Four Ways to Increase the ROI of Your Benefits Strategy With Technology

Four Ways to Increase the ROI of Your Benefits Strategy With Technology
April 20, 2023 6 mins

Four Ways to Increase the ROI of Your Benefits Strategy With Technology

Four Ways to Increase the ROI of Your Benefits Strategy With Technology

Return on investment is one of the biggest considerations in implementing employee benefits. This is more pertinent as global economic volatility forces companies to balance costs with expectations.

Key Takeaways
  1. Companies should focus on creating a seamless employee experience to drive engagement.
  2. Your benefits strategy should be informed by data on the needs and motivators of your employees.
  3. Clear communication is essential to success; employees cannot engage with benefits they do not know about.

Benefits platforms are an investment, both financially and in your people. But they also need to drive value and make a positive impact on your workforce. Not only do employers want the best health and benefits experience for their employees; they also want meaningful and actionable insights around what’s happening within their workforce — securely stored but easily accessible.

For some, assessing value can be challenging, but technology is helping to overcome the barriers we once saw around monitoring benefits uptake and understanding employee motivation. In this article, we discuss how technology can help increase the ROI of your benefits strategy and create deeper value.

Creating a Better Employee Experience

A good technology platform increases value for its users. At a simplified level, if employees have a better experience accessing their employee benefits, they will be more engaged with the options available. This can lead to improved wellbeing — which can improve company profit, customer service and employee retention.

Technological innovation has driven consumer expectations, and this has filtered across into the benefits space. Technology platforms are now consumer-grade; they align to the digital expectations set by disruptive technology companies. Good benefits technology provides anytime, anywhere access to employees looking to manage their benefits or understand their options.

Integrating benefits platforms with your existing framework can be challenging, especially for businesses who are expanding geographically or growing through a merger or acquisition. Adopting a highly customizable technology platform can help streamline these processes, even across a global infrastructure. For example, Aon’s benefits platform uses automated processes to reduce the administrative effort required to input, transfer and set-up benefits programs across an organization. This can have a huge impact on the ROI of implementing a new technology platform; not only does the initial setup require less resource, but the ongoing benefits management also reduces the effort involved.

Quote icon

Employers who care about wellbeing stand to benefit in several ways. When employees feel like their leaders care about wellbeing, they are more engaged, and more productive. They achieve more, have fewer safety incidents and lower turnover.

Data to Inform Employee Needs

While it can be easier to understand what benefits employees want, it is more challenging to determine what they actually need. Employee health data is one way of getting an unbiased picture of overlooked gaps and opportunities to provide support. Alternatively, companies can access more granular health information via health tracking applications and drill down into specific risks. Designed to report on key personal health metrics at an aggregated level — and anonymized to protect individual privacy — these applications can inform better decisions around physical and mental wellbeing. Technology-informed early intervention can help reduce long-term costs associated with chronic illness or problem debt.

Technology is a tool that can drive and inform your benefits strategy by providing direct insight into the health and wellbeing of your workforce. It’s non-intrusive for employees and is mutually beneficial for both employee and employer: Employees get better access to their benefits, and employers get actionable insights.

Assessing Employee Engagement

Technology platforms enable businesses to assess how engaged employees are with their available benefits. Companies can tap into this information to understand how it aligns with wider initiatives. For example, are employees accessing benefits intended to enhance wellbeing and promote resilience? Are benefits being utilized across the employee population? Analyzing data by employee demographics allows employers to better understand where there are gaps in engagement and usage.

For multinational businesses, a global technology platform can facilitate a benchmark for benefits uptake across different geographies, helping to better understand cultural nuances and geographical opportunities.

The comprehensive dashboards allow employers to benchmark engagement, comparing to historic performance or highlight disproportionate engagement levels across the different benefits available. By overlaying with life stage data, this data could reveal trends for further investigation. For example, perhaps parents or guardians are adding minor dependents to health or dental insurance but not utilizing emergency childcare support. This information can also help companies assess whether benefits engagement reflects employee survey information and where there is potential disconnect.

Complex Communication, Made Clear

Multi-faceted benefits strategies need clear communication to drive engagement. Awareness is typically the first barrier to employee benefits engagement. If employees aren’t aware of the array of benefits available to them, uptake will invariably be lower. But in a world where individuals are continually bombarded with messaging, benefits communication must compete or risk getting lost in the noise. Technology can help facilitate a sophisticated communication strategy and be programed to tailor messaging around employees’ key life events. Building a benefits strategy around the moments that matter for your employees is a strong way of connecting them to the benefits you offer.

Technology can help employers understand why employees might not be engaging with their benefits. Running short pulse surveys via a push notification can be a good litmus test for employee awareness and education. Are employees not engaged because they aren’t aware of the benefits available? Or are they aware but don’t understand them fully?

Experimentation is facilitated by technology; digital communication channels enable employers to run sophisticated A/B testing on communications while live dashboarding showcases the impact and result.

Developing a Future-Ready Benefits Platform

In an environment facing ever-rising costs, getting a better return on investment is a key priority for many companies right now. Historically, the resource required to implement or switch platforms may have been off-putting, but today’s seamless systems make it easier for organizations to adopt a future-ready benefits platform. Value isn’t just financial; it’s also about impact. Benefit platforms need to reflect the digital experience found within the wider consumer ecosystem. They need to connect, engage and inspire employees. Does yours?

