Case Study: East London NHS Foundation Trust improves staff reward communication with NHS Employers

East London NHS Foundation Trust - Customer Case Study

East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) worked with NHS Employers to review its staff rewards and benefits after finding that existing offers were poorly communicated, awareness was low, and recruitment and retention issues were growing, particularly for mental health nurses and early leavers. The trust also wanted to reduce rising agency and bank spend and create a more attractive reward offer for current and prospective staff.

With support from NHS Employers’ Total Reward Engagement Network, ELFT analysed benefit costs and take-up, then surveyed and engaged staff through focus groups, webinars, and interviews to identify what people valued most. NHS Employers helped ELFT use the feedback to improve communications, create a benefits brochure, and develop new recruitment tools including a smartphone app and microsite; the trust also built business cases for new or revised benefits. As a result, benefit awareness increased, reward communications improved, and ELFT now has a clearer evidence base to support future changes and evaluate impact on recruitment and retention.

East London NHS Foundation Trust