Zest is a leading employee benefits platform used by hundreds of organisations to help staff manage, select and understand their total rewards. UIC Digital partnered with Zest to deliver a ground-up redesign of the customer-facing portal, transforming how employees interact with and value their benefits.

The existing portal was functionally rich but had grown complex over time. Navigation was heavy, journeys were inconsistent, and employees often struggled to see the true value of what was on offer. Zest wanted to move from a tool that simply listed options to one that actively engaged people, showing them what they have, what they could have, and how their benefits fit into their overall rewards package.

Our design team completely re-imagined the experience from the ground up. We replaced rigid forms and nested menus with a shopping-basket-style flow that felt instantly familiar. Employees could now browse, add, and edit benefits just as they would when shopping online, making the entire process more intuitive and far less intimidating. The interface was stripped back, restructured and rebuilt around the decisions real users were trying to make, not the administrative logic sitting behind them.

The visual design was equally transformative. We developed a far more engaging and data-rich presentation of benefits, culminating in a reworked Total Rewards Statement that shows employees a clear picture of their overall compensation, not just their salary. The new design communicates the full value of employment in a way that is both informative and uplifting. It helps employees see at a glance what their employer invests in them, from pensions and insurance to wellbeing and lifestyle perks.

User testing was central to the process. We involved employees throughout design and development, running multiple rounds of prototyping and usability testing to ensure that every step made sense and every interaction felt natural. The result was an interface built around real behaviours and feedback, rather than internal assumptions.

To complement this work, we also undertook a detailed audit of Zest’s employer-facing admin portal. This included mapping key workflows, analysing usability issues and producing a prioritised set of recommendations. Zest subsequently implemented many of these improvements, refining the structure and navigation for HR users and administrators to make managing benefit schemes faster and less error-prone.

The outcome was a complete rethinking of how benefits are communicated and managed. Employees now enjoy a smoother, clearer, and more rewarding experience when engaging with their benefits. Employers benefit from an admin platform that is simpler and more efficient to operate. And Zest itself gained a future-proof design system that can flex across brands and white-label implementations for its clients.