Edenred's employee gift benefits growing in Poland
2012-01-25
Vianney du Parc, managing director of Edenred Poland, talks to WBJ about the company's products and services, and the ways prepaid services can save businesses money and instill loyalty in their employees
Ella Pałka: What services do you provide in Poland?
Vianney du Parc: We design and deliver solutions to make the lives of employers and employees easier. In Poland, the market of employee benefits is very strong thanks to the Social Fund to which most companies with 20 employees or more contribute to. Today we have gift solutions – gift cards and gift vouchers – which answer to Poland’s strong tradition of companies giving gifts to employees at Christmas or Easter time.
Are gift cards your most popular product in Poland?
This is the most popular one, but we also have a very fast-growing product called Ticket Restaurant which is a meal solution. It has a very advantageous tax scheme for companies which can provide their employees with a zł.190 allowance per month, which is totally social-charge free for employers and employees. It’s not well-known in Poland but we can see it’s growing quickly.
Recently, we launched Meal Cards which we reload at the client’s convenience. This avoids the administrative burden of vouchers and offers greater choice thanks to our partnership with MasterCard, which gives access to a network of around 50,000 restaurants and food establishments.
Who are your biggest clients?
Confidentiality is part of the deal, but I can tell you that we have won some major public tenders and some prestigious international companies, especially in the telecoms and finance sectors. Most of the international companies served by Edenred in other countries are interested in working with us in Poland. But we were also able to attract some Polish companies, very big ones and SMEs.
Are you going after specific industries or sectors in Poland?
There is no specific sector, they are all interesting, but on the meal solution there is special prevention legislation for employees who work in difficult conditions where the employer is obliged to provide employees with a meal solution … and this is a market we are attacking strongly because we are convinced it’s much easier for employers and employees to get a meal card than to organize the delivery of sandwiches or a meal from a canteen.
When did you notice that demand for your services was starting to rise? Was it because of the crisis?
It’s booming for two reasons. First, because we started to advertise and inform the market. Second, the uncertain economic context is pushing companies to optimize everything they can, including their tax schemes and rewards for employees.
Do you plan to bring the variety of the services you offer in other countries into Poland? And what growth prospects do you see here in the future?
Our strategy is to assess the opportunity, to roll out our existing solutions in the 40 countries we operate. But it needs some adaptation to respond properly to market expectations.
Growth will be mainly on the ticket restaurant, it will be our main driver and the gift card will for sure contribute. Finally, we are going to launch new products which should be very successful if we believe in market surveys and in our intuition. Poland is a fantastic prospect for Edenred. It is the largest country in Central Europe, with more than 38 million citizens and a resilient economy. This enthusiastic market is expecting a digital transition and we have good solutions for it.
Do you plan to expand further east of Poland?
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are on the horizon, but these markets are more complicated because services for employee benefits take longer for these governments to understand.
Vianney du Parc, managing director of Edenred Poland, talks to WBJ about the company's products and services, and the ways prepaid services can save businesses money and instill loyalty in their employees
Vianney du Parc: We design and deliver solutions to make the lives of employers and employees easier. In Poland, the market of employee benefits is very strong thanks to the Social Fund to which most companies with 20 employees or more contribute to. Today we have gift solutions – gift cards and gift vouchers – which answer to Poland’s strong tradition of companies giving gifts to employees at Christmas or Easter time.
Are gift cards your most popular product in Poland?
This is the most popular one, but we also have a very fast-growing product called Ticket Restaurant which is a meal solution. It has a very advantageous tax scheme for companies which can provide their employees with a zł.190 allowance per month, which is totally social-charge free for employers and employees. It’s not well-known in Poland but we can see it’s growing quickly.
Recently, we launched Meal Cards which we reload at the client’s convenience. This avoids the administrative burden of vouchers and offers greater choice thanks to our partnership with MasterCard, which gives access to a network of around 50,000 restaurants and food establishments.
Who are your biggest clients?
Confidentiality is part of the deal, but I can tell you that we have won some major public tenders and some prestigious international companies, especially in the telecoms and finance sectors. Most of the international companies served by Edenred in other countries are interested in working with us in Poland. But we were also able to attract some Polish companies, very big ones and SMEs.
Are you going after specific industries or sectors in Poland?
There is no specific sector, they are all interesting, but on the meal solution there is special prevention legislation for employees who work in difficult conditions where the employer is obliged to provide employees with a meal solution … and this is a market we are attacking strongly because we are convinced it’s much easier for employers and employees to get a meal card than to organize the delivery of sandwiches or a meal from a canteen.
When did you notice that demand for your services was starting to rise? Was it because of the crisis?
It’s booming for two reasons. First, because we started to advertise and inform the market. Second, the uncertain economic context is pushing companies to optimize everything they can, including their tax schemes and rewards for employees.
Do you plan to bring the variety of the services you offer in other countries into Poland? And what growth prospects do you see here in the future?
Our strategy is to assess the opportunity, to roll out our existing solutions in the 40 countries we operate. But it needs some adaptation to respond properly to market expectations.
Growth will be mainly on the ticket restaurant, it will be our main driver and the gift card will for sure contribute. Finally, we are going to launch new products which should be very successful if we believe in market surveys and in our intuition. Poland is a fantastic prospect for Edenred. It is the largest country in Central Europe, with more than 38 million citizens and a resilient economy. This enthusiastic market is expecting a digital transition and we have good solutions for it.
Do you plan to expand further east of Poland?
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are on the horizon, but these markets are more complicated because services for employee benefits take longer for these governments to understand.
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Nadesłał:
Edenred Sp z o.o.
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