Digital platforms can transform the work of the HR function by streamlining everyday tasks so teams can focus on more important, strategic issues. This year’s Personnel Today Awards digital HR and technology category showcases some of the best examples of this in our shortlist.
Bupa
BUPA UK employs around 25,000 employees, with 18,000 of these employees working on the front line in clinics, hospitals and care homes. The company realised it needed to simplify its complex benefits offering to employees – eligibility differed among different groups and sectors; benefits were managed across multiple HR and payroll systems; and accessed and managed through a multitude of channels. A colleague survey showed that almost 50% of people were unaware of the benefits they were entitled to.
The company partnered with Benifex to implement OneHub, which it branded as VivaBenefits in 2024. This centralises all benefits, including a single access point for all benefits, personalised dashboards and total reward statements.
Employees could access tools that would model the different benefit options so they could understand their impact. The platform integrated with the MyBupa health app, which provided meditation tools, wellbeing articles and appointment booking.
A comprehensive communications campaign was launched to support adoption, including executive sponsorship and engagement champions who led roadshows, demos and even a dance competition. Ongoing feedback was sought through monthly governance meetings and listening groups to ensure continuous improvement. BUPA pledged to plant trees for the first 2,000 log-ins in the first two weeks, and this target was hit on launch day. A high proportion of employees have signed up and engagement with the platform is steady.
Centrica
Colleagues and managers at Centrica faced a common challenge: quickly accessing HR policies and processes that were dispersed across multiple intranet pages and documents. This fragmentation led to delays, inconsistent information, and a high volume of repetitive queries to HR support teams, diverting resources from complex, value-added work. Traditional communication channels were too slow, impacting decision-making and efficiency.
Centrica created CenAI, an AI-powered chatbot co-created by the employee relations team and Digital Technology Services. Built on Microsoft Azure AI and integrated with a centralised SharePoint knowledge base, CenAI was trained to understand natural language queries and provide instant, accurate responses with links to the latest policy documents. Following a successful pilot with managers, CenAI was rolled out across the business. Adoption was supported through targeted communications, training resources, and leadership endorsement, with privacy and accuracy controls embedded in the design.
CenAI delivers 24/7 instant access to HR information, reducing query response times from hours or days to seconds. It has cut repetitive enquiries to HR by over 30% within three months, freeing teams for higher-value work. Information is now consistent, current, and trusted, improving compliance and decision-making. User feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with an 85% satisfaction rating. The initiative has elevated the ER team’s role in the organisation, demonstrating how they can lead digital transformation to improve employee experience, efficiency, and service quality.
Flutter Entertainment in partnership with Benifex
Flutter is a world-leading online sports betting and gaming operator, and in 2020 underwent a merger that brought together multiple brands, including PaddyPower and Betfair, under one group. Prior to this, there had been no group mandate to harmonise benefits, and the company was operating in multiple countries with varied benefit offerings. It wanted to maximise the value of benefits to the business, creating a consistent global experience for employees, as well as streamline and automate back-end processes and drive engagement.
It decided to work with Benifex at the end of 2022 to roll out its OneHub platform, branded as Reward Zone. It initially focused on the regions where this would be most complex. One of the key challenges was to create consistent and compelling communications that would provide an overview of the benefits available, so together they created a global communications toolkit that could be tailored locally. Benefit teams were mindful of differences in culture and approach and used pre-discovery calls to understand challenges and worked with different locations to support implementation.
OneHub has helped Flutter to streamline benefits administration and payroll execution, get better oversight of risk and compliance, and deliver bespoke total reward statements to employees. Core and voluntary benefits are standardised across multiple regions and queries are centralised through the Benifex helpdesk. UK engagement has been very high – with more than 80% of employees logging on. Monthly sign-ins have increased hugely and the platform has “realised significant operational advantages”, according to the company.
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group discovered that colleagues were struggling to navigate its HR ecosystem, finding it time-consuming, fragmented and frustrating. Employees were spending more than a million hours annually searching for policy guidance on SharePoint, for example, and there was a 30% failure rate in finding the right answers. This meant they turned to informal channels, increasing the risk of misinformation and inconsistent advice. The bank needed to create a digital-first experience that meant employees could use self-service with confidence.
LBG launched Prosper – a generative AI-powered HR portal built on a single entry point. It integrates verified knowledge, intuitive navigation and real-time support. There is a conversational chatbot that escalates to live HR agents when issues are complex or sensitive. LBG worked with ServiceNow on a seven-week proof of concept with a number of internal HR experts, who found that the platform freed up time for colleagues to spend more time supporting customers, and delivered higher satisfaction. This secured senior executive support for investment.
