John Deacon, head of employee benefits at Buck, points out how important it is for organisations to unlock the value of their rewards and benefits offerings

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The adoption of technology across reward and employee benefits has been gathering significant pace in recent years, as more businesses recognise and embrace its role in communicating and engaging with employees.

But while great strides are being made – with 97% of organisations now using technology to help manage and administer their benefits, according to research carried out by Buck – employers still have some way to go in harnessing its full value and creating a superior employee experience.

Buck’s recent report, in partnership with the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA), Technology Research 2021 unearthed an interesting finding – when asked about the user experience of their reward and benefits technology, over 50% of employers cited ‘satisfactory’ as sufficient when it comes to the employee experience, yet less than 20% are considering reviewing their product.

The world of work has changed dramatically over the past eighteen months and, as some organisations prepare for a more permanent shift to remote and hybrid working, a lack of face-to-face contact means many employers will face greater challenges in understanding and responding to the changing needs of their employees. Businesses must seize this opportunity to re-evaluate their offering, creating a benefits package that resonates with each individual employee and delivers a significant boost to the business.

 

Join the dots

While advanced digital solutions are becoming more commonplace, achieving the Holy Grail of a ‘one stop shop’ benefits platform remains a challenge for many businesses.

Our research found that many organisations still rely on multiple systems and platforms, with most using between three and five different systems. And despite the pandemic accelerating the use of digitisation and automation in the workplace, 62% of employers said they had made no changes to their benefits technology, or had, in fact, decreased their use of it over the past year. In addition, 59% said they had not changed how they communicate with their staff about benefits and rewards in response to the pandemic. Yet, nearly two thirds of employers cited a lack of awareness of company benefits as the most common reason for poor employee engagement, suggesting that this siloed approach is leaving employees struggling to link the various component parts of their reward ecosystem.

It’s no secret that benefits and rewards can help employees feel valued, recognised and engaged and can offer businesses a strong competitive advantage, but let’s be clear – they are of little use if employees do not know they exist. For employers to deliver real value and see a return on their investment, the focus needs to be upon greater platform integration and unlocking the value of data to tailor and personalise benefits.

 

Greater personalisation

In a world where flexibility, choice and personalisation have become a part of our everyday lives as consumers, it makes sense that employees have come to expect the same of their workplace.

Not only does a more targeted, personalised approach have the power to boost employee engagement and experience, it allows businesses to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce.

Currently, just one in eight organisations understands how their benefits are helping deliver against their diversity and inclusion objectives. Offering a wide-ranging reward package is an effective way of supporting diversity and inclusion and will be critical in attracting and retaining talent going forward.

Encouragingly, nearly two-thirds of employers (63%) recognise that a more targeted and personalised benefits communication would enhance the user experience and 53% believe offering personalised benefit recommendations that highlight what other employees gained from certain benefits, would be helpful.

Central to achieving personalisation will be data analytics but while we have more data at our fingertips than ever, the challenge many employers face is knowing how to utilise it. That’s where the right combination of adviser and benefits technology is key.

 

More analysis

Advances in technology mean employers have access to a wide range of data visualisation tools, yet 85% continue to carry out analysis within Microsoft Excel or similar. Even where analysis is taking place, the overwhelming majority centres on simple tasks like benefit take-up statistics, with less than half of employers using it to make strategic decisions, and only a third using data to tailor their benefits offering to employees. More than one in ten (14%) don’t use their data at all.

The good news is employers want to improve in this area and improving management information and data reporting was cited in the research as a top area of focus over the next twelve months.

As businesses aim to bounce back from the pandemic, it’s clear that investment in this area will be critical – if reward and benefit professionals are to become more data scientific, they need the tools and resources to transform facts and figures into actionable insights. In doing so, they will drive engagement, make benefit schemes work harder and ensure the organisation’s employee value proposition fulfils its purpose. What’s more, by engaging in a more proactive way to create connectivity and interaction, employers can also create an impact on payroll and other charges around employees.

Knowing where to start can be a daunting prospect, but it’s important that organisations don’t shy away from unlocking the value of their rewards and benefits offering with the right technology. Put simply, those who don’t risk being left behind. 

• Policy article
• Professional magazine