How Heka became the most popular employee benefit at a magic circle law firm

The background

In 2023 a magic circle law firm was looking to get more from their wellbeing budget. Their situation was a common one: everyone had the ability to expense their gym membership so the company could support their wellbeing. 

The outcome was also expected: just 16% of their team were utilising their incumbent gym benefit.

Sensing it wasn’t an inclusive benefit and that they could do better, the Reward team set about exploring new options and trialled different solutions with little success. That was, until they found Heka.

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The launch

Internal rules meant that Heka couldn’t be rolled out with its usual pizzazz as announcement emails were banned and launch meetings were a no-go. It had to be a silent launch, and the Heka team was up for the challenge.

To get the word out about Heka, the Reward team secured the Heka team a spot in the cafeterias of their London office as well as at a second office nearby. The Heka team spent one day at each office spreading the word among employees and by the end, 31% of employees had opted-in to Heka — nearly double the rate of the outgoing gym benefit.

Heka opt-in rates usually boast an 99% opt-in rate for small companies, 91% for medium sized companies and an 87% opt-in rate for large companies. Due to the limitations launching Heka with this magic circle law firm, the firm’s Reward team were expecting a 25% opt-in rate. Achieving higher was a pleasant surprise.

But things didn’t stop there. Within the first 6 months of launching Heka, employee opt-in rate climbed even higher to over 50% - driven purely by employee conversations and organically spreading the word about Heka.

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Colleague-led engagement

In the first quarter after launch, the engagement rate of employees using Heka was 91%. This isn’t signing up or logging in — as it can be with other benefits — it’s real usage, bettering their personal wellbeing.

On the usage front, as expected for companies using Heka, the numbers are impressive. 97% of all allowance given to the firm’s employees in the first 9 months has already been spent. But what does this look like in practice?

Two thirds (66%) of the firm’s employees using Heka purchase an experience to support their wellbeing in any given month, with the remainder usually saving their allowance for a larger purchase in the following month. 

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What about the admin?

A few months in, the HR team couldn’t have been happier. "It’s the most successful voluntary benefit launched to date”, noting the impressive “engagement and buzz around the flexibility of the platform and how it’s supporting our people in different ways."

Heka is designed to be as admin-free as possible. Heka receives a list of new employees opting in each month and another for any employees that have left the firm.

Heka takes care of the rest, including any benefit-in-kind tax reporting.

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More benefits

The vast range of wellbeing benefits available on Heka is always growing. Shortly after the magic circle law firm implemented Heka, we added the ability for individual members to subscribe to health cash plans through the UK’s two largest providers. And it came at a great time for the firm, as they commented: “This is a great addition. I have been looking at Health Cash plans to support our people from a social economic perspective so thank you for doing the hard work!”

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Looking to the future

As word spreads among the firm’s team, more and more employees select Heka as their benefit of choice and opt-in to using the platform to support their wellbeing. Within the first 6 months alone, it’s clear that using Heka for their wellbeing benefits continues to be an overwhelming success. In the coming months Heka is on track to being utilised by over 90% of the firm’s entire workforce.

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