Employee Benefits Live 2022: Employers should reflect and reframe their benefits strategies by taking a long-term view as opposed to putting in place a short-term solution, according to head of total rewards at Ikea, Jeff Bakes.
Bakes’ presentation, ‘Cost-effective benefits and knowing your people’, which took place on Wednesday 5 October, explored the cultural shift in the benefits landscape post-pandemic, which resulted in changes in pay, diversity, equity and inclusion, hybrid working, environmental and social governance, and wellbeing initiatives for many businesses.
He encouraged employers that may have inherited or have outdated and misaligned benefits strategies to take a step back, look at what does and does not work, and which members of the workforce are using the benefits on offer.
“Align your benefits with your business strategy by reflecting and reframing. Be resistant to trends and avoid short-term fixes. Take your time to come up with decisions and don’t be defined by the past, benefits are about the future. You may want to reach out to peers and contacts to further understand the benefits landscape,” he said.
Bakes recommended looking at the demographics of an organisation in order to get to know the workforce, while also assuming nothing. He suggested using surveys with no more than 30 questions to glean and review data about current benefits offerings or what workers would like to see introduced in the future, and to keep communications simple.
“Understand the full costs, time scales and internal resources when selling a new benefits and reward strategy. Consider whether it will work for your organisation and don’t lose sight of your employees in all of this. I often look west to the US, which is a big leader in terms of benefits and technological solutions, to see what they are doing and to discover some of the latest trends,” he said.
Other benefits trends that he has noticed include solutions delivered by smartphone apps, which are personalised to each user and have green credentials, and a bigger focus on mental health training, menopause, men’s mental health, fertility issues, electric cars and bicycles, remote working, carer support, help with bills, and retail and leisure discounts.