Experts say companies can reap several dividends from offering personalised and flexible benefits to their workforce – attracting and retaining talent; improving engagement and productivity; enhancing organisational culture and brand image and optimising costs.
“Companies are recognising that employees across generations – Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and even Boomers – have different life stages, responsibilities and values that shape what they look for in benefits. This is leading many organisations to adopt a ‘flexible benefits’ model, which allows employees to choose from a range of benefit options to create a package that meets their individual needs,” said Vinod VK, head of health and benefits India at professional services company WTW.
According to WTW’s Benefit Trends Survey, personalisation of benefits to meet the needs of multigenerational and diverse employees has become one of the top focus areas for corporates.
In practice, says Vinod VK, companies are implementing this in several ways: modular benefit plans which entails structuring benefits in modules with employees choosing from packages tailored to needs like family coverage, lifestyle or health and digital platforms where employees can log in to a benefits portal and customise their selections.
Some are opting for wellness wallets/benefits allowances where a set amount is given to spend on what matters most and vendor partnerships which provide access to mental health support, financial counselling and caregiving resources, says Vinod VK.
Companies are actively trying to enhance their offerings on this front. At HUL, employees can access more than 20 policies depending on their needs while Diageo has launched flexible benefits and Target in India allows customising wellness programmes for its diverse Indian workforce.
Arun Kulkarni, VP-HR, Target in India, says the company offers a suite of health, well-being, and financial benefits. Team members have the flexibility to choose from a variety of insurance plans for themselves and their dependents based on their specific needs in addition to gender-neutral parenting leave and learning assistance programmes.
“Our flexible benefits programmes are very popular with our team members with a majority of them opting for flexible options, rather than going with default plans. What appeals to team members varies based on several factors including age, with older team members leaning more towards financial benefits and younger ones towards benefits like pet care, etc,” said Kulkarni.
