The impact of offering the most valued benefits, with the right tech
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.” Charlotte Godley VP of Customer Delivery, Benefex
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 has to 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.
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.
However, 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, 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.
"HR and Reward professionals are increasingly recognising the need for a technology platform to get a high-level overview on their benefits provision at a global level, and to track how investments in benefits are impacting key workforce and business metrics. This level of analysis is crucial as the pressure mounts on teams to measure and benchmark the competitiveness of their benefits offering.”
Paul Andrews Global Benefits Consulting Director, Benefex
