Expert Perspective: How global organisations are evolving benefits

Benefex’s Big Benefits Report highlights a transformative shift in the employee experience — benefits have now become the central pillar for both organisations and their people. In fact, beyond salary, benefits are the top priority for employees when looking for a new role. And for organisations, benefits have emerged as a critical lever for achieving strategic HR goals. 

Tailoring benefits to meet employees’ exponential expectations 

The major challenge for employers with a global workforce is how to respond to the different needs and demands from workers across multiple countries. It can soon become incredibly overwhelming for Reward leaders — especially as reward leaders based in the UK, Europe or U.S. are increasingly taking on a broader global remit.  

Global companies tend to prioritise the benefits provision in their HQ country first — often because it’s where they have the greatest headcount — and then think about what they are going to do in other countries. As a result, Benefits and Rewards teams often have much less on-the-ground expertise and resources in other regions.  

However, as recruitment becomes increasingly competitive in a wide range of countries, particularly within the technology and professional services sectors, employers are recognising an urgent need to invest in benefits provision at a global level to attract the skilled people they need.  

As a starting point, organisations are looking to fully get to grips with the employment markets they are operating in. That means understanding what their competitors are doing in benefits and rewards and benchmarking their offerings, starting with surveying employees to understand these specific needs. These insights are essential to build a business case for greater investment into benefits at a local level.  

Of course, there is no magic solution for employers to deliver every benefit that their global workforce will be looking for. The level and scale of complexity involved in global benefits makes this impossible, not to mention costly. However, employers can deliver benefits that are relevant, personalised and valuable to their people – with many employers starting to offer benefits allowances.  

Allowances are enabling employers to become more creative in how they approach benefits, extending their provision far beyond what they’ve been able to manage previously and offering their people far greater benefits flexibility and choice. In locations such as Singapore and Poland, we’re seeing employers providing employees with pots of money that they can use for a wide range of benefits, from purchasing extra annual leave through to wellbeing-related products and services. 

Leveraging technology for seamless global benefits management 

Investment in employee benefits can have a profound impact on attracting and keeping the best people. In Asia it’s common for employees to move company because they can get better family healthcare insurance. And in India, extending cover to additional family members can make a huge difference to employees and their finances; while in many European countries, childcare-related benefits, such as vouchers, discounts and savings plans are hugely valuable.  

To manage and deliver an effective global benefits programme, organisations need an effective global benefits platform. Within the tech and professional services industries in particular, employers are competing for talent against the major global organisations. So they need to deliver a seamless and intuitive experience to employees across all aspects of the employee journey, including benefits and rewards.  

For organisations that are managing a workforce across 10 or more countries, the administration burden can be incredible; a global benefits platform makes that infinitely more manageable. And it becomes far easier to measure and optimise the return on investment and business outcomes of your benefits investment.  

With a consistent global benefits strategy, directly aligned to company values and purpose, and the right benefits platform in place, employers can navigate the complexity of global benefits provision and use technology to create better benefits experiences, engagement and productivity. 

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.