalised and high-performing digital advertising for the world’s largest brands and media agencies.

Key to their success has been building a powerful culture of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. For Sophie Mann – Employee Experience Specialist at Blis – it’s important that staff feel comfortable enough to bring their authentic selves to work.

It’s why Sophie is continually looking for ways to better support staff, as she explains: “We’ve thought a lot about mental health and have partnered with Spill for this. But we wanted something similar for financial wellbeing.”

“We have a variety of people at Blis. Some younger people who are engaging with financial services for the first time, and others who are seasoned professionals who might need a better steer on areas such as investing.”

“We wanted to give them, and everyone across the company, dedicated support so they know what they can do with their money, especially if they’re in a tricky situation, or have a specific concern like how to save better or get started with investing.”

This is what led Blis to Bippit.

The power of personalised financial coaching

Bippit’s financial wellbeing platform matches every employee with a personal financial coach, all based on their needs, goals, and experience. These coaches – who are regulated and qualified professionals, with years of training and experience – can then answer any question, at any time, that employees may have.

This is something that attracted Sophie to Bippit…

“I really like the idea of being able to speak to your own financial coach on Bippit. That kind of thing is so hard and expensive to do in London, or anywhere, yet it’s so much more personable. It makes you far more engaged in the process as you know you can have a conversation with someone one on one.”

“If you pay for help from a normal financial advisor you might have a conversation and then be left to your own devices. With Bippit’s coaches you can constantly check whether you’re doing the right thing, and get support for free as an employee benefit. That gives you huge peace of mind, and means that it’s available to everyone, no matter what their situation is.”

“Bippit’s coaches aren’t there to tell you off for what you’ve done in the past, they just want to help you create healthier habits for the future. You can also link Bippit to your bank accounts so that whenever you’re speaking to your coach you can talk about what’s really going on.”

 

The importance of an all-in-one financial wellbeing platform

Bippit is an entirely independent organisation, and there’s no hidden agenda to upsell other financial services, meaning every employee gets the risk-free and impartial support they deserve.

Instead of asking (or being embarrassed to ask) HR for support on taxation, insurance cover, or pensions, employees can instead get answers from their personal financial coach. This frees up time for HR professionals so they can focus on the big picture, rather than trying to be an expert in financial matters.

Sophie adds: “our employees cover a wide age bracket, from mid-20s to 50s, so we needed a solution that could cover all aspects of financial wellbeing. Bippit does that.”

“It doesn’t just tell you how much you need to save in a given month. It goes beyond that by encouraging healthy habits which put you in a much stronger financial position.”

“Bippit’s weekly newsletters are also so good and really informative, as are the regular webinars. With any employee tool like this it’s all about engagement. Little things like a newsletter or webinar continually remind people that Bippit’s there, helpful, and easy to use.”

 

Looking ahead…

All of Blis’ employees in the UK now have full access to Bippit, something Sophie says will help with talent retention and attraction.

“We want people to stay at Blis because of our environment, support, and benefits. Bippit helps with that, but it also makes our benefits offering really enticing and fresh to potential talent. It helps us stand out from the rest.

Want to support your own team with the Cost of Living?

Along with the likes of Sipsmith and Beam, Blis is one of the many companies benefitting from Bippit’s all-in-one financial wellbeing platform. 

If you’re looking to support your team Book a free Financial Wellbeing Lunch & Learn for your workplace.