Employees ‘prioritise higher quality of life over salary’ | Incentive&Motivation

Employee Benefits News: Employees ‘prioritise higher quality of life over salary’

Global Employee Benefits Watch 2017/18 reveals that those organisations with a longer-standing, transformational approach to benefits are far more likely to have employee wellbeing initiatives in place. This puts them at a clear advantage when differentiating their employee offering and engaging their people – who now prioritise a higher quality of life over salary.

Thomsons found that over half of workers say that the workplace negatively impacts their wellbeing, while Americans have lost a week of vacation time since 2000. This is set against a rising global obesity epidemic, which will see 34% of UK adults identified as obese by 2025 . These factors are driving companies to re-position their benefits strategies to focus on employee wellbeing, caring for their families and helping them save for the future.

The research from the SaaS provider of global benefits and employee engagement software, found that global employers are:

• four times more likely to be effective in attracting and retaining their talent if they have a global benefits strategy in place and
• seven times more likely to be effective if this has been established for three or more years

This is due to these organisations deploying global benefits best practice over several years. For instance, having a benefits strategy aligned to their people strategy, automated HR processes, communicating benefits through digital channels, and having access to global data through benefits analytics. The few HR teams that adopted global benefits technology early are now able to draw on the data generated to create an accurate picture of their workforce, enabling them to segment employees and deliver the highly personalised reward schemes that enhance employee experience and wellbeing.

“Global economies are becoming more fluid, and this evolution is driving fundamental shifts in the employer-employee relationship,” comments, Matthew Gregson, SVP data and analytics at Thomsons Online Benefits. “Employees’ time horizons are shortening, both personally and professionally, meaning they are looking for an employer that will make their day-to-day lives better, which necessitates HR teams to spend more time on the experiential, which drives culture, engagement and wellbeing. They will only be able to do this consistently when they have the technology to make this happen.”

Nick Lawry, Reward Manager at Virgin Management explains: “Benefits have never been more vital in ensuring the wellbeing and peace of mind of employees as part of offering a fantastic employee experience. From offering financial education through to super flexible working and unlimited annual leave, we try to give people the benefits and the flexibility that allow them to take control and make the choices that are best for them in their lives.”

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