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Common barriers to implementing employee benefits technology.
Technology has changed the way we connect, the way we shop and the way we work. HR professionals know that technology can make it easier and more rewarding for people to engage with their employee benefits package and appreciate the true value of their employment.
Yet, only 35% of employers provide a single platform through which employees can manage their benefits package. We undertook some research with REWARD to explore the challenges that employers face when implementing better benefits technology.
Download the full version of our barriers to employee benefits infographic here.
Barrier 1: Cost
When it comes to investing in new technology, HR departments are often overlooked in favour of client facing or operational systems. It hasn’t helped that, up until recently, employee benefits technology has been expensive to implement and maintain.
Although cost savings can be astronomical, reward professionals have found it difficult to persuade those who hold the purse strings to pull out the cheque book.
A: Quicker Implementations
Thankfully, advancements in benefits technology now allow for quick and simple configuration of your benefit scheme; now minutes rather than months. Which means significantly lower implementation fees, removing cost as the barrier it once was. With modern technology like Zest, it’s often possible to implement a new client for less than your annual renewal fee. However, it may take some time for perceptions to catch up, as there are still plenty of old, outdated and costly platforms in the market
Barrier 2: Demonstrating ROI
Organisations can realise large savings by implementing benefits technology. Improving your reputation as a caring employer can lead to an increase in direct applicants and a reduction in employee turnover, resulting in lower recruitment and training costs.
Technology reduces the cost of administering your benefit schemes, prevents costly errors and automates complex reporting. However, many employers don’t have the relevant measures or historic data to evidence the impact.
A: Smarter, Insightful Analytics
Benefit platforms can provide powerful management information, which allows you to measure the success of your reward strategy. However, before you have technology in place to do the hard work for you, don’t be afraid to set us the challenge of evidencing expected return on investment. As you’d expect, we’re experts at building concrete business cases with quantifiable outcomes.
Barrier 3: Time
From appraisals to pay rises, HR and Reward professionals have a lot on their plate. They often don’t have the time to take on yet another project. Implementing benefits technology used to require a time consuming and complex project, and many still perceive this to be the norm.
A: Intuitive Benefits Building
Setting up technology used to be a highly technical process, requiring engineers to write bespoke rules for each scheme. That’s no longer the case. Benefits can now be quickly configured through a series of easy to understand options, making it quick and simple to reflect the most complex benefit schemes.
This means that technology can be placed in the hands of the benefits experts. Any changes can be made in seconds and take effect instantly. Significantly reducing the time and effort of implementing benefit technology.
We think it’s about time we broke down the barriers to better benefits.
Zest is reinventing the world of employee benefits. If you’re thinking about introducing or replacing your employee benefits technology then we would love to talk about what’s stopping you from improving your employee benefits experience. Get in touch below, or contact us here.
Download the full version of our barriers to employee benefits infographic here.
Written by:
Garry.Nelson
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