All GC colleagues have access to a suite of benefits over and above salaries.
Our benefit platform, GC Hive, is the go to place to find all the up-to-date information on your benefits and savings that are available to you.
Below, we talked to three colleagues in our GC Employment team who are frequent users of GC Hive and they told us how it benefits their everyday spending, plus helps them to save up for special moments during the year...
Regular GC Hive user, Linda Bryant, Integration Co-ordinator – Pioneer and Working Health Programme told us how it helps her insure her pets and holidays, plus plan for Christmas:
"I use it for discounted insurance – pet, travel, home and car. Daphne and Seamus, my Golden doodles are both covered by Insurance purchased through GC Hive with a cashback bonus thrown in! I also purchased travel insurance for my trip to beautiful Aruba. This was Cruise insurance which is generally expensive, but I got a really good deal through GC Hive and cashback with LV insurance. I also purchased access to the lounge at Manchester Airport through GC Hive.
"I save for Christmas on the 'Easy Saver Card' which allows me to buy my Christmas Presents in the stores I want to, as there are several retailers that take this card. I currently have a Christmas food saver in place for Tesco where I get 5% discount on every pound I save, and 7% with Marks and Spencer. I also save £50 per month, which pays for all those little luxuries when Christmas arrives. I find GC Hive really useful and I check in all the time to see what promotions are being highlighted."
Gemma Batchelor, Operations Manager – St Helens and Lancashire Restart shared her top tips for making the most of GC Hive:
"I’m a big fan of GC Hive and have made nearly £300 of savings so far on my everyday spending! This has been through a mixture of cashback from online purchases and buying vouchers at a discounted rate to spend at the till.
My top tips for making the most of GC Hive are:
- Download the app to your phone. Search “SmartSpending” in your app store, then log into your GC Hive account in the app. This means you can purchase vouchers when you are out shopping – I would not be organised enough to do this in advance from my computer!
- Buy discounted instant vouchers for your weekly food shop. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and M&S all have e-vouchers available at a discounted rate of between 4-7%. I usually top up my reloadable voucher on my phone while I’m at the till, as it only takes a minute, then pay with this. So, for example, if I was spending £50 in Asda I would buy a £50 voucher, which costs £48, saving £2. Although it is only a small amount saved, it does add up if you remember to do this every time.
- Check if discounted vouchers are available for bigger purchases. Before making a big purchase, I will check the Hive app to see if the store I will be using has cashback or discounted vouchers available. When we upgraded my daughter’s bedroom, I saved over £20 in Ikea on her furniture by buying discounted vouchers. I have just noticed that Ticketmaster vouchers have a 6% discount which I will use if I am lucky enough to get Oasis tickets!
- Access websites via the hive when online shopping to earn cashback. I have received cashback when renewing my home insurance and booking a holiday. To earn cashback for online shopping, you just have to access the retailer website via the Hive and make your purchase as normal
- Watch out for boosted cashback rates or voucher discounts. I am signed up for offer alerts to my e-mail inbox and will buy vouchers in advance if there have boosted savings. For example, Asda vouchers currently have a 5.5% saving on vouchers rather than 4% so I would buy my vouchers in advance with this boosted discount.
- Check for savings on nights out. An adult mid-week Cineworld ticket is only £5.10 and there are loads of discounts available in restaurants to save money on your bill.
If you've not used the Hive before, it is really worth giving it a try. All those small amounts saved do add up over time!"
Annalee Woods, Business Development Manager – Aspire Recruitment has been using GC Hive for six years and it's now a big part of how she shops, spends and saves:
"I started using GC Hive back in 2018 to book cinema tickets at the time a kids ticket was less than £5! As I got used to the system, I started to buy vouchers for my weekly food shop and supermarket shopping, the discounts are approx. 5 to 7%, but if you spend £100 per week that’s £520 per year that’s £31 per year saving on food.
Now I use it for most purchases, this year I booked a family holiday for £4,500 and received 2% cash back (£200) and £750 discount off the holiday. I bought blinds for my house and received 10% off with 2% cash back. I used it in Pizza Express, H Samuels. Nike, M&S, Bowden, Jet2, Tesco’s, Pandora and many more...
With the cash back I acquire I build up over the year, I then put it all on an M&S gift card in December and use it to buy Christmas presents. On retail shopping I saved over £100 so far this year."
Take a look at GC Hive, to find all the up-to-date information on your benefits, savings and much more.
