As our Benefits Strategy Week, in association with Aon, draws to a close, it is time to reflect on some of the trends and issues currently shaping this area of benefits.
Constant evolution and change are an accepted fact of life. This is particularly apparent in the business world, where factors such as political uncertainty, the shifting economic climate, the speed of technological development, an ageing population and increasingly multi-generational workforce, and changing consumer and employee demands, to name but a few, mean businesses must to adopt strategies capable of adapting.
This also presents challenges from a people perspective. In the years that I have worked on Employee Benefits, I have watched both the industry and employers’ approaches to benefits strategy change significantly. As employees’ expectations have changed, a willingness to speak out about what they want from an employer has emerged, particularly among younger generations entering the workplace.
In response, providers and employers have developed a wide range of products and initiatives aimed at keeping benefits strategies fresh and relevant. What attracts, retains and motivates has evolved significantly, meaning that, in many organisations, today’s benefits strategy looks very different to that even just 10 years ago.
The growth of platforms such as Glassdoor, meanwhile, also means that employees now have a public forum in which to share their opinions about their pay and benefits package, for better or worse. But, with the best will in the world, an employer will not always be able to cater to all employees’ specific wants. Plus, on some occasions, an employee’s dissatisfaction may be due more to a difference in perception than the actual benefits they receive. In this situation, what employers can do to close this gap between what employees want and what an organisation is able to provide will be a key strand of their benefits strategy.
Ultimately, a benefits strategy will be designed to provide the best package and employee experience possible to enable an organisation to secure and retain the top talent required to achieve business goals. Ensuring a strategy is future fit is vital if organisations are to have the agility to adapt to challenges and ensure success in years to come.
So whatever stage you are at, and whatever your plans are for the future of reward in your organisation, Benefits Strategy Week was designed to help you take this to the next level through exclusive insights and opinions uncovering best practice in this area. These included:
- Shaping benefits strategy for a future workforce
- Closing the perception gap between what staff and employers consider to be fair reward
- Top tips for using data to showcase return on investment in a benefits strategy
- Curve shapes its benefits provision around future growth
- Karma uses regular communications to align benefits strategy with employee needs
- Hays uses data to showcase return on benefits platform
- Mark Witte and Sarah Robson: 2020’s biggest benefits trend might not be benefits
- Ksenia Zheltoukhova: To meet real staff needs, give them skills for the future
- Simon Richardson: Employers must convey the value of benefits to staff
- Stephen Perkins: Benefits management involves knowing employees’ needs
- Future trends: Benefits strategy in numbers
Debbie Lovewell-TuckEditorTweet: @DebbieLovewell
The future of benefits and reward is the key focus of Employee Benefits Connect, which will take place on 26 February 2020 at the Westminster Park Plaza, London.Register to attend for free.
