We recently published a report based on a survey given to our HRZone audience where we sought to find out what organisations think when it comes to employee benefits.
Over six out of 10 (63%) respondents said they wanted more insight into the employee benefits market, including existing packages and new options.
A further 58% wanted more information on how employees can use benefits provisions, while 50% wanted more support from providers to improve employee uptake.
These statistics suggest a desire to gain greater value from employee benefits in terms of providing the best packages and using them in the most effective ways.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, therefore, over half of respondents said employee benefits are an effective recruitment and retention tool.
This desire then may be driven by a need to optimise employee benefits packages so they meet the needs of the business – in this case building talent by getting the right people and keeping them.
All parts of the HR function must increasingly prove their worth to the business and employee benefits is no exception. Transactional relationships between vendor and customer are no longer enough.
As managing editor of HRZone, I’ve seen this shift in HR technology, where vendors are seen as trusted advisors, part of a two-way conversation in which the software is constantly shaped and pulled by the needs of the organisation.
These vendors act as insight partners, delivering the latest best practice to help organisations better use HR technology.
In the employee benefits space, we’re seeing the relationship change. Organisations are grappling with multi-generational workforces at different life stages, for example, and some vendors are providing advice on how to create packages that appeal across age and generational divides.
Others are helping organisations with internal marketing, building momentum and appeal around employee benefits to increase uptake and ensure employees think there is value in what is being offered.
Ultimately, benefits companies should think about the way they come across to organisations and how their services are perceived in terms of helping customers extract business value from employee benefits.
There’s a lot more insight in our employee benefits report so if you’re looking for more valuable learnings about how HR professionals are thinking about how they want to use benefits going forwards, take a look.
