Five companies, five arrangements
You have deals with a local hospital trust, a big retailer's distribution centre, two office employers and the council. Hospital staff get a discount and pay by direct debit. The distribution centre pays for any employee who signs up and wants a monthly invoice. One office pays half and the employee pays half. The council scheme needs an employee number.
To join, employees show a staff badge or payslip at the desk. Staff apply the corporate rate by hand. Each month, someone builds invoices from a spreadsheet of names. People who left their employer months ago are still on the discounted rate, and one company has queried an invoice that includes staff who never joined.
Each company is a special case
Corporate schemes are a good way to reach many potential members at once. But they are administered as a set of exceptions to your normal joining and billing.
- Eligibility is checked by eye at the desk, and the check is not recorded.
- Corporate rates are applied manually and can be wrong.
- Employer-paid memberships are invoiced from a spreadsheet of names.
- Nobody knows when an employee leaves their employer.
- Each employer wants a different invoice format and reporting.
Discounts that leak, invoices that are queried
Members who have left the employer but keep the corporate rate are a slow leak. Invoices with errors are queried, delaying payment and making the scheme look disorganised to the employer, who is the person deciding whether to renew it.
It also limits growth. Each new corporate deal adds admin, so gyms turn down or do not pursue schemes that could bring many members, because the staff time to run them is not there.
The employer's HR team feels the friction too. They launched the scheme as a staff benefit and want to know whether anyone uses it. When the answer arrives as a spreadsheet of names months later, or not at all, the scheme looks less valuable at renewal than it really is.
Shift workers add another wrinkle. Hospital and warehouse staff often want off-peak or 24-hour access, and a scheme rate that only makes sense for one access type ends up applied to all of them because the desk cannot easily tell the difference.
Corporate schemes that run themselves
- Each employer scheme is set up once: who is eligible, how they prove it, what the rate is and who pays what.
- Employees join online through a scheme link, verifying eligibility with a work email address, an employee number or an upload, depending on the employer.
- The right rate is applied automatically, and payments are split between employee and employer as agreed.
- Employer-paid memberships are invoiced monthly through Xero or QuickBooks, with a statement of members in the employer's preferred format.
- Eligibility is rechecked on a schedule you agree, for example by asking the employer to confirm the list, or re-verifying work email addresses.
- Members who are no longer eligible are moved to a standard plan with the notice your terms require, rather than removed.
- Each employer can have a simple view of their scheme's usage, if you choose to share it.
| Scheme type | Who pays | Eligibility check | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee discount | Employee | Work email | Direct debit at discounted rate |
| Employer paid | Employer | Employee number | Monthly employer invoice |
| Shared cost | Both | Work email | Split direct debit and invoice |
| Public sector scheme | Employee | Staff ID upload | Direct debit at scheme rate |
A scheme you can offer to more employers
Joining through a corporate scheme is as simple as normal joining. Invoices are right the first time. Employers see how the scheme is used, which helps at renewal. Leavers are caught by the rechecks.
Because each new scheme is a configuration rather than a new spreadsheet, you can approach more employers with confidence. Local employers who value staff wellbeing are often interested in a simple, well-run scheme.
Your front desk also stops being the place where eligibility is argued about. The check happens online at joining, and staff only get involved when a scheme member needs help.
Is this how your corporate deals work?
- Corporate eligibility is checked by eye at the desk.
- Employer invoices are built from a spreadsheet of names.
- Members keep corporate rates after leaving the employer.
- Employers have queried your invoices.
- You have held back on new schemes because of the admin.