HOW SEASALT CORNWALL TRANSFORMED ITS EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
T
he second case study centred on Seasalt Cornwall, the lifestyle clothing and homeware brand. It has made impressive progress in reshaping its
employee experience over recent years. With a mission to blend business success with employee wellbeing, the company undertook a strategic review and upgrade of its employee offering, shifting from a basic, largely financial benefits package to a dynamic, holistic approach that has won both awards and the loyalty of its workforce. With a legacy of relying on its Cornwall location
to attract talent, Seasalt recognised that its growth ambitions required more than scenic surroundings. The company’s reward and recognition package had offered little more than modest salaries and basic pensions, which did not align with its evolving brand or workforce aspirations. As the business expanded from a family-run operation to an international brand, it became clear that employee satisfaction, engagement and retention would require a comprehensive review. “We started with pretty much a blank slate,” said Lucy
Carter, senior employee experience manager, Seasalt Cornwall. “We were offering a really mediocre salary to our people. We were offering a below-par pension and we didn’t really have anything holistic to wrap around that at all. We simply relied on the fact that 98% of our head office workforce were based in Cornwall. There were no remote roles at this point or hybrid. “We relied on people relocating to Cornwall because
it is arguably one of the most beautiful places in the UK. So we knew we had to do more. Our business was super ambitious and we needed to grow our brand to an international level. When we started thinking about our reward and recognition programme, we knew that we were never going to compete with other major organisations out there. We weren’t going to be able to afford it, but what we could do was focus in on employee experience.”
Aware of the financial constraints that often limit
smaller brands, Seasalt’s leadership recognised that competing solely on salary was not feasible. Instead, the company focused on creating a robust employee experience rooted in trust, flexibility and support for individual needs. It adopted a phased strategic approach that would evolve over several years, tackling immediate needs while establishing a framework for future improvements. Through this approach, Seasalt aimed to enhance employee engagement, boost morale and promote a workplace culture centred around personal wellbeing and professional development. “We embarked on a transformational journey to turn
employee engagement into employee experience,” Lucy said. “It is not rocket science that if you treat your people well, then they are going to give more discretionary effort. They are not going to leave your business. Then it turns from rocket science into rocket fuel and it makes commercial sense and a return on investment.” From 2016 to 2020, the company’s headcount and
turnover doubled. Seasalt went from a small family- based business to an established brand. Lucy and Steve Dixon, Seasalt’s senior learning and development manager, knew that to convince the company CFO and CEO that they needed to invest money in people, they would have to present them with a sound business case. “We started gathering as much evidence as possible
to make a really convincing, compelling business case,” she said. “We looked at labour turnover, we looked at absence, we looked at benchmarking, what other people were paying in similar organisations. We looked at our customer data and then we went back to our executive board with the evidence to back it up.” The leadership team agreed to invest in the new
reward scheme and enable Lucy and Steve to track future employees. “When we spoke to our employees, they told us that
pay was super important and that they wanted us to care about their wellbeing and their work-life balance,” Lucy said. “They wanted us to help them make connections at work. They wanted us to coach them so that they could see what their career looked like whilst at Seasalt. They wanted to contribute and have a voice and they wanted us to congratulate them on a job well done. So that is exactly what we started to build.” Seasalt began introducing measures that directly
impacted financial wellbeing. In April 2021, the company implemented a National Living Wage policy, revamped its pension scheme and increased employer contributions to provide more security for the futures of the people in its workforce. “We also reviewed our policies and made sure that we
had a sick pay policy and a family leave policy and we introduced the Seasalt Framework,” David said. “This was a success framework that outlines expectations around behaviour and it was across the business.” The second phase prioritised wellbeing through a
partnership with Rewards Gateway. This collaboration provided employees with additional discounts and access to a recognition platform where they could celebrate each other’s contributions. An improved communication strategy, featuring regular
updates through internal newsletters like Seasalt News and People Post, ensured employees felt informed and
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