EXCLUSIVE: Just under a fifth (18%) of employer respondents have overhauled their benefits portal in the last six months in order to take advantage of new developments in technology, according to research by Employee Benefits and Staffcare.
The Employee Benefits/Staffcare Benefits research 2017, which surveyed 271 employer respondents in February-March 2017, also found that 19% of respondents have overhauled their benefits technology in the last year, and 16% did so between one and two years ago.
This is a clear shift since we carried out the inaugural Benefits research in 2004. Thirteen years ago, 30% of respondents said they had implemented or upgraded the technology they used to administer benefits in the previous few years, although a further quarter that had not done so said they intended to over the next two to three years.
More than half (52%) of respondents prefer to source benefits technology directly from a provider, rather than going via a broker (36%).
Functionality and ease of use top respondents’ list of criteria they look for in benefits technology, cited by 81% and 88%, respectively. Low cost and the ability to integrate with other systems are also both fairly high priorities, for 62% and 61%, respectively.
Read the full Employee Benefits/Staffcare Benefits research 2017.
