A quick fact – Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $36.61 per hour worked in June 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages and salaries averaged $25.12 per hour worked and accounted for 68.6 percent of these costs, while benefit costs averaged $11.48 and accounted for the remaining 31.4 percent!
Over the years, multinational organizations across the globe see employee benefits as an important component of their overall HR strategy and find it with a significant portion of their HR expenses. However, these organizations face intimidating complexities in managing employee benefits.
An SHRM study states that the top reasons cited for increasing benefits were to retain employees (by 72 percent), to attract new talent (58 percent), and to respond to employee feedback (54 percent). Having the right employee benefits program and ensuring that they are administered without causing hassles to the employees is a critical factor to enhance employee experience.
A global benefits administration solution can help in prioritizing global employee welfare and managing benefits. With the right benefits platform, employers can make their employees feel like top-notch customers! Following are the key benefits that a robust global benefits admin solution can provide.
Cost control
The tangible benefits that an organization offers to its employees involve investment from the organization’s side. Moreover, employees could also incur costs that they might have to pay in part in order to avail such benefits. This cost may be a reimbursement or a deductible from the employee salaries.
But there is a difference between investing in a widely used employee benefits program and being given the ability to make informed decisions ensuring employees opt for the right benefits program. This is where benefit administration solutions can help employees immensely and could also result in organizations making a ‘hard saving’.
Technology-enabled solutions aid benefit administrators and employees to make informed decisions when considering benefits selection as these portals provide in-depth information about the various programs offered, help simulate total costs incurred through benefit programs availed. In addition to simulating costs vs. benefits derived, employees can further compare the utilization of benefits provided during previous years and be judicious in the selection of benefits.
Organizations, on the other hand, would be able to get projected and real costs depending on consumption and claims for the benefits. This will further help organizations to make strategically informed investments and benefits as well as plan ahead of the curve.
Employers can track the ROI of the employee compensation and benefits package & ensure that the investments made are directed to the corresponding benefits, and consequently lead to significant cost saving. A white paper from EY states that among the common HR tasks, the most potential cost savings come from benefits enrolment. Moreover, empowering employees to make informed decisions related to benefits selection will result in an increased appreciation of the benefits offered to them.
Improving compliance
Employee benefits administration is one of the potentially risky areas among HR processes as certain employee perks require compliance for statutory norms and rules. The complexities involved in the eligibility status make some benefits carry a certain risk than others. Take the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of the USA for instance. As per the act, organizations with an employee population of 50 or more are obliged to provide health benefits to employees working for 30 hours or more in a week.
Organizations who invest in a new-age benefits administration solution like NeeyamoWorks Benefits reduce their compliance-based risks. Robust benefits solutions have strong controls and alerts that will not only just monitor but also alert and drive compliance. Data-driven insights and proactive alerts ensure compliance while 360-degree dashboards, audit, and reports provide effective global visibility and control.
Enhancing employee experience
Providing an instructive workflow can simplify complexities and help with user adoption. A superior employee benefits management software puts together all information pertaining to benefits front and center, making it easy for employees to surf across their personalized benefits package. The easier it is for employees to explore their benefits, the more likely that they would derive maximum returns for using the solution.
Modern-day benefits solutions powered by cutting-edge technology offer a single global system for multinational employees that consolidates employees’ benefits making it more personalized and easily accessible, thus streamlining global processes.
Furthermore, employers can provide a 24×7 self-service functionality to employees which helps them review and update their personal details & make modifications as and when required. Benefits management solutions also help reduce administrative overheads and rather focus on strategic business objectives. These solutions offer a seamlessly integrated, intuitive and transparent system that can support a high degree of personalization for employees.
With ever-increasing compliance needs at local and regional levels and the inherent administrative complexity, benefits administration is bound to become more complex. With a single global HR platform that administers employee benefits and perks, organizations can open gates to newer competitive strategies that would attract and retain potential talent.
Are you interested to know more about how a global benefits solution would transform your organization’s benefits management landscape? Click here to drop an email or fill this form and our team will help set-up a discussion.
