E-commerce is credited with blazing the trail for personalisation. Retailers, most notably Amazon, led the way with personal recommendations for customers based on their browsing and shopping history.
Other industries have since followed suit, with the huge volume of personal data that is now available to businesses enabling them to offer far more tailored recommendations, products and services to both existing and potential customers.
In employee benefits, employers have been able to offer their workforces the opportunity to tailor their package to suit their individual circumstances for a number of years through flexible and voluntary benefits schemes. Advances in technology, however, are now driving a new phase in the personalisation of benefits.
Today’s data-driven economy means employers are able to apply a precise science to the design of their reward and benefits strategy to ensure its components are most relevant to individual employees, thus rendering them more likely to take up and value these. In much the same way as Amazon tracks customer spending history, for example, employers and providers can use trends in the take-up of benefits to craft the selection offered to employees. Read more about the personalisation of benefits in Choice sparkles on page 14.
Of course, some employee needs cannot be identified through data alone, and these can be the areas in which individuals often require the most support. Mental health and wellbeing issues are a prime example. These can have a significant impact on employees’ health and performance at work, yet many individuals are still reticent to discuss their mental health, particularly with their employer. Throw some light on the matter on page 28 explores why there is still such a taboo around mental wellbeing and the steps employers can take to remove such barriers from the workplace.
Breaking the taboos on talking about mental health at work is just one of the many issues that will be discussed at this month’s Employee Benefits Live, which returns to Olympia National, London on 11-12 October. The two-day event features a 12-stream conference programme full of inspirational keynote sessions, best-practice case studies and industry experts to ensure you are up to date on all the latest trends, and help you to get ahead of the curve when it comes to creating a market-leading reward and benefits strategy. The event also includes a packed exhibition hall where you can meet all of the exhibitors you need to put your plans into action.
I hope to see many of you there!
Debbie Lovewell-TuckEditor
