Higher education: Universities & colleges

Benefits that support your employees — and strengthen your institution.

Universities depend on their people. From academic staff to frontline teams, employee wellbeing and engagement directly impact performance, retention and student experience. We help universities support their employees with benefits that improve wellbeing, boost engagement and reduce turnover — all through one simple platform.

Trusted by the universities & colleges

The challenges universities face

Supporting employees across a diverse, high-pressure environment comes with unique challenges.
 

Diverse workforce

Academic, operational and frontline roles all have different needs, making consistent support harder to deliver.

Hard-to-reach employees

Non-desk teams often miss out, with limited access to email and intranet-led communications.

Financial pressure

Rising everyday costs are impacting employee wellbeing, satisfaction and performance.

Low engagement

Existing benefits go underused, with low awareness limiting their impact.

Competition for talent

Universities are under increasing pressure to attract and retain skilled employees.

The UK higher education sector is facing increasing pressure, balancing rising costs, reduced international student income, and growing expectations from staff and students

How Pluxee helps

A single platform built to reach every employee.

    Support a diverse workforce

    Support a diverse workforce

    Deliver flexible benefits that work for academic, operational and support roles — ensuring everyone can access value that suits their needs.

    Reduce HR admin

    Reduce HR admin

    Simplify complex systems into one platform, helping your teams save time and reduce manual workload.

    Boost engagement

    Boost engagement

    Make benefits easy to access and use, increasing awareness, uptake and overall employee satisfaction.

    Deliver real value on tight budgets

    Deliver real value on tight budgets

    Provide meaningful financial and wellbeing support without increasing salary costs, helping stretch budgets further.

    Organisations using a unified platform can see significantly higher engagement compared to fragmented systems (often cited as up to 6×), helping maximise adoption and return on investment.

    Solutions designed for higher education

    Simple, flexible solutions that support your workforce, reduce complexity and deliver real value across your institution.

    Money

    Help employees manage costs today and build future financial resilience.
    Discounts, cashback, salary sacrifice and savings tools.

    Health

    Support healthier, happier employees.
    Access to physical, mental and financial wellbeing support, alongside health services and fitness apps.

    Rewards & recognition

    Celebrate and motivate your people.
    Simple tools to recognise great work and build culture.

    The impact for universities

    Better engagement. Better outcomes.
     

    Real results across your institution:

    Why it works

    • Built for complex organisations
    • Engages beyond email and intranets
    • Scales across departments
    • Supports everyday employee needs

    Higher education case studies

      University of Salford

      University of Salford case study

      The University of Salford wanted to better support employee wellbeing while offering meaningful everyday value to staff.
      Pluxee helped deliver a flexible benefits platform, improving access to discounts, cashback and wellbeing support across the organisation.

      • Improved employee wellbeing through access to a wide range of benefits
      • Strong engagement, with 94% of employees actively using the platform
      • Increased awareness and usage of benefits (150% uplift in platform engagement)
      • Reduced employee turnover (from 8.6% to 5.9% over two years)

      Blackpool and The Fylde College

      Blackpool and The Fylde College case study

      Blackpool and The Fylde College needed a simple way to deliver free meal vouchers to eligible students, including those off-site or without access to campus facilities.

      Pluxee provided a digital voucher solution via Voucher Select, reducing admin and ensuring consistent student support.
      Bullets:

      • Delivered free meal vouchers to eligible students, including outreach learners
      • Helped ensure students can afford meals and stay engaged in learning
      • Reduced admin with a simple, automated voucher system
      • Enabled the college to stretch budgets further via CCS framework

      Northern Education Trust

      Northern Education Trust case study

      Northern Education Trust needed a reliable way to deliver vouchers to families, particularly during periods of disruption such as school closures.

      Pluxee enabled fast, digital voucher fulfilment, ensuring continued support for students who rely on free meals.
      Bullets:

      • Delivered vouchers to eligible families at scale
      • Helped prevent financial hardship by maintaining essential support
      • Provided instant access to vouchers via a self-serve platform
      • Improved efficiency with automated fulfilment and reporting

      What are employees saying?

      I've saved over £400 in the last 12 months at a wide variety of high street and on-line retailers, not by changing where I shop, but by buying discounted e-vouchers and then paying either online or in store with them.

      The majority of my regular cashback comes from my weekly grocery shop. The card is easy to use! Getting cashback is seamless, and is very useful for big purchases/at Christmas-time etc. I do all my weekly grocery shopping on it and we use it as our family expenses card, paying for meals out and trips away.

      Supermarket discounts make a great saving on purchases you make out of necessity. Evouchers are great to purchase for gifts, especially the discounted websites for sending gifts; i.e letterbox gifts. The savings are great and such a good perk, especially during these times. Highly recommended and its great the variety of retailers available. It truly is saving on your day-to-day spending.

      Really great offers at a variety of retailers. Really good for booking holidays on the best booking sites. Also good to buy bulk home items where the discounts can lead to big savings!!

      Talk to an expert today

      Schedule a 30-minute virtual tour with one of our experts

      See how Pluxee can help your manufacturing teams:

      • Improve shift workers’ wellbeing with practical benefits
      • Increase engagement and reduce absenteeism
      • Strengthen retention and attract skilled talent in a competitive market

      FAQs

      It combines discounts, wellbeing and recognition in one platform, driving higher engagement than standalone benefits.

      Through a single login on mobile or desktop, wherever they are.

      Yes, you can integrate existing benefits into the platform for a seamless employee experience.

      Very easy, everything is managed in one platform, reducing admin and removing the need for multiple providers.

      Yes, it focuses on everyday value like savings and simple access, so employees engage with it regularly.

      Yes, it’s designed for large, diverse workforces and works across departments, campuses and staff types.