Just chucking money at an issue doesn’t guarantee a successful outcome and, whilst many employers spend heavily on employee benefits, they are not all getting the best bang for their buck.
Recent research from employee benefits and reward platform Benifex, highlights a ‘value void’ in benefits – where good intentions and increased investment still leave employees confused and underwhelmed.
Although it shows that 69% of employees say benefits are having a positive impact on their life, this is noticeably below the 90% of HR leaders who believe their benefits are making a meaningful difference to employee lives.
According to the same research, 79% of employers have actually increased spending on employee benefits over the past 12 months in order to meet rising employee expectations. But 62% of employees find it difficult to see the value of their benefits and aren’t sure if they’re making the most of what’s available.
A range of issues
So, there is clearly a major communications problem that needs to be addressed. In some cases there may also be issues with benefit ranges becoming uncompetitive or less appropriate to the current workforce.
But Chase de Vere is well placed to help in all these respects and to ensure that benefits are aligned with what people truly value.
In the case of one client with a particularly young workforce, for example, we established that there should be a major emphasis on giving employees cash to pay off student loans and on wellness allowances that can be used towards exercise, healthy diets and mindfulness.
Including targeted questions around benefits in employee surveys can enable us to establish employee attitudes and identify gaps in needs and usage.
Analysing provider statistics can also shed light on issues like how often people are logging into provider portals, what they are doing when they have done so, and whether others have registered for them and completed the forms.
The communications challenge
Even the best employee benefits package in the world is, however, of limited use unless employees are fully aware of its contents. And nowadays it’s not just the core benefits that need to be effectively communicated but a whole host of added-value features that can save employees significant time and money.
Group risk and healthcare schemes now commonly include everything from employee assistance programmes (EAPs) and virtual GP services to online physiotherapy and mental health support.
With the NHS still on its knees, and with many employees now doing at least some work from home, access to these is now more important than ever.
Indeed, for products like group life, income protection and critical illness cover, which tend to be auto-enrolled, the bells and whistles are arguably the most important parts to communicate because boosting awareness of them can significantly increase take-up rates. Chase de Vere has vast experience in communicating in a way that makes benefits easier to understand and engage with.
For example, we provide annual webinars for the entire workforce to remind them what benefits they’ve got and why they’re important, and to highlight any recent changes that have occurred to them.
And, whenever one of our clients takes on new hires, we provide the individuals concerned with a communications pack explaining their benefits. If required, we can also follow up on issuing these with providing new hires with one-to-one sessions communicating the importance of the benefits and helping them complete forms. We are finding that clients are particularly valuing our ability to tailor a communications package to suit their particular requirements.
With one, for example, half its 50 employees are within 10 years of retirement, so we have placed a lot of emphasis on providing financial education around pensions and retirement planning.
With younger workforces, on the other hand, although we always pay due attention to pensions, we tend to place more focus on communicating flexible benefits schemes and reward and recognition platforms.
If you would like to find out more about how Chase de Vere can help to ensure that you have the most competitive and appropriate employee benefits range and that this is effectively communicated to your employees, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The information contained within this article is for guidance only and does not constitute financial advice.
Content correct at time of writing.