5 Top Takeaways from the Benefex Forum 2023 

Every year Benefex hosts 150 reward and benefit leaders for an all-day event in London. It’s a great opportunity to take stock of the big changes in the reward and benefits market, hear about our customers’ unique challenges and how they’re solving them, as well as share learnings on how to simplify processes, cut through the noise, and achieve the reward outcomes companies need.  

At last year’s Forum, we explored how employers were adapting to the ‘great expectations’ of employees that came from a greater focus on wellbeing as we emerged from the pandemic – and in many ways, the pressure employees are facing today has only increased.  

The Benefex Forum 2023 considered how reward and benefits leaders can take their function from chaos to calm, and navigate disruption – from growing employee expectations, to increased administration, and changing benefit requirements. Not to mention the fact that wellbeing, the wider employee experience, technology implementation, ESG and DEI are increasingly falling under the reward remit.  

We heard from Benefexers, customers (the AA, EE and Baker Hughes), as well as special guest John Amaechi – and the prevailing theme of the day was how to create a better deal and experience at work for employees, beyond pay.  

Here are our five top takeaways  

1. Employee expectations are increasing, driven by uncertainty

Benefex Founder and CEO, Matt Macri-Waller, kicked off the day with his keynote speech – From Chaos to Calm – or, as he put it, “from chaos to slightly less chaos”. He discussed the myriad of factors that are putting pressure on employees today, from high inflation to the cost-of-living crisis, largescale redundancy, and social instability. Employees are less willing than ever to tolerate poor experiences at work and are actively searching out employers who will support them across all aspects of wellbeing, and who are aligned to their own personal values.  

Matt shared key findings from Benefex’s brand new Evolution research report, highlighting that 96% of employers have seen employee attitudes and behaviours change in the last 12 months. With employee expectations changing at pace, reward directors need to build processes that enable them to evolve much faster. 

2. Benefits, reward, and recognition make a real difference to employees’ lives, every day 

“The experiences we deliver matter.” – Benefex Founder and CEO, Matt Macri-Waller 

Several of the speakers predicted that wellbeing will be a key area of focus for benefit and reward leaders over the next 12 months. Indeed, the number one factor an employee is looking for when choosing a new employer is a commitment to employee wellbeing; 64% of employees said that this was very important to them (Benefex Evolution report).  

Award-winning psychologist and Benefex Chief Innovation Officer, Gethin Nadin, highlighted that employees are facing greater social pressure than ever before – many people working full time are struggling to pay for essentials, the average employee joining the workforce post 2008 is on average €70k worse off in their lifetimes, and home ownership among young people has halved. These pressures impact not just people’s financial wellbeing, but also their physical and emotional wellbeing – and it’s no surprise that this is impacting productivity, creativity, and customer service at work.  

The benefits that organisations offer change lives and can provide real life support, stability and protection for employees. We heard from Georgia Rule, Total Reward Director at the AA, who shared how shining a light on their EAP, physio benefits, their wellbeing hub, menopause policy, and financial resources, has improved employee wellbeing (with a 25% reduction in employees saying they’re experiencing stress), and reduced absence by over 15%.