Employers may think their benefits are hitting the mark, but employees often disagree. Karl Bennett, wellbeing adviser at Perkbox Vivup and UK chair of the Employee Assistance Programme Association (EAPA), outlines what employers need to consider to help them identify the benefits that will make the most impact.
Ask employers to rate the effectiveness of their employee benefit packages and most are likely to rate them favourably, believing they’re having a positive impact on their workforce. But ask the employees themselves about these same benefits and the answer is likely to be somewhat different.
Recent research from Unum bears this out. It revealed a so-called ‘perception gap’ between employers and employees, with 67 percent of employers believing their employee benefits package was improving employee wellbeing, but just 31 percent of employees agreed.
Perception gaps are not new. There has always been a mismatch between the perceived effectiveness of employee benefits and how impactful they actually are. And employers are absolutely aware of this issue – but do they know how to address it?
If the research is anything to go by, the answer is probably no. And this should really concern employers because it indicates that some employee benefits aren’t supporting the very people they should be supporting. All too often, a one-size-fits-all approach is to blame. Well-meaning employers might implement generic, standardised benefits in the hope there will be a proportion of employees who will find them valuable. Whether they do or not is likely to be pot luck.
At the same time, employers are often influenced by the latest industry trends. They might look at what’s new, what’s popular, what’s talked about repeatedly at industry events or in the media and assume that’s what their people really need.
But is it? Does it meet the needs of their particular workforce demographic?
Even though a particular benefit or new product may have a promise of high engagement rates and improved productivity levels, just tapping into the latest trend is not the right approach.
And on the other side of the coin, employees themselves are not always engaging with the benefits on offer. They might know there are wellbeing initiatives available, but they may be cynical about them, believing that they’ve been put in place not because their employer genuinely cares about their people, but as a tick-box exercise.
How then, do forward-thinking employers who care about their people and want to ensure the benefits are relevant and impactful reduce this perception gap? How can employers ensure their benefits are really hitting the mark?
Employers need to look at the employees themselves. We know that today’s workforce is diverse and multi-generational. Employee expectations don’t just evolve – they’re shaped by personal experiences, societal changes and workplace culture. It’s this information that employers need to be looking at to identify the sorts of benefits that will make the most impact, that employees will want to engage with.
Providing highly personalised benefits which resonate with a diverse workforce is essential. For example, poor mental health can creep up on us. Sometimes it’s due to a life situation but sometimes there is no obvious trigger. In these situations, employees need to know what’s available for them and how to access it. But it’s not about expecting employees to ‘plug’ into an app and presenting them with hundreds of different options, it’s about empowering them with information of where to turn to.
Open and supportive organisational cultures with personalised employee benefit packages are hugely impactful. It means that during a crisis, employees feel safe enough to ask for help. It means their line managers – who are aware of available benefits and know how to manage and support their employees – will be able to signpost them to the most appropriate services.
That is how it needs to work.
But it’s not just early intervention that’s important. Implementing a proactive approach is key to increasing employee engagement.
Being proactive is about ensuring that the benefits are accessible to every employee and that crucially, employees know they are there and why they might be helpful to them. Don’t assume it’s common knowledge or rely on conversations over the watercooler.
So, driving engagement and understanding is all about improving benefits communication, through regular emails, ‘lunch and learn’ sessions or quick bite-size videos.
And let’s not forget how powerful personal experience is, especially when it comes from the top. Leaders might want to think about sharing their own challenges and how they have used benefits and wellbeing services. There are some companies where managers or directors send out monthly or weekly emails, sharing positives as well as talking openly when things have been difficult and how an employee benefit has supported them.
This shows your people that it’s a safe environment to share.
It’s about creating a culture of openness and transparency, a culture where employees feel valued and cared for through the benefits and services on offer.
So there may always be a perception gap to a certain extent, but by looking at your workforce and their individual needs and circumstances rather than just industry trends, employers can improve engagement levels, reducing the benefits perception gap between employer and employee.
