Employee wellbeing is the second most important priority for multinational businesses.
This is according to the latest survey of Priorities for Employee Benefits: a global HQ Perspective from global advisory, broking and solutions company WTW.
The survey of 254 global organisations across a range of industries about their benefit strategies between September and October 2023 found ensuring their benefit offering is market competitive ranked as the top priority for just over two thirds (67%) of businesses surveyed.
However, 61% ranked supporting employee wellbeing as a top or high priority followed by equity and inclusion (56%), applying global minimum standards for core benefits (47%), aligning benefits with broader diversity equity and inclusion or enterprise social governance goals (46%) establishing globally consistent programmes (39%), enhancing benefits flexibility and choice (28%), aligning benefits with employees preferences (27%) and offering environmentally conscious benefits (24%).
Almost three-quarters of employers (70%) surveyed had a global minimum standard in place for employee benefits, almost double the 36% who said the same in 2019.
While just over half of multinational organisations (54%) had a global benefits philosophy, strategy and guidelines, 39% were planning or considering putting this in place.
And looking to the next three years, 63% of companies were found to be exploring using employee benefits to signal their company’s purpose and values to customers, investors and external stakeholders, as well as its employee value proposition.
However, managing the cost of benefit programmes remained a high priority, as almost two thirds of organisations (68%) said it was a top or high priority over the next two years.
Nigel Bateman, managing director of integrated and global solutions at WTW, said: “More employers are incorporating global minimum standards for employee benefits, as part of designing benefits that better support employee wellbeing, attraction and retention.
“Global minimum standards are one way to signal an ambition for employee benefits to be inclusive.
“Employers are also focusing on how their benefits align with their purpose, convey their values and enhance how they are perceived as an employer.
“But, for these ambitions to become a reality, there will need to be a fundamental shift in how many companies operate their benefits programmes. Employers will need to take a more employee-centric focus on which employee benefits are provided and how they are delivered.
“Wellbeing will need to be viewed as an outcome to be achieved, rather than a set of programmes to be added.”