Find out more about how Aon's Online Benefits Platform - The Benefits Solution - could help amplify your benefits strategy and enhance ROI

General Disclaimer

The information contained herein and the statements expressed are of a general nature and are not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information and use sources we consider reliable, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.

Terms of Use

The contents herein may not be reproduced, reused, reprinted or redistributed without the expressed written consent of Aon, unless otherwise authorized by Aon. To use information contained herein, please write to our team.

Aon's Better Being Podcast

Our Better Being podcast series, hosted by Aon Chief Wellbeing Officer Rachel Fellowes, explores wellbeing strategies and resilience. This season we cover human sustainability, kindness in the workplace, how to measure wellbeing, managing grief and more.

Aon Insights Series Asia

Expert Views on Today's Risk Capital and Human Capital Issues

Aon Insights Series Pacific

Expert Views on Today's Risk Capital and Human Capital Issues

Aon Insights Series UK

Expert Views on Today's Risk Capital and Human Capital Issues

Client Trends 2025

Better Decisions Across Interconnected Risk and People Issues.

Construction and Infrastructure

The construction industry is under pressure from interconnected risks and notable macroeconomic developments. Learn how your organization can benefit from construction insurance and risk management.

Cyber Labs

Stay in the loop on today's most pressing cyber security matters.

Cyber Resilience

Our Cyber Resilience collection gives you access to Aon’s latest insights on the evolving landscape of cyber threats and risk mitigation measures. Reach out to our experts to discuss how to make the right decisions to strengthen your organization’s cyber resilience.

Employee Wellbeing

Our Employee Wellbeing collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's human capital team. You can also reach out to the team at any time for assistance with your employee wellbeing needs.

Environmental, Social and Governance Insights

Explore Aon's latest environmental social and governance (ESG) insights.

Q4 2023 Global Insurance Market Insights

Our Global Insurance Market Insights highlight insurance market trends across pricing, capacity, underwriting, limits, deductibles and coverages.

Global Risk Management Survey

Better Decisions Across Interconnected Risk and People Issues.

Regional Results

How do the top risks on business leaders’ minds differ by region and how can these risks be mitigated? Explore the regional results to learn more.

Top 10 Global Risks

Trade, technology, weather and workforce stability are the central forces in today’s risk landscape.

Industry Insights

These industry-specific articles explore the top risks, their underlying drivers and the actions leaders are taking to build resilience.

Human Capital Analytics

Our Human Capital Analytics collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's human capital team. Contact us to learn how Aon’s analytics capabilities helps organizations make better workforce decisions.

Human Capital Quarterly Insights Briefs

Read our collection of human capital articles that explore in depth hot topics for HR and risk professionals, including using data and analytics to measure total rewards programs, how HR and finance can better partner and the impact AI will have on the workforce.

Insights for HR

Explore our hand-picked insights for human resources professionals.

Workforce

Our Workforce Collection provides access to the latest insights from Aon’s Human Capital team on topics ranging from health and benefits, retirement and talent practices. You can reach out to our team at any time to learn how we can help address emerging workforce challenges.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Our Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's thought leaders to help dealmakers make better decisions. Explore our latest insights and reach out to the team at any time for assistance with transaction challenges and opportunities.

Natural Resources and Energy Transition

The challenges in adopting renewable energy are changing with technological advancements, increasing market competition and numerous financial support mechanisms. Learn how your organization can benefit from our renewables solutions. 

Navigating Volatility

How do businesses navigate their way through new forms of volatility and make decisions that protect and grow their organizations?

Parametric Insurance

Our Parametric Insurance Collection provides ways your organization can benefit from this simple, straightforward and fast-paying risk transfer solution. Reach out to learn how we can help you make better decisions to manage your catastrophe exposures and near-term volatility.

Pay Transparency and Equity

Our Pay Transparency and Equity collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's human capital team on topics ranging from pay equity to diversity, equity and inclusion. Contact us to learn how we can help your organization address these issues.

Property Risk Management

Forecasters are predicting an extremely active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Take measures to build resilience to mitigate risk for hurricane-prone properties.

Technology

Our Technology Collection provides access to the latest insights from Aon's thought leaders on navigating the evolving risks and opportunities of technology. Reach out to the team to learn how we can help you use technology to make better decisions for the future.

Trade

Our Trade Collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's thought leaders on navigating the evolving risks and opportunities for international business. Reach out to our team to understand how to make better decisions around macro trends and why they matter to businesses.

Transaction Solutions Global Claims Study

Better Decisions Across Interconnected Risk and People Issues.

Weather

With a changing climate, organizations in all sectors will need to protect their people and physical assets, reduce their carbon footprint, and invest in new solutions to thrive. Our Weather Collection provides you with critical insights to be prepared.

Workforce Resilience

Our Workforce Resilience collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's Human Capital team. You can reach out to the team at any time for questions about how we can assess gaps and help build a more resilience workforce.

More Like This

View All