Expert Perspective: As benefits expectations grow, align your strategy with company values

Employee experience is now defined by inclusion in its broadest sense. People teams are looking to ensure that all employees, irrespective of their needs, wants and aspirations, have access to the tools, support and environment they need to thrive at work, and in their wider lives.  

To provide this level of inclusion, employers need to offer employees the greatest levels of flexibility possible – and that includes working practices, career paths and development, and benefits and rewards. Everyone has things going on outside of work – from supporting elderly parents to caring for children, so employers have to make it easier for people to manage their work around their lives.  

The exponential increase in employee expectations 

Without doubt, employee expectations are rising. People only need to go onto social media to see what other companies are doing to reward staff, drive culture and support wellbeing. Ten years ago, employees didn’t really have much idea about what the most progressive employers were doing to enhance employee experience; but now they know what good looks like and they’re demanding the same within their own organisations. 

For many HR departments, employee experience is now the overriding strategic priority, key to attracting and retaining high quality talent. But HR and Reward professionals always have to work within the restraints of resource and budget. When there are so many things that you could do or would like to do, it can be incredibly difficult to prioritise. Organisations simply can’t compete with every other employer on every single aspect of employee experience – that’s not possible, but they can focus on being world class in a few targeted areas. 

How employers are aligning their reward strategies with company values 

By aligning reward strategy to your company’s broader mission and values – and focusing in on those areas – you can invest in initiatives that will support and reinforce culture. By choosing a few areas where you can really win, you can deliver impact to employees by creating an excellent employee experience and creating differentiation in the market. 

As part of this, HR and Reward teams should firstly be clear on culture and mission, alongside the values and behaviours needed to deliver on these. Then they should ideally be taking a data-driven approach, conducting regular surveys and in-person sessions to understand what their employees want. Surveys are an incredibly useful tool in gauging employee sentiment, but they need to be targeted and worded carefully – offering employees the opportunity to expand on their thoughts in open ended questions. Employers only get one shot to generate meaningful insights from this valuable input. 

Communication is key to increasing employee benefits engagement  

Ultimately, employers need to be open and transparent about the decisions they’re making and how they are acting on the insights and information they have at their disposal. Communication is key, and that includes reinforcing all the benefits and perks available. Things such as flexible working, training and development, generous holiday allowances and pension contributions can quickly become normalised within an organisation, so it’s important to remind employees about the things they might not necessarily enjoy at another employer.  

For more practical advice and learnings on all things reward and benefits, download our report: Navigating trends from our Big Benefits Report, where six Benefex experts share their perspectives.