As well as digitising existing content, LBG reimagined it, consolidating 28 policy documents into 14 new policy standards, rewritten in inclusive, plain language. Prosper was launched in December 2024 and was continuously improved through pilot testing and feedback. Following a successful pilot, it was rolled out to new business units each month, and now serves more than 66,000 colleagues. Employees report finding it “much easier” to find guidelines and policy information, and the net promoter score for Prosper remains over 90%. More than 90% of HR queries now travel through GenAI and self-service, meaning HR teams can focus on more complex and value-adding work.
Savills
Estate agent Savills faced a complex and error-prone payroll process for its 5,000+ employees across 23 divisions. This involved hundreds of Excel spreadsheets, manual mail merges, and significant manual data validation. The workload was so intense that senior finance staff were working weekends for months on end, with hundreds of payroll errors annually.
Led by a new head of reward, the team proposed a centralised, technology-led solution called Payscale.. After extensive consultation and a legal review, the project was approved and implemented in just three months, going live in January 2023. The rollout included bonus and pay review planning, automated compensation letters, and integrated payroll and HRIS reporting. Over the following two years, enhancements included a Power BI solution for automated divisional reports, e-signature functionality via Adobe Acrobat Sign and Power Automate for promotions, and expanded use across the UK, Ireland and international divisions.
The results have been transformative. Payroll accuracy rose from 600 errors to zero within three years. Finance leads avoided months of weekend work, divisional directors saved hundreds of hours, and HR teams avoided weeks of repetitive letter production. The streamlined process has fostered stronger collaboration between reward, finance, HR, and IT teams, demonstrating how technology can drive both efficiency and accuracy. Savills now plans to roll out Payscale to further UK divisions and into Spain.
TP
TP UK is an outsourcing and customer experience provider with over 11,000 employees. The firm faced a significant challenge in transforming its HR manager training for a post-pandemic workforce. Before the pandemic, all training was delivered in person at physical sites, but by 2025, more than 85% of employees were working from home. Traditional monthly, on-site sessions were no longer practical or effective, creating the need for a scalable, accessible, and engaging digital alternative that maintained the quality of previous in-person delivery while meeting evolving compliance and business demands.
The HR Business Partner team responded with a monthly HR Bitesize training programme, a hybrid model combining live virtual sessions via Microsoft Teams, self-paced e-learning on the MyTP platform, and AI-enhanced training using tools such as Synthesia and Easy Generator. These elements ensured flexibility, inclusivity, and interactivity, with real-time feedback and automated tracking enabling continuous improvement. Customisable AI avatars and gamified learning journeys enhance engagement and retention, and a supplementary weekly HR Spotlight bulletin reinforces learning.
Leader capability scores have improved year-on-year, with managers praising the programme’s concise, interactive, and practical format. Learning engagement surged, with management training hours rising from 3,000 in 2023 to nearly 39,000 by mid-2025, signalling a cultural shift towards continuous professional development. The initiative supports TP’s strategic goals by supporting the transition to hybrid work, maintaining high engagement, reducing costs, and ensuring managers are well-equipped to lead in a competitive market. This digital innovation has strengthened both operational performance and employee experience.
Welcome Break
Welcome Break is a leading motorway service operator with more than 6,000 employees. However, it faced a significant challenge engaging and developing a largely front-line, non-desk-based workforce. Communication and training were hampered by outdated platforms that lacked targeting, structure, and accessibility. Employees received updates inconsistently, and static and impersonal learning content did not support development effectively. To boost retention and engagement, the company needed an integrated, digital HR strategy.
The company responded by launching two flagship platforms. In 2023, it introduced Highway!, a mobile and desktop gamified learning platform built with Attensi. This offered role-based learning journeys, monthly training drops, and tailored leadership programmes, enriched with AI-generated voiceovers and an AI assistant, “Dave”, for instant support. Compliance content was restructured into focused modules, and bespoke training was created for specific brands, departments, and new initiatives.
Welcome Break then launched Journey, a Workvivo-powered employee experience platform. This includes personalised spaces, a centralised newsroom, an integrated document library, and varied content formats, ensuring targeted, relevant, and engaging communications for all team members. Leaders are empowered to drive two-way communication, increasing transparency and accountability. Both platforms have achieved high regular usage, and there is strong voluntary learning uptake. Together, these innovations have transformed workforce capability, communication and culture, aligning people development with Welcome Break’s strategic goals.
These changes reduced average case duration, long-term and short-term sickness absence, and lowered legal costs per colleague by almost half. Engagement rose, with a Peakon score of 8.4, at 71% participation, and an impressive employee net promoter score. The transformation delivered considerable savings, improved management capability, and fostered a culture where colleagues feel respected, supported, and heard.
Book your table for the Personnel Today Awards 2025
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
