For 18 months now many have struggled with all manner of issues arising from the pandemic, from self-isolation to home schooling, often without the physical presence of line managers, or fellow team members, many of whom have been wrestling with exactly the same issues.
Whatever else may have changed, benefits packages still have a major role to play in both attracting and retaining employees. Here are just a few recent statistics which we have discovered during our own research into rewards and recognition.
First, when it comes to making a decision about joining a new employer, 60% say that the benefits packages on offer are a major factor influencing their final decision.
When they have more than one job offer in front of them, 69% say the range of benefits really matter when it comes to making their final choice. Finally, 75% say that they’ll stay with an employer because of the package of benefits and rewards they are offered. So there is little doubt that reward and recognition plays a critical role in the all-important Employee Value Proposition.
Recruiting in a global workplace
But while benefits clearly matter, and continue to do so in the new working world, the way that COVID has impacted workplaces means we urgently need to look again at how we deliver those rewards.
If the value of rewards has not altered, the workplace has, and is likely to continue to evolve, not least for those operating globally.
Employees may well start to return to offices, but remote working and hybrid patterns will most certainly become the new norm for many. That means managing a workforce who are no longer all in the office at more or less the same time.
As well as multiple locations, there is also a trend towards more global recruitment. If someone’s location is no longer a pressing concern, then it’s just as likely that you’ll be recruiting a high flying employee from Boston USA as Boston, Lincolnshire.
Your workforce might now be operating across several locations and time zones, and will all have very different expectations of just what they expect HR to deliver. All this makes it much tougher for companies to maintain their corporate cultures. While remote working brings benefits, it also makes it tougher to communicate. Hardly surprising then that 74% of employees feel they are missing out on company news due to these new ways of working.
It all adds up to yet one more thing for the hard pressed HR team to deliver. How do you manage your benefits – and manage them cost effectively – with a globally diverse workforce whose tastes and needs are likely to get yet more diverse?
One-size-fits-all has never been a satisfactory approach, and new benefit expectations are emerging all the time. For good reason, wellbeing has become a critical focus for many – both employer and employee. When asked about wellbeing policies, 89% of employees said they’d recommend their employer if they could see that they had good workplace wellbeing initiatives in place.
So we now have diverse, dispersed employees, who increasingly want to pick and choose their own perks, and a need to keep ahead of the emerging trends. Finally, these need to be delivered to budget and measured to ensure that what is delivered really works. Easy?
Global solutions to meet local needs
Well, fortunately it is. Yes, you can have a global benefits and rewards package which allows you to both personalise the rewards and perks - but at the same time harmonise them across disparate offices in all manner of locations - and link them in such a way as to ensure your business culture is still strongly identifiable. Believe me, it can be delivered and is being delivered right now.
Of course you’ll need a partner with the technology and experience to build and manage such a programme. But when it comes to solutions which can give you all of the above – from wellbeing content to a personalised reward and recognition– we’ve got a fair bit of experience we’d love to share.
While the working world has changed, reward and benefits still remain critical to attracting, motivating, and retaining the best people. Yes, it has become a trickier proposition. But it’s far from impossible.
It shouldn’t matter where you’re based, or even these days where your employees are based, because a partner should be able to provide everything you need to ensure that your Employee Value Proposition is the best in its class.
It’s much better – and will save time, money and effort – to find someone who really can deliver each and everything you require. Let me draw your attention one more time to the statistic I mentioned at the beginning: that 75% of employees say their employer's reward and recognition package makes them less likely to move. Now add to that the fact that 69% could be tempted away by an employer with a better package.
With that in mind, isn’t it time you took a good long look at the way you manage your rewards and benefits?
Gautam Sahgal is CEO of Perkbox
For more about how you can offer your employees a platform that really cares for, connects and celebrates them, click here.
All the sources of the research stats used in this article can be found here.
