Transforming Employee Engagement: How Salt Boosted Retention at Incept
Why do top workplace rewards fail to reduce employee turnover? Incept CEO Sam Falletta faced this paradox head-on. Despite winning top workplace awards and high employee engagement scores, turnover among hourly workers at Incept remained a persistent issue. The typical engagement strategies — like Gallup’s Q12 surveys or offering vacation incentives — didn’t resonate with his hourly employees. Sam realized that traditional rewards and incentives didn’t meet the immediate needs of his workforce.
The Core Issue: Hourly Workers Wanted Ownership
Sam discovered that hourly workers needed to have something to show for their work other than their weekly paycheck. He continually looked for benefits that could help elevate Incept’s culture and help employees stay motivated, engaged and act like owners. He realized that employees simply wanted to see the long-term results of their work efforts.
In evaluating a rewards and incentives solution, Sam asked himself four questions:
- Is the program easy to set up and maintain?
- Will it benefit a large portion of our employee base?
- Will the employees receive something of real value?
- Will it be something that changes their behavior and drives results?
The Solution: Salt’s Flexible Reward and Incentive Platform
Salt exceeded Sam’s expectations in all four areas. After launching the Salt program in January 2024, 78% of Incept's workforce enrolled. Several months later, due to high interest and demand, Incept extended Salt enrollment to its salaried team members.
Employees earn one Salt for each hour they work and set goals in the Salt app for experiences, financial products and other products they can redeem their Salt for — things they could never envision saving for before enrolling in Salt.
The results were significant. Employees were more engaged and felt a stronger sense of connection to the company. Salt provided them with a tangible, immediate benefit that they earned simply by working and directly impacted their lives. They had the flexibility to earn and redeem rewards on their terms, which made them feel valued and empowered.
The Results: Empowering Employees With Rewards for Working
Sam discovered that the key to engagement was making employees feel like they had ownership over their work and saving for rewards they wanted. This fostered a new sense of loyalty and engagement and significantly reduced turnover.
The Takeaway: Rewards Hourly Workers Earn On Their Own
Incept’s success with Salt demonstrates that employee engagement doesn’t have to be complicated or rely on abstract theories. By focusing on the real, everyday needs of hourly employees and rewards and incentives that can truly make a difference in their lives, companies can create more meaningful engagement. Providing a means to give employees control over their financial well-being can lead to stronger engagement, retention, loyalty and satisfaction.
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