Future of Work: The Evolution of the Employee Benefits Experience

Tired rockstars, widespread burnout, disconnected leaders, and record-low empathy. The state of the employee experience is bleak. But there’s hope for company’s who can evolve by implementing employee engagement strategies aimed at listening, adapting, and rewarding employees.

In our Future of Work webinar last week, I discussed the state of the employee experience (EX) with Jonathan Roberts, Senior Analyst at Forrester, and how this experience is impacting employee wellness and benefits trends. In full transparency, while putting the webinar content together, it was enlightening how much our 2023 State of Workplace Empathy study aligns with Forrester’s own research into employee experience.  

The synergies in our reports are so remarkable that they cannot be ignored:  

• Burn out is abundant particularly among top performers and HR professionals.  
• Employees don’t feel supported by their employers in a multitude of ways, including benefits.  
• And senior leaders just don’t get it.  

Beyond this, empathy in the workplace is at an all-time low. All of this impacts the employee experience which in turn impacts your employee engagement and benefits strategies.  

Here are a few of the key themes that emerged from this valuable discussion as well as strategies for improving your employee experience.  

Survey Says: The state of employee experience is lacking 

This year, our State of Workplace Empathy study showed the largest divide ever recorded between HR professionals’ and CEOs’ empathy perceptions of each other: a 24-point empathy gap. It also showed that employee empathy sentiments are at an all-time low with some key drivers being return-to-office, burnout, and benefits misalignment with senior leadership. CEOs’ perceptions of must-have benefits, such as workplace flexibility, vary greatly from employees with 50+ point gaps. This tug of war puts HR squarely in the middle of contention and nothing short of a workplace empathy crisis.   

Tune in to the 4:00 mark in the on-demand recording to hear me and Jonathan Roberts discuss this in more detail. 

Forrester’s research reveals similar trends around burnout, but particularly in the category of “tired rockstars,” meaning your most engaged employees are also at highest risk of burnout. Their data reveals a disconnect between employee perceptions and senior executives—with nearly 50% of surveyed employees saying, “senior executives don’t really understand what it’s like to be a regular employee here.”  

Benefits Perspectives Are Shifting 

Gen Z is expected to comprise 27% of the workforce by 2025, baby boomers are existing the workforce in droves, and 55-63% of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck.  

On top of this, healthcare costs are expected to nearly double in 2024. These dynamics play into what your benefits shelf must provide to keep up with employee expectations that have expanded far beyond medical-dental-vision.  

It’s clear that employers must build more value across their programs to ensure employees can engage with right-fit benefits. The problem is, on average, 86% of employees are confused about their benefits according to our 2023 Benefits Insights report. And preparedness is low: 45% of employees would feel panicked about a large, unexpected expense like an ER bill.  

But there is encouraging news: Employees are ready and willing to engage with benefits administration technology to optimize their benefits elections and use, including a growing desire to engage with benefits on a year-round basis versus one-and-done annual elections.  

At the 33:00 mark in the on-demand recording, we discuss how benefit expectations are shifting. 

When tech-and data-enabled support is available to employees, it translates into cost-savings and efficiencies. In fact, our Benefits Insights report showed that 60% of employees elected a cost-effective health plan with a savings vehicle when they had decision support tools at enrollment. Only 20% did so when they did not have tech-enabled support.  

Employee Actualization: What is it?  

What’s the cure for all of these woes? Employee actualization, aka employee excellence. Employers have tried a multitude of ways to coerce employees into operating at a peak performance level—not at a satisfactory or minimum viable output—but at a state we’re they’re truly invested in greatness.  

Fast-forward to 41:00 to hear us break down employee actualization. 

But the days of pizza parties, happy hours, and kumbaya are over. Employers must dig deeper to help employees feel actualized, and benefits are a big part of that strategy. If you want your employees to perform optimally and be loyal, you’ve got be thoughtful—and empathetic—about the benefits you’re offering. 

Fundamentals for the Future of Work: Listen, Adapt, Reward 

No webinar would be complete without some helpful steps for how to apply the information put forth. As such, I had to look no further than some of the strategies we’ve putting in place at Businessolver that have seen success: 

1. Listen and Measure: Your employee listening strategy should be multi-dimensional and always-on. We cover a lot in this section but a key takeaway from my viewpoint is that consistent employee pulsing (we pulse monthly at Businessolver with over 90% of Solvers participating on a regular basis) is essential to keeping a real-time pulse on the state of your employee experience.  
2. Adapt: Once you have listening data, you must be committed to taking that feedback and implementing change if you want to be an employer of choice in a sea where employees have other options. At Businessolver, we know caregiver fatigue is a big issue. We saw this trend emerge in our employee population during the pandemic and continues yet today. As such, we’ve implemented a benefit called Grayce which provides support specifically for parents and caregivers.  
3. Reward: In the end, employees need to know they matter and that falls squarely back on employers to ensure they are measuring and rewarding people based on their effort and success. At Businessolver, we’re intentional about employee recognition and we’re also intentional about ensuring our Solvers feel supported in their growth objectives through professional and career coaching programs.    

What does all of this mean for the future of work? We are in a tumultuous time of renegotiating the employee contract. As Jonathan states, “When the dust settles and we are done renegotiating the future of work…one thing that’s really, really clear is that the value of organizations used to be capital assets—now it’s humans.”  

Taking care of your people is paramount to everything. Being an employer of choice in this moment means supporting your people on a wholly different, multi-dimensional, and holistic level. But when you give them the support they need, you get actualization—aka peak performance. And, even better yet, that state of employee wellbeing is contagious. Pretty soon you’re on your way to happier, healthier, and actualized employees!