Case Study: Hastings Academies Trust achieves 68% employee engagement with Reward Gateway's employee engagement platform

Employee engagement platform centralizes discounts for higher uptake, unites employees with company branding

Hastings Academies Trust, a multi‑academy trust in the education sector with around 900 employees, needed a way to onboard staff from the University of Brighton Academies Trust while keeping communications branded, relevant and properly segmented across sites. Already using Reward Gateway for employee discounts and childcare vouchers, the Trust sought a platform that would unify benefits without exposing each Trust’s content to the other.

Reward Gateway delivered a branded employee engagement hub (My Academy Rewards powered by SmartHub®), with bespoke logo, colours and SmartHub® segmentation so each employee only sees relevant news, local discounts and policies. The unified platform has since integrated four more schools and driven measurable impact: engagement rose from 25% to 68% over 12 months, employees spent over £87,000 through shopping discounts (saving more than £9,200), 630 eCards were sent, and the first‑year annual ROI was reported at £13,500 — all enabled by Reward Gateway’s solution.

Hastings Academies Trust

Peter O’Connor

HR Director