Five Ways to get More Value from Benefits
With workforce expectations evolving, organisations are shifting from traditional, one-size-fits-all employee benefit programs to flexible solutions that give individuals more choice and agency.
Key Takeaways
- An agile, flexible benefits strategy can help organisations manage costs and improve budget predictability, while giving employees more ownership and control.
- Digital platforms provide a streamlined and engaging way to offer flexible benefits and can capture and analyse critical data in real time to reveal current and future health risks - so employers can adjust their strategy as external conditions and workforce needs change.
- Company values, such as inclusion, can be brought to life through flexible benefit programs, which can be adapted to cultural needs and improve equity of access to healthcare and other services.
With more than three-quarters of employees in India saying they would trade existing benefits for more meaningful options1 - as would 83% of employees in the Philippines, 65% in Singapore and 54% in Hong Kong1 - it’s important for HR leaders to meet rising demand for choice and unlock more value for employees.
As well as meeting employees’ diverse needs and preferences, a flexible approach can deliver a higher return on benefits investment (ROI), foster a healthier, more engaged and satisfied workforce, and deliver a more compelling employee experience.
Here are five ways flexible plans deliver more value from investment in employee benefits:
1. Meeting Employee Expectations
Today’s employees expect their benefits to align with their life stage, circumstances and goals. Whether they’re supporting ageing parents or young children, prioritising mental health, or pursuing further education, employees want benefits that match their personal priorities.
Flexible benefits allow individuals to select from a menu of options. This freedom to choose significantly enhances perceived value because benefits that are relevant and timely feel more like rewards. Not only are employees more likely to engage with benefits they’ve chosen themselves, those who engage with their benefits are more likely to view their employer as understanding and empathetic.
Beyond health and wellbeing, benefits personalisation can extend to practical day-to-day support. Whether it’s buying additional leave or adjusting insurance coverage, a flexible plan supports the evolving lives of employees, and fosters an inclusive and caring culture, as well as a sense of belonging that drives satisfaction and retention.
2. Supporting Holistic Wellbeing
Flexible benefits can make comprehensive wellbeing support more meaningful to individual employees.
A flexible benefits framework enables employers to offer a broad range of support initiatives across different vendor solutions and delivery modes — from stress management to financial education and preventative healthcare, giving employees ‘always on’ access to appropriate support when they need it.
Organisations can include options for employees to support their family’s wellbeing, too. For example, enabling them to direct a part of their benefits budgets toward healthcare or education expenses for dependants, improving employees’ wellbeing by helping them care for family members.
3. Sharpening Competitive Advantage Through Digitalisation
In a competitive talent market, benefits have become a key differentiator, especially in sectors or regions where skilled professionals are in demand.
By delivering benefits through an online digital platform, employers can create a seamless, accessible, and branded experience that reinforces company values and culture. Whether employees are in Mumbai, Manila, Hong Kong or Singapore, they can enjoy the same user experience, personalised support, and access to benefits that resonate locally and culturally.
This consistency is especially valuable for multinationals, where aligning with global standards while meeting local expectations can be a difficult balancing act. A flexible, tech-enabled solution simplifies governance, ensures compliance with local regulations, and supports a consistent employer brand experience across borders, with the added value of personalisation.
4. Keeping Costs in Check
With the medical trend rate predicted to rise this year to 11.1% in APAC2, organisations are seeking new ways to manage benefits expenditure without compromising employee engagement or health and wellbeing outcomes.
A well-designed flexible benefits plan can support the financial sustainability of benefits programs overall while enhancing value for employees. Rather than funding benefits that are rarely used, organisations can redirect funds to options that are a better match for employees’ needs, improving budget certainty and increasing employee satisfaction.
Digital platforms offer another pathway for improving employee experience and optimising benefits utilisation by making benefits easy to understand and access, and matching employees with suitable options personalised to their needs and life stage. Real-time data and analytics provide visibility into benefits take up, allowing for ongoing adjustments based on what’s working and what’s not. This data-driven approach not only improves financial sustainability but also ensures that investment in benefits is aligned with evolving employee needs and preferences.
5. Driving ROI and Better Health Outcomes
By removing the guesswork from program design and planning, data-driven insights allow HR leaders to continually adapt their benefits offering. In an interconnected, rapidly changing economic and risk environment where supply chains can become unpredictable and new health threats can arise with little warning, this kind of agility is crucial for business survival.
Advanced modelling tools that use machine learning and simulation techniques, such as Aon’s Health Risk Analyzer, take this approach a step further. “Insights from data analytics and modelling can highlight which employee cohorts have a higher risk of developing future health issues,” explains Rice Loh, head of total benefits advisory and management, for Aon in Asia. “This enables employers to pre-empt a decline in employee wellbeing and a rise in the cost of claims by targeting programs to address these identified health risks.” This forward-looking insight is game changing compared to traditional analytics models, which rely on historical data to predict future outcomes. Health Risk Analyzer gives organisations the ability to ‘see around corners’, improving employee health outcomes and delivering a stronger return on investment over time.
Ultimately, flexible benefits support a more engaged, loyal and healthy workforce who are empowered to make informed choices and feel genuinely supported by their employer. For organisations across Asia, flexible benefits offer a solution that is both personalised and strategic, enabling employers to create deeper connections with their people, reduce employee turnover and manage costs more effectively.
To learn more about creating or evolving your organisation’s employee benefits strategy, talk to us .
1 Aon 2025 Employee Sentiment Study
2 Aon Global Medical Trend Rates Report 2025