With studios in the UK, Singapore and Malta, Electric Square provides world-class game development services for the biggest and best companies in the industry. Driven by a collaborative culture, the company has received numerous awards for its workplace environment and Nina Lomax - Electric Square’s Head of People & Culture - is always looking for ways to better support employees. This is what led Nina to bringing in Bippit to cater to staff’s financial wellbeing needs.

Wellbeing’s three different sides

Having been at Electric Square for six years, Nina has seen, and shaped, the various stages of the company’s wellbeing strategy. Perks and benefits have evolved as the demands and needs of staff have changed. At first this meant offering employees £50 that they could claim back on anything wellbeing-related. Then it meant giving staff access to benefits such as personal training, gym sessions, and BUPA private medical cover.

The company has done a lot of work around mental and physical wellbeing support, but more recently Nina wanted to shift focus to financial wellbeing, especially with the current cost-of-living crisis.

“Financial stress has a big knock-on effect with your mental and physical health so it’s important that we cater to all three pillars of wellness: mental, physical and financial. Our employees are not just here to come in and do a job. We understand that they are constantly having thoughts and worries around their finances, especially at the moment.”

“We have a duty of care to make sure we’re looking after our employees as best as we possibly can. It’s why I felt we had a responsibility to provide more substantial financial support for our employees. Financial wellbeing is quite a hot topic so it’s been on my radar, but I made a concerted effort to get it written into our budget for this year.”

The importance of inclusivity and usability

With studios and staff located across the world, Nina is always thinking about whether the benefits the company offers are accessible, inclusive, and available wherever an employee may be. This was especially important for whatever financial wellbeing platform the company partnered with. The platform had to cater to the different needs and life stages of each employee.

“I searched ‘best financial wellbeing platforms’ on Google, looked at reviews, and then selected a small number to talk to, get a demo from, and understand costs. Then I looked at each platform and the usability, UX and UI of it. Considering we’re a games company, the aesthetics of a platform were important as we wanted to make things interactive and fun.”

“When I found Bippit what really appealed to me was the financial coaching offered, and that that coaching could be on a number of different topics like pensions, saving for a car or house, what bank account is best, mortgages and so on.”

“Our staff have different needs and I liked that Bippit doesn’t just focus on one topic. You can get tailored financial coaching on all aspects and I think that’s important because we have an array of different people in different financial situations looking for different things.”

Having completed her research on potential financial wellbeing partners, Nina put together a proposal outlining the platforms who could support Electric Square, gave her recommendation, then got management to sign off on it within the year’s budget. And so Bippit’s partnership with Electric Square began…

Judging the success of company benefits

Nina used a variety of communication channels to tell staff about the company’s partnership with Bippit. This included Teams, email, and the weekly company meeting. As the company has only just introduced Bippit, Nina is focused on sign-up rates and understanding what services people are using on the platform. She’ll then get everyone’s feedback to ensure the company is getting the most out of Bippit.

“From my personal experience so far I’m very happy with Bippit. I've used the financial coaching and am enjoying the look of the app, the interaction and usability of it, and the intuitiveness.”

“Being able to provide financial coaching to employees is definitely going to be a retention tool for us. Companies in the games industry aren’t offering things like Bippit and employees are looking at things like this. It’s not just about the salary. They’re looking at all the other perks and benefits on offer. Having all the different benefits we offer, including Bippit, will definitely help our staff retention.”

What’s next for Electric Square’s employee wellbeing?

While Nina’s focus this year has been on financial wellbeing, she’s excited to look at alternative ways of working in the future. Whether that’s a four-day week, nine-day fortnight, condensed hours, or more personal development time.

“I think this flexibility is only going to get greater and there will be more perks around it. I would love to see more flexibility around working styles, personal circumstances, people who have young children or elderly parents, people who are carers as well as full-time workers… Just having less hoops to jump through when it comes to how we can all work best.”

“There are all sorts of things I’d love to look at implementing but let’s focus on financial wellbeing first!”