The Pluxee Cashback Card... the employee benefit for household support
5 January 2023
Your employees' wages have never had to work harder. The cost of living and doing business remains high, and your employee benefits must enhance employee financial wellbeing and yield a return on investment for your business. Our Pluxee Cashback Card is powered by Visa. A digital solution, it’s a prepaid card - an employee benefit - that provides essential household support. Learn more about how our cashback card can boost your employee value proposition.
93% of adults have reported an increased cost of living compared with last year (ONS), and 7.8 million Brits are struggling to keep up with the cost of their rising bills (FCA).
The cost-of-living crisis is hitting the UK hard, impacting employees' financial, physical, and mental wellbeing. Some situations are more severe than others, and whereas many households are only cutting back on non-essentials, others are struggling to find the funds to pay for essential items and put food on the table.
This House of Commons Library graph shows the number of emergency food parcels the Trussell Trust has provided since 2008. It may look like things have improved, but the 2020–21 figure reflects the impact of the Coronavirus and a spike in the reliance on food banks. Illness and lockdown substantially impacted people’s household income, increasing the use of food banks. When the UK ‘went back to business’, dependence on food banks reduced by 15.35%.
What matters from this graph is the comparison between 2019-20 and 2021-22, which shows a substantial rise of 16% - which follows the pattern between 2019-19 and 2019-20.
Since 2012-13 – almost ten years ago – there has been a 633.33% increase in demand! With experts predicting that the cost of living will increase again in 2023, the number of families struggling to afford essential food and household items will only climb. The need to provide household support has never been greater, and employees are turning to their employers for the employee benefits that make a difference.
The Role of Financial Education
Before going deeper into how our prepaid card can provide impactful household support, it’s useful to explore the role of financial education.
Successful financial wellbeing initiatives begin with financial education, whether that’s helping employees understand how to budget or making them aware of the impact their employee benefits can have.
Financial anxiety is a growing concern, causing additional workplace and personal stress. Prolonged and unmanageable stress can lead to ill mental health, exacerbating the initial financial difficulties. Discover how to support employees and reduce their money worries before they become a serious concern.
Stretch salaries further with our Pluxee Card
We’re proud to say that our Virtual Pluxee Card is a market leader in the prepaid card industry. We have over 80 retailers participating in our cashback scheme, allowing your employees to earn up to 15% cashback whenever they use their Pluxee Card to purchase their everyday essentials and treats.
When your workforce embeds our virtual prepaid card into their daily lives, they can earn significant cashback, making life more affordable. As a Visa prepaid card, your employees can use it almost anywhere, but they'll feel the most significant benefit when they earn cashback with one of our participating retailers.
Salary-Stretching Household Support
What is cashback, and how can it provide household support?
Often used to tempt consumers into buying high-end goods, many retailers offer a percentage or fixed cashback amount when you spend with them.
Our Visa prepaid card works on the same principle. Use it to purchase goods with one of our participating retailers, and they will give you a percentage of your total spending in cashback.
One big difference with our Visa prepaid card is that the cashback isn’t there to tempt your employees to purchase an expensive product. With their Pluxee Cashback Card in their digital wallet, they’re earning cashback on their everyday spending.
How does cashback work?
It’s not about spending more. It’s about spending wisely with the retailers where they can earn cashback.
Say an employee shops at a supermarket offering 4% cashback (as an example) via our cashback scheme. If they use our Visa prepaid card to pay for their weekly shopping instead of their regular debit card, they’ll earn cashback.
Spend £130 = £5.20 cashback x 52 weeks of the year = £270.40 in cashback earnings!
This total is just one area of essential and regular spending. Your employees can also earn cashback when they use our Visa prepaid card at popular gardening centres, DIY stores, clothes shops, days out, and so much more!
With a partner card available, the whole family can get involved with earning cashback while they spend. All it takes is a behaviour change.
How much cashback could your employees earn just by giving a little more thought to where they shop and which method of payment they use?
What is a prepaid card?
If you or your employees explore the market, you’ll find many cashback deals, often with credit cards. With our prepaid card, they can earn cashback without needing credit or interest added.
Employees must add funds to the card. There’s no credit – therefore, no credit checks – they simply top-up the card with funds from another account.
Why choose our Virtual Prepaid Card?
Start earning cashback instantly!
We deliver your employees’ virtual prepaid card account details as soon as they register. All they need to do is add them to their digital wallet of choice and load some funds, and they can purchase goods wherever Visa prepaid is accepted.
All your employees need to do is keep it topped up!
A versatile solution, you can add funds to the Pluxee Card as an employee benefit or use it to issue cash rewards and bonuses – stretching your support further with the cashback-earning potential.
A cost-effective way to boost your Employee Value Proposition
Your businesses must make budgets stretch, too!
Towards the end of 2022, many businesses announced pay rises to support their employees during the cost-of-living crisis. Salary increases only go so far, aren’t sustainable in the long term, and aren't viable for every company.
Employee benefits must be cost-effective and sustainable, and one of the best ways to make them successful is to put the power to save in your people’s hands with a cashback card like ours.
Make your employees' wages work as hard as they do
When your employees are in a good place financially, physically, and mentally, they’re more engaged with their work. By providing employee and household support, you’re helping to alleviate their money worries.
It’s a small price to pay when helping them will also benefit your business.
Pluxee UK has been supporting employers for over 60 years, and we continue to make it our mission to help you help your people succeed.
Sources: ONS, FCA, House of Commons Library
Stretch Salaries Further with our Pluxee Card
Request a call from one of our employee engagement consultants to discover how our Pluxee Card can streamline your employee benefits and rewards strategies while allowing your employees to earn up to 15% cashback.