03 Aug 2023

13 questions to ask when choosing an employee benefits portal

From data security to the costs of setting up and more, here’s everything you need to know

Even before the cost of living crisis and Covid-19 pandemic, everyone knew the importance of being budget savvy. As we constantly search for the best deals on our household utilities, a similar perspective is often adopted at work too.

Change doesn’t necessarily need to be intimidating. Despite potential savings, apprehension is common when contemplating moving away from what we are familiar with. Yet, we may not be deriving maximum benefits from the current setup.

Positive reviews from companies facing comparable challenges can be a significant reassurance. Understanding how they navigated company culture, budget constraints, time restrictions and managed new projects can instil confidence in you to take the leap.

In the corporate world, evidence of productivity, meaningful reporting, and, above all, enhanced employee engagement are triumphant. The challenges we help overcome revolve around accessibility, reporting, communications, project management, and of course, flexibility and automation, significantly contributing to time savings.

What to look for in a benefits portal

To aid in your decision-making process, here are questions to consider when evaluating an employee benefits portal:

Data security and centralisation – can you manage all benefits and documentation in one hub?
Customisation – is the benefits software customisable with capability to add or remove functionality?
Branding – is there an option to add corporate branding?
Intuitive dashboard – is the dashboard easy and intuitive to use and how long will it take to train the team?
Rewards and recognition – does the solution include functionality to manage rewards schemes or reward and recognition tools?
Total rewards statements - is there an option for employees to understand the true value of their remuneration package, which is a key component of successful reward management?
Employee access – are there different role permissions to ensure employees only access the data relevant to their role?
Communication – does the solution include a communication hub to encourage employee feedback? Does the platform include built-in communication tools with personalisation?
Reporting – does the solution allow you to run automated reports? Can you drill down metrics to make data-driven decisions, forecast and measure KPIs?
Mobile – is the platform accessible to all team members from any device?
Cost – how much does the initial set-up cost and how much are the ongoing platform fees?
Deployment – how long does it take to configure and deploy?
API integration – is API integration with other HR technology easy?

Easy accessibility is vital

With employee engagement as a goal, the right tools are indispensable. Your benefits portal, for instance, needs to be easily accessible. The era of company intranets limited to internal IPs is behind us, especially with the onset of remote and hybrid working.

At Aventus we take immense pride in our flexibility – one of our platforms is even called FlexGenius.

You can select the benefits that your employees would engage with, from holiday trading to reward and recognition, depending on your needs.

Additionally, we provide an internal communication suite on all accounts. Better yet, it's integrated into the same portal for easy access and communication about your spectacular benefits.

A testament to our effectiveness is one of our clients boasts an employee engagement rate of a whooping 85%, a significant uplift after migrating their portal and offerings.

Our team of dedicated in-house developers is consistently working towards providing faster solutions and enhanced accessibility. With a dedicated project manager at your disposal during the setup and migration of your employee benefits portal, you can rest assured of seamless service.

Still unsure where to begin or want a friendly ear to talk things through with? Get in touch with us for a no obligation chat about your employee benefits offering.