Benefits strategy: keeping focused on employee experience

The world of work is rapidly evolving and we need to keep employee benefits on its toes

It may only be 12 months since Benefex undertook its last major research study but somehow it feels longer.

The speed and scale at which the world – and the world of work – is changing means that things look and feel very different today.

The last year has been beset by economic and political turbulence around the world. Conflict in the Middle East and Europe, global trade wars and supply chain issues, slow or stagnant growth in most regions.

Change and uncertainty

Looking ahead, change and uncertainty look set to remain and perhaps intensify over the next 12 months.

National elections for half of the world’s population – including in India, the US and the UK – could have a profound impact on global economic, political and social stability.

Against this backdrop, people in all regions continue to navigate through the worst cost-of-living crisis for a generation, with interest rates and inflation still far higher than pre-pandemic levels in many countries.

And on top of the financial challenges they’re facing, employee sickness is at an all-time high in the UK, Germany and France.

People are looking to their employer for protection and support to an extent which would have been unimaginable five years ago.

Beware employee experience perception gap

Last year when Benefex reported its research findings, it revealed the monumental challenge that employers were facing in responding to the rapidly evolving needs of their employees.

The very best, well-defined and targeted strategies and programmes were becoming obsolete and irrelevant almost overnight, it said.

Employers had recognised the critical need to support their employees, both inside and outside work, looking to benefits that supported their financial, physical and emotional wellbeing.

Many were implementing ambitious and far-reaching initiatives to enhance employee experience and protect employees.

The issue for many HR and reward professionals though was simply knowing whether they were focusing on the right things.

Ongoing challenge

This year’s research shows that this challenge has intensified.

Employers need to continually evolve their strategies to support their employees.

This means meeting their most critical objectives whether that’s attracting specialist talent, upskilling and reskilling existing teams, increasing productivity, or driving business transformation.

Alarmingly, however, the research reveals a widening disconnect between employers and employees when it comes to perceptions around the quality of employee experience that organisations are delivering.

HR and reward professionals are feeling overwhelmingly positive about the employee experience they provide.

Employees feel that their employee experience has actually deteriorated in the last 12 months, the research added.

This employee experience perception gap should ring alarm bells for employers. It suggests that, despite their well-intentioned efforts to enhance employee experience, many HR and reward professionals are still behind the pace of their employees’ changing expectations.

Either that, or their programmes simply aren’t delivering the desired outcomes.

Benefits at the heart of employee experience

The research highlights the number of different elements that combine to create an optimal employee experience – from wellbeing support and recognition programmes through to workplace technology, diversity and inclusion, and company values and culture.

Benefits provision is fundamental to driving improvements in critical areas such as employee wellbeing, productivity, and talent retention and attraction.

This explains why the focus on benefits is the biggest for additional investment over the next 12 months. In particular, employers are planning to invest in meeting employee demands for greater flexibility and choice in benefits, and for more personalised benefits.

Employees are looking for benefits that enhance their wellbeing. Whether it’s products and tools to protect financial wellbeing through the cost-of-living crisis, or services to enhance emotional wellbeing and mental health, employee expectations in relation to wellbeing are rising inexorably.

In response, benefits programmes need to offer a comprehensive range of tailored and personalised benefits to support every aspect of an employee’s wellbeing, whatever their work and life situation.

Despite tight financial constraints, it’s positive that so many organisations are still planning to invest in benefits as a way to improve employee experience.

The key is to ensure that money is being spent in the right areas to deliver maximum impact for employees, and the business itself.

A defining moment for HR and reward professionals

Worryingly, the research indicates a growing sense of frustration among HR and reward professionals fed up with firefighting issues or being bogged down by administrative tasks, instead of focusing on delivering strategic change.

Throw in budgetary challenges, a lack of data and insight to measure the impact of their initiatives, and it’s easy to see why growing numbers are feeling disillusioned.

As these dynamics play out in HR departments across all industries, HR and reward professionals are acutely aware that widescale deployment of AI is set to disrupt every aspect of their jobs soon.

Encouragingly, the research finds that understanding of, and appetite for, AI is growing.

There are a wide range of areas where AI has the potential to enhance employee experience, but a responsible approach is needed, eliminating bias and ensuring data privacy and security at every step.

By harnessing the capabilities of AI and embracing new thinking and fresh approaches, HR and reward professionals can operate at a higher level.

They can adopt an insight-driven approach to their work, developing strategies and programmes which can flex in response to the evolving needs of employees. In doing so, they can deliver maximum impact for their organisations and employees.

Explore the latest employee experience trends

To find out how you can keep up with what employees really want from benefits, wellbeing, technology, culture and your EVP – get your copy of The Expectation Exponential here.