PizzaExpress staff Love2shop and Love2travel
2010-05-01
This article is supplied by Love2reward, sponsors of the www.employeebenefits.co.uk staff motivation channel
Since 2004 PizzaExpress has been rewarding its team with Love2shop gift vouchers.
Jemma Patterson, PA to the HR director, said: "Once we took the decision to implement a team reward programme, we undertook a comprehensive review of the gift voucher market. We wanted to offer our team members the best and the Love2shop gift voucher has proved itself time and time again. Everyone loves the diversity of stores and we even have managers asking if they can buy the vouchers themselves."
More than 9,000 team members across 350 locations in the UK and Ireland are eligible for the many initiatives operated by PizzaExpress, from locally-run restaurant rewards such as meet-and-greet schemes to restaurant support heroes at restaurant support. Reward values for Love2shop - the high street gift voucher can vary from £20 up to £150 in some cases.
For the past two years the company has organised an annual reward programme which recognises exceptional effort and achievement. At an annual summer event attended by all restaurant support employees and restaurant management, the chief executive discusses the highlights of the year and presents individual awards.
"Because of the nature and value of these rewards, we chose to give Love2travel gift cards,” said Patterson. “This gives the recipient a vast choice in terms of destination and the booking process is so simple.”
The annual awards evening is the hottest ticket in the PizzaExpress calendar and an opportunity to recognise and reward outstanding restaurants and employees. "Each year we give a number of awards to recognise our teams,” explained Patterson. “There are a number of awards including five based around our key priorities - 'Passion for Food and Life', 'Engaging the Customer', 'Showing a Generous Spirit', 'Caring about People' and 'Implementing Brilliantly'. The major awards for the night are 'Extraordinary Person of the Year' and 'Restaurant of TheYear'.”
In each category the recipient is given either a £1,500 or £1,000 Love2travel award. Due to the increased value of these awards Love2reward also produce a range of Love2travel gift certificates which are personalised to include the PizzaExpress logo.
"We knew from past experience that Love2reward offered a great product and service, so we didn't feel it was necessary to review the travel market when it came to the annual awards scheme. It's all about giving our team what they want, and feedback tells us that we've got it right," Patterson added.
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