It’s hard to think about consistency when things feel so inconsistent. But in an era of remote working and social distancing, employees need consistent benefits technology now more than ever, writes Chris Bruce, managing director and co-founder of Darwin.
The corporate world continues to grow more global, developing skills and expertise across borders, but the past year has distributed workforces even further. This work from home era has increased the need for a globally consistent employee experience. Benefits have proved to be an essential tool for improving employee loyalty, surpassing that of job role, colleagues, and organizational culture. While the physical workplace was once viewed as an important contributor to the productivity, business leaders are now re-evaluating its role and its impact on everything else — including benefits. As remote work normalizes, employees still need the same experience they enjoyed while working onsite. Employers need to be mindful of employees’ shifting needs and adapt their benefits offering to ensure it remains consistent, meets requirements, and stays relevant.
Achieve Consistency With the Right Technology
As consistency increases in importance, employers need to pay extra attention to the ways in which it can be achieved. Our latest researchOpens a new window provides some guidance, revealing that a little more than half (53%) of employees believe they get the same benefits experience wherever they are based. The remaining 47% are less satisfied, thanks to regional anomalies that include mixed messaging, inconsistent branding, and a lack of personalization.
This is cause for concern – especially in the current climate – which is expected to continueOpens a new window for the foreseeable future for many employees across a wideOpens a new window variety of organizationsOpens a new window . In a global workforce, as each country navigates its way through this crisis, employee needs will naturally differ, but their experience must be consistent. This is evident from our research, in which the majority (81%) of employers told us that achieving a “globally consistent employee experience†is a “high priority†for the next 12 months.
Technology is essential to achieving this, both by providing employees with easy access to their benefits as and when they need them, as well as delivering one look and feel throughout the whole organization. For example, by deploying a global benefits platform that offers consistency across borders – all the while providing the option to personalize per country or per employee – organizations can provide the level of consistency that employees have come to expect. Similarly, access to global business communications platforms such as Slack or Microsoft Teams help foster a sense of community across the workforce.
Benefits and HR teams also benefit from a centralized backend, enabling them to accurately analyze benefits data globally including spend, uptake, and engagement. As a result, benefits and HR teams can more quickly shift and adapt their approach as necessary, reducing unnecessary expenditures while more accurately predicting future expenses.
Learn More: 3 Ways To Utilize Data Analytics To Improve Employee BenefitsÂ
Satisfy Employees’ Individual Needs With Personalized Benefits
No two employees have the exact same needs, and this has been especially true during the pandemic. Whether caringOpens a new window for young children while working from home, assisting older relatives who can’t easily shop or struggling to remain productive outside the office, employees have encountered a number of challenges over the last year. But instead of seeing this as another difficult period that simply must be endured, employers should use this time to strengthen their bond with their employees.
Organizations that offer well-being pots, for example, empower employees to choose how best to spend their allowance on the benefits they want most. This enables them to take advantage of benefits they will actually use — for example, working parents could select items that best support their needs in caring for their children — versus a more generic approach to benefits. Others might prefer at-home workout equipment, additional hardware to set them up for home working or additional resources to help care for older relatives.
This level of flexibility is especially important when you consider the results of our research, which show that nearly three-fourths (73%) of businesses spend more than 16% of their wage bill on employee benefits every year. More than 1/3 (42%) spend more than 21% on benefits. In other words, benefits spend is a significant part of every employer’s budget, so businesses can’t afford to devote resources to benefits that aren’t fit for purpose. To avoid spending money on benefits that employees are less interested in, such as travel loans, employers should carefully examine benefits uptake to differentiate between the vital perks employees want and those that can be discarded.
At a time of remote working and minimal vacationing, many employees are staying at home. According to researchOpens a new window from SurveyMonkey, 50% of U.S. workers cancelled or changed their upcoming work travel plans or intend to do so as both a necessity and a precautionary reaction to the current climate. This means that more employees are likely to be home than ever before. Employees needs are likely to shift during this period, including what they want from their employer benefits packages. Employers can fulfill those needs — and make a significant difference in their employees’ lives — by using a benefits platform, such as Darwin, that offers flexible benefits pots.
Learn More: HR Tech in 2021: 3 Employee Benefits Trends to Know About
Strive for Greatness With Greater Consistency
As the corporate world grows more global, and as technology brings us closer together – even at a time of remote working and social distancing – employees want consistency throughout their working lives. This includes everything from the technology that they use to the benefits that support them through these challenging times.
Organizations are making the changes needed to be able to deliver what employees want, with nearly half (44%) planning to fully centralize their HR operations within the next 12 months and 11% planning to do so within three years. This is a notable development, but that’s not all. Since 2019, the percentage of organizations that currently purchase their benefits technology (39%) and/or administer (38%) their employee benefits on a global scale has increased. By following suit, other organizations can also deliver a globally consistent experience that equally serves employers and employees, providing the level of support they need now and in the future.
Consistency cannot be achieved by sacrificing personalization, however. No two employees are alike, so while consistency is needed, employees still need to be able to personalize their benefits to meet their individual needs. Our latest research foundOpens a new window that 82% of employees feel their employer takes their needs and ways of working into account when selecting workplace software ‘strongly agree’ that their benefits package makes them feel valued. And almost two-thirds (64%) of employees who strongly believe the benefits they receive from their employers make them feel valued, also feel they get a ‘consumer-grade’ experience from their HR software. A consistent, personalized, and easy-to-use experience not only makes employees more likely to appreciate the benefits they have on offer but also to feel more valued by their employers. In times like these, that has never been more important – for those who continue to work remotely and those who return to the office.