More than two thirds (70%) of employee respondents would like access to their employee benefits from a mobile device, but only 51% are currently able to do so, according to research by Thomsons Online Benefits.
Its Global employee benefits watch 2016-17 report, which surveyed 448 global HR and reward professionals and 1,120 employees globally, also found that 70% of employee respondents in global organisations want to hear about benefits around key life stages, such as marriage or home purchase, however, only 46% of employers are utilising these opportunities to engage staff.
The research also found:
- 18% of employee respondents are unhappy with how they have to interact with benefits.
- 17% of employee respondents are unhappy with the way benefits are communicated to them.
- 43% of employer respondents cite difficulty in scaling local benefits solutions for multiple markets as the main challenge facing global organisations, 43% cite a lack of employee understanding about the value of total reward, and 37% name difficulty reporting globally on total reward costs as their top challenge.
- 27% of employer respondents are unable to report on their global benefits costs.
- 37% of employer respondents use benefits analytics to control costs, and 28% use analytics to increase benefits take up.
- 65% of employer respondents cite talent attraction and retention as the main objective of their global benefits strategy, followed by maintaining a competitive employee proposition (47%), and enhancing employee engagement (38%).
Matthew Gregson (pictured), consulting director at Thomsons Online Benefits, said: “Global employers spend a significant amount on benefits, on average 31% of employee salary, but there’s a real risk that they won’t see the full return on this investment. HR professionals understand the link between benefits engagement and broader workplace engagement, but they’re stumbling at the first hurdle; engaging employees in their reward schemes.
“Organisations with the highest performing benefits schemes have shown that overcoming this obstacle isn’t impossible, but depends on unlocking the power of data to take a more personal approach to benefits. Using data analytics, employers can create a global benefits strategy based on quantifiable insights into how employees are interacting with their schemes and the benefits they really want.”
