Horizon scanning: what benefits will engage employees in the next five years?
Employee expectations are changing and employers are having to respond, or they risk getting left behind in their bid to attract and retain top talent. All the while, businesses are increasingly recognising a need to review their benefits strategies to ensure they meet their own corporate goals.
Against this backdrop, the importance of modernising benefits programmes cannot be underestimated.
Indeed, Willis Towers Watson is working with futurists, technology disruptors, insurers and health tech innovators alike to ensure clients are aware of emerging developments. In the coming months, the findings of our 2019 Benefits Trends Survey will be revealed, providing further valuable insights into employers’ provisions, priorities and challenges over the next few years.
Here we outline some of the key motivators for change.
Supporting the health and wellbeing of an ageing workforce
According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people aged over 70 who are still working has doubled over the past decade. In the first quarter of the year, the number hit a peak of 497,946 – an increase of 135 per cent since 2009.
As the proportion of employees staying in work beyond state pension age increases, businesses can look to benefit from invaluable skills and experience. But they must also rise to new challenges that this shift in workplace demographics may bring.
In many cases, the professional and personal commitments of older employees, along with their health and wellbeing requirements, will differ notably from those of their younger cohorts.
HR practitioners must take steps to ensure these needs are adequately met if they are to best harness their talent pool, maximise productivity, attract key digital talent and avoid allegations of age discrimination.
It’s fair to say that benefits providers, for their part, have yet to truly grasp the nettle. In recent years most policy design reforms have resulted from legislative change – but, with significant challenges faced by those working later in life, along with gaps in the funding of eldercare, we can expect things to change. A considerable opportunity exists for providers to innovate and to bring new products to market that will engage and make a real difference to older workers’ lives.
Greater investments are likely to be made in proactive health and wellbeing education and intervention, along with more flexible approaches to work-life balance. These must cater, not only for older workers, but also the ‘squeezed middle’ that is facing burgeoning care responsibilities.
With many now looking to retire on defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, the call for meaningful initiatives that offer financial advice and guidance is also set to become louder.
Chronic disease management
Older workers are particularly at risk of suffering from chronic conditions, such as cancer, diabetes or high blood pressure.
Indeed, businesses have recognised this. According to the Willis Towers Watson 2017 Benefits Trends Survey, chronic disease management was among the top three health and wellbeing benefit areas that employers earmarked for improvement.
Some treatments and support to help stabilise long-term conditions are available to employees from benefits such cash plans, medical insurance and employee assistance programmes (EAPs). However, there are still clear gaps in available cover.
Acute conditions have been the traditional focus for PMI schemes, but in some areas at least, insurers are now looking to extend cover for longer-term illnesses. Further consideration must be given over the coming years to healthcare designs and products that might help tackle and support employees in this area.
Improved support for workplace mental health
Efforts to raise awareness of workplace mental health have catapulted this issue up the corporate agenda in recent times.
Given the scale and far-reaching impact of mental ill-health on productivity, absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover, this should come as no surprise. Willis Towers Watson’s Global Benefits Attitudes Survey (GBAS) 2017/18 revealed that almost one in three (29 per cent) UK employees had suffered with severe stress, anxiety or depression in the previous two years.
Forty-six per cent of workers who were highly-stressed said that they would be prepared to leave their employer – more than double the figure amongst those with low levels of stress (19 per cent). Moreover, 54 per cent of highly stressed respondents aged over 50 reported that they would retire early if they could.
Although the 2017 Benefits Trends Survey revealed that half of all employers were taking steps to reduce work-related stress, this still leaves a significant number that were failing to address the issue. We anticipate the number of businesses introducing mental wellbeing initiatives to rise in our 2019 survey findings.
Employee assistance programmes (EAPs), which are often considered a first line of defence for employers looking to protect and support the mental wellbeing of staff, will continue to play an integral role.
Over the next few years, however, we are likely to see further improvements in access and the number of meaningful clinical services that are offered rise. The cost of EAPs may increase as a result, but so will their adoption and usage.
Elsewhere, investments in initiative such as resiliency training and stress management programmes are sure to continue gaining traction.
On-demand benefits driving greater flexibility
Millennials and Generation Z are used to accessing anything, anywhere at any time and accept mobile tech, subscription and on-demand services as the everyday, cultural norm.
This trend is being brought into the modern workplace fold, with flexibility and convenience increasingly at the fore of solutions delivered by benefits providers.
In recent times we have seen a growth surge in healthcare technologies such as wearables, remote diagnostics, genetic testing and apps that promote wellbeing. The emergence of telemedicine services is enabling employees to receive swift diagnosis and treatment plans without the need to take time off work.
Futurist Matthew Griffin recently told delegates at the Willis Towers Watson Health & Benefits Disruption Event how the decentralising and democratising of healthcare sees us “on cusp of a new epoch”.
Employers need to keep a close eye on how their benefits and total reward strategies are designed, financed and delivered to ensure they keep pace with emerging developments.
Delivering a consumer experience
We are starting to see a clear trend towards a consumer-style tech experience in the delivery of employee benefits. This will accelerate as expectations from the employees of UK plc become ever greater.
From an employer perspective, this aspiration must be married with the desire to maximise value, while, at the same time, keeping a lid on administrative complexity and cost.
Get this right with effective assessments of impact and value and businesses will see heightened benefits engagement, improved employee satisfaction, a boost to recruitment and retention and increased levels of workforce productivity.
This article is provided by Willis Towers Watson.
In partnership with WTW
WTW is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company.
