Global research and advisory firms like Gartner propose that holistic employee engagement experiences dramatically increase your employee value proposition (EVP). To truly engage your employees, you need to look beyond traditional gifting.

A combo of recognition and rewards with value-added services empowers your staff and shows them how much you value them. This holistic approach to employee engagement is what Vantage Circle seeks to provide. 

In this Vantage Circle review, we look at whether or not the platform delivers on this promise. We examine the features, pros, and cons to clearly understand who Vantage Circle is best for and what it can do for your company. 

What is Vantage Circle?

Vantage Circle is an employee engagement platform that encompasses onboarding, rewards, recognition, and employee feedback along with employee wellness. 

The idea behind this range of services, all available on one platform, is total engagement leading to higher productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention. 

The main features of Vantage Circle

The main products and services of Vantage Circle’s employee engagement platform are:

Vantage Rewards

This flexible rewards and recognition platform offers monetary and non-monetary rewards, with the added option of peer-to-peer recognition. With Vantage Rewards, spot rewards, recognition messages, and badges keep teams motivated and feeling appreciated. 

HR teams can stay on top of recognition schedules and track rewards through a user-friendly dashboard.

Vantage Pulse

To truly understand if your engagement efforts are working for you, you need feedback from your employees. This is what Vantage Pulse is all about. This employee survey tool gives you real-time insights that you can use to further streamline your rewards and recognition structure.

HR teams can use the e-NPS-based survey results to analyze and interpret the employee experience for more targeted engagement strategies.

Vantage Perks 

The perks of the job are what attract many employees to a company, and Vantage Perks aims to capitalize on this. Implement a corporate discounts program and manage it on the Vantage platform. From discounts to cashback offerings, you’re in control of the perks you want to offer.

Give your dedicated staff discounts on global brands and services with cashback on selected products. They can use these points for gift cards for other services or rewards of their choosing.

Vantage Gifting

When the usual rewards don’t fit the bill, there’s Vantage Gifting. This service gives you the choice of corporate gifts from top-tier merchandise to experiences like getaways. 

Gifts can be customized to suit your company culture, and customizable packaging of physical gifts enhances the experience.

Vantage Onboarding

Engage employees from day one with Vantage Onboarding packages to suit every need. Choose from a carefully curated catalog of gifts or create branded company swag options for them to choose from. Worldwide shipping means even remote employees can receive an onboarding kit they’ll love.

Gifts for new employees get you off to the right start, creating a welcoming atmosphere from their first day.

Vantage Fit

With Vantage Fit, the platform’s employee wellness program, your staff will have access to curated health content and virtual wellness contests. Increasing wellness has a direct effect on productivity. Use this feature to encourage healthier habits, and challenge your workforce to get and stay healthy. 

Giving wellness gifts shows your employees that you care about their well-being.

Vantage Circle plans & pricing

With Vantage Circle, you can choose between the Grow, Transform, and Enterprise pricing plans.

• The Grow plan is centered around basic rewards and recognition, to get you started. It’s accessible on mobile and web apps with actionable insights and customer support.

• Transform takes this a step further, with the addition of the Pulse and Perks features. Advanced analytics and HRMS/SSO integrations make employee engagement even easier.

• With Enterprise, you enjoy all the platform’s features along with a dedicated account manager and customizable options.

Vantage Circle offers SaaS-based pricing with per-employee licenses. A minimum starting price of $2 per user applies for the ‘Grow’ plan. For further pricing queries, contact the platform.

Vantage Circle review: the pros and cons 

Here are the main attractions, as well as potential negatives, of choosing Vantage Circle for your employee engagement:

✅ Pros

✅ Vantage Circle offers a range of engaging products and services all accessible through one platform. Customizations make it simple to tailor the features to your needs.

✅ Your HR teams can implement onboarding and corporate gifting along with general employee rewards, without the need for multiple platforms and apps.

✅ Employee wellness is made a priority with the Vantage Fit feature.

✅ Customer support is a strong feature through all three pricing plans.

✅ A smooth user interface and fast processing of rewards enhance the employee engagement experience.

❌ Cons

❌ Users may appreciate more options for physical gifts, as well as more options for how they can redeem their points.

❌ Gift card options are limited.

❌ Vantage Fit carries an additional cost. It’s offered free of up to 10 users on a basic plan but has a cost of S1 per user per week per challenge on a premium package with gamified incentivization. While this does not seem like a high cost, for a large number of employees over a year, it’s a significant extra expense. 

❌ Vantage Pulse and Perks are only offered on the Transform and Enterprise plans, with limited survey questions on the Transform plan. So, although extra features like these may draw you in, they are not available if you’re on the basic, more affordable plan.

❌ There is limited flexibility and customizability to tailor rewards programs to your company’s specific needs. 

❌ Vantage Circle offers few integration options so if you use different systems you won’t be able to easily integrate the platform into your existing workflows.

Who is Vantage Circle best for?

Vantage Circle has multiple plans and is therefore suitable for various business types and sizes. It’s ideal for companies looking for a very comprehensive employee engagement solution. So if you are looking for a total package of rewards, recognition, engagement, and insights, it’ll work for you.

However, it can get expensive as you have to pay per user. So if you need a straightforward rewards and gifting platform without the fuss of all the extra engagement features, Vantage Circle won’t be the best fit for your needs.

Key takeaways

Vantage Circle offers a holistic approach to employee engagement, but unless you’re on a higher-tier plan, you won’t access all the features. Wellness challenges are certainly attractive, but may not be well utilized when employees just don’t have the time for them.

If you’re looking for a well-respected rewards and recognition platform with all the perks that employees love, choose PerkUp. It’s simple for HR teams and employees alike, with no unnecessary extra subscriptions or costs. 

PerkUp takes care of all your employee gifting and rewards needs from onboarding to spot rewards to celebrating milestones with physical gifts, gift cards, or worldwide distribution of company swag. Book your free demo today.