29th November 2023
Guest Blog: The impact of offering the most valued benefits, with the right tech
Author: Charlotte Godley
To cater to evolving employee needs, forward-thinking employers are leveraging advanced technology to streamline their benefits delivery, demonstrating a tangible commitment to employee welfare. With 57% of employees stating that relevant and personalised benefits would have the greatest impact on their employee experience (Benefex, Evolution Report), a strategic shift is underway, marking employee benefits as the cornerstone of employee wellbeing, employee experience, and HR strategy.
Employers are looking to the advancement in benefits technology to enable them to cater more precisely to the ever-evolving desires of their workforce. With sophisticated benefits platforms, employers can offer an array of benefits that resonate with employees, addressing specific demands and preferences, and better engaging their people.
The positive impact of benefits on employees
If an employer is delivering the benefits they want, and responding to their changing needs, employees get a sense that they’re working for an organisation that genuinely cares about them. Individuals feel the positive impact benefits can have on their lives (and on their family) and that their employer is there to support them through good times and bad.
Health benefits are a good example of this. Some employers are extending health protection to employees on lower salaries so they and their dependants can get access to immediate care, rather than going onto NHS waiting lists of six months and more. With the extension of coverage of health benefits, employees can take a preventative approach to their health and access services such as health screenings which can detect illnesses earlier and ultimately save lives.
“Well-targeted benefits that make a real difference to people’s lives have a profound effect on how they think about work and their employer. They’re prepared to go the extra mile, to work harder and to show loyalty. Employees are less likely to want to move to another employer when they know that their life is better, and they feel cared for and supported within their current organisation.”
How the right technology supports benefits provision
From the employer perspective, there is growing evidence to demonstrate the impact that improved wellbeing has on organisational performance and productivity. A recent global study from Oxford University and Harvard found that if you want happier shareholders, wellbeing must come first. The more you take care of wellbeing, the more profitable the organisation becomes, and the happier shareholders become. Forward-thinking businesses are now putting wellbeing first as a way to ensure long-term success.
However, without an optimised, global benefits technology platform in place, HR and Rewards professionals have no way of understanding and tracking their benefits provision, spend, and return-on-investment. They have no actionable insights ─ on even which benefits they’re offering in which market, let alone how these benefits are performing in terms of employee engagement and outcomes.
Despite this, many employers, including large multinational organisations, are still relying on spreadsheets to run complex global benefits programmes. Not only is this hugely time consuming and inefficient, but it also means companies are missing out on hugely valuable data and insights that they could be feeding back into their strategies and plans to improve delivery and results.
Benefits, and the tech used to deliver them, are strategically important
In a landscape where benefits are the currency of care and support, combining well-targeted benefits and advanced technology has a powerful impact. As employers strive to provide meaningful benefits that resonate with their workforce, the right technology is helping them create transformative change.
Benefits, and the tech used to deliver them, are a strategic priority for the year ahead. Benefits provision is seen as important in addressing major workforce-related challenges around performance, productivity, talent retention and attraction – and investment trends reflect this. HR and Reward leaders are planning to increase their investment in benefits (71%), the employee experience (64%), and HR insight and analytics (61%). To learn more about the central role of benefits to the employee experience, how to improve benefits to meet the needs of all employees, and deliver more of what employees want, take a look at our new Big Benefits Report.
