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Evaluating your employee benefits programme: 5 key questions

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An employee benefits programme is one of the most significant investments your organisation is likely to make. And as an HR professional, your role is to help your company craft the right benefits package—one that does both your employees and the business good. 

But how do you know if your benefits programme is up to market standard, addresses the needs of your employees, and yields benefits for the company?

This is where periodical reviews come in. To ensure you offer the best, most relevant benefits at all times, you’ll need to subject your programme to a thorough analysis regularly. In five questions, we summarise the most crucial elements for you to consider when conducting these evaluations. 

employees at a meeting

1. Does it encourage positive behaviour?

Good benefits address the real needs of employees; great benefits promote healthy habits. The difference? Reactive versus proactive behaviour. 

When it comes to employee wellness, a genuinely effective benefits programme gives employees options to take care of their well-being, long before they feel they require specific interventions. For instance, you can design your benefits programme to encourage employees to have a fuller sense of ownership over their health. Wellness tools such as apps like Calm or Headspace can give them a more holistic understanding of one’s health. This clearer picture of their health status could encourage workers to be more responsible for their well-being and adopt a more preventive approach. 

A well-designed benefits programme could also help your workforce become more engaged and resilient. Workplaces with high resilience have lower absenteeism rates, higher overall morale, and less office conflict than workplaces with low resilience. Whether a company is fully on-site, hybrid, or remote, each set-up has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as different effects on employee well-being. Consider offering mental health benefits in your package instead of just the usual medical and physical health perks. 

2. Does it address diverse needs?

diverse employees

Do you have a one-size-fits-all approach? If so, you probably need to update your benefits programme.

Today’s workforce is unlike any employers have seen before. It’s multigenerational, with Baby Boomers, Gen Xs, Millennials, and Gen Zs all in one room (physically and digitally). In Singapore, about 8 in 10 employees report that they are part of multi-generational teams. In addition, workplaces are increasingly becoming multicultural. 

This diversity—in age, gender, cultures, demographics, and religious beliefs, among other things—is an amazing resource for learning and innovation if teams can harness it. In fact, diverse companies have been found to have 2.3 times more cash flow per employee, and diverse management teams drive 19% more revenue growth than their more homogenous counterparts. 

But this diversity comes with a need to address differing priorities. Ask yourself: Is your programme meeting the key needs of each person from each generation?

Your benefits programme could play a big part in encouraging workplace diversity through inclusive benefits. The more holistic or unique a benefits package is, the more likely it is to be attractive to prospective employees. For instance, you can offer flexible holidays that allow employees to take extended leave during Hari Raya instead of the typical Christmas break or Chinese New Year.

3. Is it competitive and comprehensive enough to attract and retain talent?

Job seekers have the upper hand in today’s market, with Singapore’s 15-year-high talent shortage. Employers will need to do more to attract and retain talent. Having an attractive and inclusive benefits package can help with that. In fact, compensation is one of Singapore employees’ top priorities when evaluating potential employers.

First, check if your current package is in line with market standards. What are your competitors offering? Can you provide better benefits? Is your programme comprehensive enough to cover the many different needs of potential hires?

Some top benefits that employees may be looking for include healthcare plans with telemedicine and mental health support, flexible work arrangements, more paid leaves, and work-from-home stipends and allowances. By giving your employees the tools they need to be successful, you’ll attract recruits and increase your company’s chances of retaining these talents. 

4. Is it cost-effective?

Now, it’s one thing to pack your benefits programme with all the most attractive offerings, but it should also make the best use of your budget. Often, programmes are inherited from previous HR managers, their rationale and motives long forgotten.

Consider reviewing your claims profiles over the years to see if you’re really getting the best value from your investment. Deep dive into claims data to see if your renewal premiums are sustainable in the long run. 

While you’re at it, check for possible redundancies. This is another way to see if you’re making the most of your money. Ask yourself: Do your benefits complement each other? Are there areas where services are actually duplicated?

5. Are your benefits easy to claim?

It won’t matter if you have the best benefits programme in the industry if employees have to jump through hoops to claim them. After reviewing and evaluating your offers, give the claims process a thorough overview to see if the experience is easy and efficient enough for your employees. 

One way to make it hassle-free is to digitalise the whole process. For example, having an app like MediHub, which automates the steps to avail healthcare privileges, ensures that employees can access their benefits anytime and anywhere through their mobile devices. Digitalising employee benefits can help increase participation through an overall better employee experience, and provide insights into what your employees truly want and need using data analytics.

It’s time to give your employee benefits programme an honest look

As the saying goes, “The only constant in life is change.” This kernel of truth holds true for employee expectations and priorities, industry standards, market trends, and all other things that influence how you structure your employee benefits package.

This is why a periodical review is a must: it can help you assess if a programme is cost-effective, relevant, competitive, comprehensive, easy to claim, and, most importantly, if it brings out the best in your people. 

It’s time to give your employee benefits programme an honest look

Contact us at Howden to see how we can help you do a thorough review of your employee benefits programme.