1. Engagement of disparate workforces
One in six employees globally and one in four in more economically advanced countries now have the option to work from home. The significant number of employees now working away from a traditional workplace for some or all of their working time requires better technology to facilitate their experiences – and deliver the support that they need across benefits, wellbeing, culture, reward and recognition.
For global organisations with teams working across different regions and countries (or even moving between regions), employee benefits technology helps organisations provide a consistent employee experience – and ensures employees can easily understand, and make decisions about, the benefits available to them.
"We had a few objectives in mind, largely that we needed a global solution to a series of local problems. We wanted technology that would deliver local flexibility with global consistency.
An often-overlooked portion of the global workforce is the 80% of employees who don’t sit at a desk. To better serve deskless workers, spending on HR technology that supports these employees is on the rise. Globally, 82% of employers with deskless employees say they are planning to increase tech spending, with two of the top three reasons for doing so including to save money and improve the employee experience.
Due to the technology now available to them, this underserved majority is also experiencing an employee benefits renaissance. Back in 2019, 66% of employers in frontline industries like retail or hospitality reported that a lack of appropriate technology to effectively deliver employee benefits was one of their biggest challenges. But that’s changed.
Employers across retail, hospitality, travel, and healthcare are working harder than ever to engage their people and give themselves a competitive edge in the recruitment market; for them employee benefits are a priority.
We are seeing advanced benefit offerings (once reserved for those working in financial and professional services) offered to employees in frontline roles. In the US, The National Retail Federation found part-time retail employees are more likely to receive benefits than the general economy, quashing the myth that retail work means a lack of benefits.
The technology that employees use to select their benefits has a massive impact on their overall benefits experience. Our 2023 Evolution research highlighted that employee expectations of their workplace technology is increasing at pace. 70% of employees say that the technology they use at work lags behind the tech they use in their personal lives; this figure has increased 10% from last year.
Often misused within our industry is the term ‘consumer grade’; you don’t have a consumer grade experience just because you have a check out process that looks similar to an online retailer. What we mean by consumer grade technology is that the user experience of platforms like OneHub is specifically designed to make the tech more visually appealing, intuitive, flexible, and accessible. HR and benefits leaders are increasingly focused on how employees will feel when they use their benefits technology, and whether the tech will successfully drive employee understanding and engagement.
What we mean by consumer grade technology is that the user experience of platforms like OneHub is specifically designed to make the tech more visually appealing, intuitive, flexible, and accessible.
In response, tech platforms like OneHub have evolved significantly – elevating benefits platforms out of the once-a-year selection window and turning them into an everyday resource for employees, and an everyday part of the EVP for employers. More organisations are seeing that the benefits platform is a way to show the value of everything they do for employees by sharing content, policies, information, and much more.
For organisations with deskless employees, using a benefits tech solution that’s app-based is becoming more important to enable employees to engage with benefits whenever and however they like. Indeed, 83% of global employees say they’re happy to use their smartphone to access work-related apps.
We needed a platform that would be easy to use out and about as almost half of our employees are out on patrol, so we wanted to make sure that they could engage easily whilst they’re on the move.”
