The background: quantifying the unquantifiable 

Reward Gateway provides employee experience platforms and other employee engagement solutions to organisations across the globe. Its main contacts are typically HR professionals – a group that have long taken for granted that investments into employee engagement pay for themselves in better business outcomes in the long-term, but have lacked the hard evidence to prove this link. 

"When our CMO, Mark South, attended a major HR conference in the US, he was struck by the lack of meaningful ROI discussions," explains Alex Powell, Director of Client Cultural Insights at Reward Gateway. "There was plenty of talk about what employees need, but little proof of why it would help. We knew we had to change that conversation." 

Making this change would require hard evidence on that demonstrated the benefits of employee engagement. To this end, they commissioned Meridian West to conduct research into the links between benefits packages, employee engagement, and business outcomes. 

The result was the Economic Value Study, a research-led thought leadership campaign that gave Reward Gateway a differentiated and authoritative voice on the subject of employee engagement, a means to reach out to prospects on a personal level via benchmarking tools, and a fresh perspective on the priorities and needs of their clients. 

The approach: a research methodology designed with foresight 

Proving the link between employee engagement and business outcomes required the gathering of sensitive financial and operational information from hundreds of companies.

"I'll acknowledge, I was a naysayer at first," Alex admits. "I've been in this industry for a couple of decades, and I didn't think the question was one we could solve for."

For the project to work, data needed to be collected on a large scale and in a standardised format; what's more, respondents needed to be both willing and able to supply confidential information. 

Overcoming these challenges required a research methodology designed to thread the needle between accuracy and feasibility. Meridian West worked closely with Reward Gateway, consulting with internal stakeholders including marketers, account managers, content writers, and even Reward Gateway's own HR team to compile a set of questions that would collect the data necessary to meet the project objectives without asking for information that would be too sensitive or specific for Reward Gateway's client base to provide. The survey was even piloted with a select group of favourable clients to give the green light before the full launch. 

This approach may seem cautious, but such careful planning was the key to the success of the project. As Meridian West's own Ethan Murphy explains:

"It's so exciting when you have an idea that you want to jump straight into data collection, but the worst thing you can do is realise afterwards that you're missing crucial information." 

These careful preparations resulted in a survey that collected both key performance metrics and self-evaluated ratings, enabling Meridian West to conduct meaningful analysis without requiring respondents to divulge their deepest financial secrets. The approach was a success: over 270 organisations took part, representing 1.3 million employees and spanning 13 countries. 

The innovation: from numbers to narratives 

The survey was successful in proving the elusive link between employee engagement and business outcomes. This, however, was only half the battle; cracking the case had required Meridian West to collect the information in a standardised format that didn't quite tell the tale of the specific needs and experiences of Reward Gateway's client base; to make the results compelling, they needed to be communicated in a way that engaged with the individual circumstances of the organisations Reward Gateway hoped to reach.  

To achieve this, Meridian West took a double-pronged approach, tackling both message and medium.  

Using advanced segmentation analysis, Meridian West identified distinct personas that provided a narrative structure to the story the results were telling. A clear difference emerged between organisations with 'desk-based' workers versus those with a 'frontline' workforce; further distinctions emerged within these two groups between 'leaders', 'appeasers', and 'drivers'. 

Complementing these personas were a series of dashboards that took the results beyond the traditional longform report, furnishing Reward Gateway with the tools to update the data over time and benchmark the performance of specific organisations against their peers. 

Between the narrative personas and the benchmarking capabilities, Reward Gateway had the basis to tailor the insight to specific audiences, allowing them to approach HR professionals with not only an understanding of the specific challenges faced by their organisation, but also a toolkit to improve the effectiveness of their own benefits packages. 

As Alex says, "Meridian West's approach to this project was truly transformative. The creativity and flexibility with which they approached the research helped us narrow in on the segments that make the actual difference in how companies perform. They pushed us beyond where we thought we could go, making us one of the very few companies in this industry having this level of conversation about ROI in employee engagement." 

The impact: transforming client conversations 

The Economic Value Study was a resounding success for Reward Gateway. The campaign was launched in May 2024 with a special summit attended by 1,200 HR professionals, accompanied by a longform report written by Meridian West. By September, the report had garnered 40,000 impressions on social media, been downloaded from the Reward Gateway website over 1,600 times, generated almost 600 new leads, and was associated with £2.25 million of pipeline value. 

The ability to tailor the narrative through segmentation and benchmarking was a crucial factor behind this success. "The research Meridian West conducted has given us a new starting point for all our client conversations," Alex explains. "We now have graphs, data, and insights that allow us to speak authoritatively about the impact of employee engagement on business performance." 

The research has also helped bolster Reward Gateway's reputation as a leading authority on employee engagement. "We've changed how we are seen in the market in measurable ways because of this campaign," Alex notes. "One of the variables that went up the most in our brand messaging surveys is that 'Reward Gateway can help us improve our business'." 

The legacy: a living, breathing campaign 

While the initial impact of the Economic Value Study was significant, its true value lies in its ongoing nature. Designed with longevity in mind, the study continues to provide value for Reward Gateway and its clients well beyond its launch. 

The study remains open for new participants, every copy of the report features a QR code linking directly to the survey, and the results continue to act as a conversation starter for Reward Gateway. The proof is in the uptake: since launch day the number of responses has risen from 270 to 430, with each new response representing a fresh lead for Reward Gateway and a further enrichment of the dataset that sits at the heart of the study. 

As Alex explains, "Meridian West didn't just deliver a report; they provided us with a living, breathing campaign that continues to generate value. The dynamic benchmarking tool they created allows us to continuously refine our insights as more companies participate. This ongoing nature of the project has been instrumental in driving our business forward and securing our position as thought leaders in our field." 

The conclusion: the power of thoughtful thought leadership 

Reward Gateway's Economic Value Study stands as a testament to the power of combining rigorous research methodology with personalised outreach. "When this project started, I was sceptical about what we could achieve," Alex reflects. "But Meridian West's ingenuity in looking for new ways to approach what seemed like a tired question led to results that exceeded all our expectations. I'm really excited by the answers we were able to get, despite my initial doubts. Their work has fundamentally changed how we engage with our clients and prospects." 

In the end, what started as a quest to prove the value of employee engagement has become a powerful demonstration of the value of thoughtful, data-driven thought leadership itself. For HR professionals and business leaders alike, that's an engagement worth rewarding.

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You can participate in the research here:

https://www.rewardgateway.com/uk/resource/economic-value-study