Multinational organisations are looking to increase corporate control and oversight of their employee benefits programmes worldwide, with 90% expecting to have corporate benefits policies in place over the next three years, according to research by Aon Hewit.
The 2012 Corporate governance of global employee benefits study, conducted with the American Benefits Institute, found that the aim of this control was to counter rising costs and financial risks.
Amol Mhatre, global benefits strategy and solutions leader at Aon Hewitt, said: “We are seeing more and more organisations wanting to have a better line of sight and at least some control over benefits decisions made by their local operations.
“Clearly, financial drivers play a big role here, but we found that organisations want to do this for a variety of reasons, including managing reputational risks and resource constraints on the ground.”
The study also found:
- 75% of respondents said they are investing for growth in emerging markets where they are facing talent shortages and salary inflation, while 64% of employees in emerging markets are increasingly demanding new and higher benefits.
- 88% of respondents said employee benefits are on the agenda for board and senior management due to the costs and risks of benefits programmes.
- 70% of respondents are leveraging their global scale to reduce the costs of benefits operations, and are implementing stricter controls and oversight in mature and emerging markets.
