Creating a strong employee benefits brand isn’t just about design - it’s about defining who you are as an employer and how you show your people that they matter. A well-crafted benefits brand helps you stand out in a competitive job market, boosts engagement, and builds lasting loyalty. Here are five practical steps to help you get started:
1. Work out your goal
A great brand clearly establishes its mission and values — so before designing anything, define exactly what you want your benefits brand to achieve. Align it with your corporate goals and internal values.
For example, at NFP we lean into three pillars: being nimble, results-focused and personal. Our internal benefits identity emphasises making the workplace experience as personalised as possible — it was a natural articulation of who we are. That clarity then informs everything that follows.
2. Involve your employees from the start
Your benefits brand should be about your people, for your people, and ideally shaped with your people. Introducing a scheme without employee voice risks creating something that feels imposed and underappreciated.
Hold a focus group drawing from different departments, levels and demographics. Ask questions such as:
- How would you visualise our benefits brand?
- Where do you expect to see it in practice?
- Should the tone be playful, professional, or somewhere in between?
- What ideas just wouldn’t land?
By involving them early, you can help breed ownership. The brand becomes co-created, and engagement begins before launch.
3. Construct your brand
Once you’ve gathered insight, it’s time to bring the brand to life whilst ensuring it complements your corporate identity and projects your intended personality. We recommend focusing on four core areas:
- Logo: This will be the centrepiece to your brand. This mark will be the main element that sticks in employees’ minds when they think of your benefits.
- Tagline: Will you have any catchy, memorable phrases that represent your goals and culture?
- Colour: This will affect the tone of your message and the feelings evoked in your employees about their brand.
- Images: Whether you choose photography, illustration, or a minimal approach to imagery, think about how this will reflect on the personality of your brand. Remember that you want to be seen as human, caring and responsible above all else.
Remember, a strong identity can help demonstrate that your benefits scheme is significant and something that your business is invested in.
4. Get your brand ambassadors on board
By conducting your focus group you will already be creating a team of benefit brand ambassadors. With a little extra training, these individuals will be pivotal to embedding your brand and benefits within your workforce. The more they know about your benefits, the more they can help everyone around them, further reinforcing your employee benefits within your workforce.
Remember, though, employees need to recognise that your brand ambassadors truly believe in the brand and are sincerely invested in championing it. Not just that they’re doing it because they have to.
This means that you must keep your ambassadors motivated and fully committed with your benefits brand. Regularly meeting with them to catch up on any concerns or queries is fundamental.
5. Embed your brand
You now need to put your benefits brand out there for your employees to see and engage with. The logistics of your workplace will of course have an impact on how your employees come across this.
Think about:
- Your workplace environment: This could be permanent artwork, posters, colour coordinated interiors, welcome messages on computers etc.
- Launch party: You could have a launch dinner, a party, or a team building exercise.
- Launch workshop: To introduce your employees to their benefits brand and the benefits that you offer, and introduce your brand ambassadors to the rest of the team.
Final thoughts
It’s easy to overlook the power of your benefits brand, but if your people don’t understand or connect with what’s offered, employee benefits engagement can remain low, and your return on investment may suffer. Shifting mindsets around pensions, protection or wellbeing is rarely instant, but with smart planning and clear communication, you can make it meaningful and valued.
As the landscape of benefits evolves, the brands that succeed may very well be those that see benefits not as transactions, but as expressions of care and culture.