East Limburg Hospital (Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg; ZOL) is a Belgian hospital created in 1995 from a merger of four hospitals. It employs approximately 3,500 people, including more than 250 doctors. This makes it one of the larger non-university hospitals in Belgium.
ZOL has a tradition of giving eco-vouchers to its staff every year. Due to a weaker financial year, the management had to find a creative solution to still appreciate its hard-working staff without giving out eco-vouchers.
In addition, ZOL’s management was looking for an efficient way to continue celebrating staff milestones, such as births and work anniversaries. Because unfortunately, someone would be forgotten occasionally and the administrative hassle was too much.
Lastly, they were also looking for a way to thank employees who volunteer to donate blood. Previously, these volunteers were given a half-day or full day of leave as a thank you. However, due to tight staffing levels, they had to find an alternative to granting additional leave.
“Arteel’s solutions allow us to show our appreciation as an employer in a way
that is personal and caring without spending a big budget. Also, the
employees are much more appreciative of the way we’re expressing our own
appreciation for them than previously.” — Guido Van Hamme, ZOL HR
Director
The ZOL management would like to thank the employees for their hard work. One way of doing so was to issue eco-vouchers. It had become a tradition to deposit that money in the employees’ account.
But there was no budgetary space to give eco-vouchers to staff this time. Plus, it’s a rather impersonal way of showing our appreciation because no one notices it and there’s no attention from the individual.
Arteel worked with ZOL’s HR and Communications Department to develop gift boxes (LuckyBird):
- In the hospital’s corporate style
- With a QR code to a video from the HR Director
- With a purchase code for an online catalogue
- Including delivery of the gift
Initially, there were fears at ZOL about the staff’s reaction because the budget was reduced. So what actually happened? AFTER sending out the LuckyBird boxes, the employer spontaneously received positive thank-you messages from employees, which they’d never gotten with an eco-voucher. So visibility was much higher, which has an impact on employer branding.
“These gift boxes were much more warmly received by staff than we ever
achieved with eco-vouchers and the budgetary implications were lower. So a
win-win.” — Guido Van Hamme, ZOL HR Director
For years, ZOL chose to provide newborn gift boxes for employees who became parents. Those packages were kept in the HR Department and the manager then had to collect and distribute them. So of course, things occasionally went wrong, not to mention the administrative hassle and extra
pressure it put on the HR Department. The personal aspect faded and the surprise effect was gone after all these years.
The fact that even one person with 20 years of service, for example, can be forgotten has very painful consequences for both the employee and the employer.
The solution was to personalise the LuckyBird gift boxes for brand-new parents. The HR solution then came up with the idea of also immediately adding some nice cards with tips about insurance policies, various benefits, the Sinterklaas party, etc.
This is something completely different from depositing some money into an account. It is warmly welcomed. This brings your brand into people’s homes and gets colleagues and families talking.
Thanks to the newborn gift boxes, ZOL was able to highlight the benefits of everything they do for their employees even better through fun cards. This again provides an extra moment of connection and delight.
A similar concept was also developed to celebrate employee seniority.
“These LuckyBird boxes were received very positively and seen as a real surprise, as they do not expect to receive this kind of personalised gift with fun tips. Once set up, it’s easy and no one is forgotten.” — Guido Van Hamme, ZOL HR Director
Blood donation has always been important for the hospital, to such an extent that staff who became blood donors got a day’s leave as a thank you for it. However, due to the current staff shortage in the sector, it was no longer possible to maintain this benefit.
In agreement with the social partners, an alternative was sought to continue underscoring the importance of donating blood. It ended up being a gift of 35 euros, in addition to the two hours off to donate blood.
Again, an original gift box from LuckyBird was developed, whereby the blood donor can then choose a gift from an online catalogue.
“It wasn’t easy to take something away from the blood donors, but we were
still able to give something nice that was well received.” — Guido Van
Hamme, Personnel Director ZOL
ZOL continues to innovate further in terms of their valuation policy. It is often the little things that make a big difference. The hospital moved away from the traditional account deposit and, thanks to LuckyBird, found creative ways to make employees happy in a personalised way directly at home.
1. Our creative team of valuation experts will work with you to find the most suitable solution.
2. Our platform ensures that everything runs smoothly and everyone receives a gift on time without forgetting anyone.
3. We personalise everything in your corporate style, add a personal message, and cover the entire logistics process ourselves in-house witha smile.