Should You Offer Employee Discount Programs?

MyTPG Blog
Published: 05/18/21 5:00 AM

Title image for Should You Offer Employee Discount Programs showing a woman handing a credit card to another woman to make a purchase.

Should You Offer Employee Discount Programs?

This article was published on: 05/18/21 5:00 AM



What if you could help your employees buy more and live better—without significantly increasing your costs? Employee discount programs could cost your company little or nothing while providing great value to your employees.


Download the PDF version

This Benefits Insights is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as professional advice.

© 2014, 2018 MyTPG.com. All rights reserved.


What Are Employee Discount Programs?

Employee discount programs are voluntary benefits that you can offer to help your employees save money. With this program, you contract with various vendors and merchants to provide discounts and special deals to your employees.

The types of products and services that you could offer through a discount program vary widely. Some of the more common products and services that are offered include the following:

  • Fitness center or gym membership
  • Mobile phone group rates
  • Health-related services, such as acupuncture or chiropractic care
  • Computer hardware or software
  • Child care services
  • General discount programs, which may include the following categories:
    • Tickets for sporting events, movies, theaters and more
    • Hotel stays and transportation
    • Travel planning assistance
    • Services at salons and spas

You may want to consider offering an additional option where employees can purchase an item through a discount program and then pay for it through automatic payroll deductions each month.

How Do Discount Programs Work?

Employers contract with vendors and merchants to obtain discounts and group rates for employees. Each discount program is different and is based on what you want to offer your employees and on the organizations you choose to work with. You can contract with various individual merchants to offer discounts, such as a local fitness center for reduced membership fees, a computer company for discounted software and a local childcare center for group rates. If you want to offer a wider variety of discounts without much effort, several organizations exist where you sign up, and, for a nominal fee on your part, they round up the deals for you, giving your employees access to a much wider selection of deals and discounts through their programs.

Why Offer Discount Programs?

Employee discount programs are a great voluntary benefit to offer because they are low- or no-cost for you while providing great value to your employees. Discount programs increase your employees’ purchasing power without you handing out raises, which is a very cost-effective benefit, even if you choose to pay an outside company to run the program. Offering discounts also increases employee morale and is good for your corporate reputation.

Contact TPG Payroll & HR Services to learn more about offering your employees a Discount Program. You can call 909.466.7876 or also inform yourself on the Employee Benefits – Plans That Attract Talent page today and keep learning about the vast variety of programs and benefits you can start implementing in your business!


Download the PDF version