01 July 2021 | Guy Clarkson and Katie Reynolds
The benefits agenda has changed dramatically over the past year, explained Guy Clarkson, Digital Growth Leader for Mercer Marsh Benefits: “There’s a real awareness of wellbeing coming through. Keeping people happy and healthy is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a must have. Employers are reviewing their benefits and asking if they’re still fit for purpose.”
A poll conducted during the webinar showed that better aligning benefits with employee wellbeing is now a top priority for almost a third of employers (32%), closely followed by improving engagement (27%) and increasing employee choice (18%).
“It’s not surprising to see those results,” said Guy. “Engagement comes pretty high because, whatever benefits you offer, if people don’t engage, you’re not going to achieve anything.”
Katie Reynolds, new Business Development Director at Mercer Marsh Benefits, agreed: “It’s about supporting people on an individual basis depending on where they are right now. If you look at physical wellbeing, there will be people who are off work and need support to become well again. At the other extreme, you have those who are fighting fit, and in between is everyone else. What actions are they taking to stay healthy and what benefits or tools can you offer to help?”
She added, “Similarly, when it comes to financial wellbeing, some people are doing great and investing, others are struggling with debts and spending more than they earn. The stress of that can have a huge impact on wellbeing. In between, people might be trying to save or get on the properly ladder.”
Benefits technology, like Darwin, can really increase choice and flexibility by automatically flagging up benefits or tools that might be helpful. “It will even congratulate them when they experience a life event, like having a new baby,” said Katie. “Plus it will communicate what benefits are in place to support them, to drive loyalty and engagement.”
Reducing administration is also another key driver for introducing benefits software. “We know how complex benefits can be and what an administrative headache setting them up and answering employee queries can be,” said Guy. “That’s why we designed Darwin to put both core and flexible benefits in one place. Employees can get the information they need and sign up without having to approach HR. Darwin also manages the end to end administration of benefits through links with the providers and payroll.”
Despite the benefits, there are still a number of obstacles to adopting benefits technology. A second poll conducted during the webinar showed the main barrier was having to focus on other projects (38%). “That’s really interesting,” observed Guy, “because when it comes to making the business case for benefits technology a good place to start is by showing how it can support other projects. For example, if there’s a big drive on diversity, equity and inclusion, benefits that support different demographics can really help with this.”
Katie added, “It’s also worth bearing in mind that if adopting benefits technology is going to drive take-up of salary sacrifice schemes, that will not only generate savings for employees, but also employers, the savings can be used to help fund other projects. Also, Darwin only takes six weeks to implement, compared to other platforms which can take four months or more.”
When it comes to making the business case for benefits software, Guy stressed the importance of aligning this to the business strategy. “What’s the CEO talking about?” he challenged attendees. “If the business wants to be known as an employer of choice or is taking about how it’s supporting people as it transitions to hybrid-working, does the current benefits strategy support this?”
He added, “Benefits are often the second biggest area of spend after salary, yet many employees don’t even know what’s on offer. Meaning, you can say: ‘Look, we’re spending all this money, so we need to see a better return on our investment.’ Then look at what using benefits software to increase take-up of benefits will deliver in pounds and pence for your organisation. We have ROI calculators that you can use to illustrate this.”
When it comes to using technology to future-proof benefits and wellbeing strategies, scalability is also important. “If you’re not careful, you can end up with disparate initiatives not working together,” said Guy. “Employees can get overloaded with choice and I’ve seen some complicated points-based systems put people off. Sometimes it’s about making things less complex and just taking what you’re already doing and making it more accessible.”
Katie agreed: “Benefits technology provides an easy engaging way for employees to understand and access their benefits options, instead of having to ask HR, search the intranet or find the pack they were given when they joined. It connects them to what they need, depending where they are on their personal journey, to boost health and happiness. It also allows employers to move away from just offering pensions and health insurance, towards offering more proactive benefits that can make a real difference.”
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