Dive Brief:

• Business leaders are increasingly looking to benefits professionals to help shape talent strategy, according to the latest Global Employee Benefits Watch survey from Thomsons Online Benefits. Four in five benefits professionals globally now include attracting and retaining talent as their top benefits goal.
• In the survey of 497 benefits professionals, 52% cited promoting employee health and well-being as another top objective, which ties into employee demand for personalized benefits. Meanwhile, technology is playing a big role in respondents' day-to-day: 66% have adopted human capital management systems to meet demands on their time, and more than 70% said they use benefits management software. But only small percentages of respondents had implemented these solutions in all global locations.
• Survey respondents may underuse personalized benefits communications, Thomsons said. Only 7% of respondents said they communicate with employees about significant life changes, such as marriage or childbirth. Thomson said the inability of employers to personalize benefits communications is partly due to employers' "reticence" to allow access to benefits via mobile devices.

Dive Insight:

Research shows that benefits have grown to become a key consideration for talented candidates who are choosing between job offers, so it's not surprising to see a number of benefits professionals expanding their roles to include recruiting and retention. The demand for better benefits is true of both mandatory offerings and others offered by employers, like flexible work options.

So crucial are sound benefits packages to workers that more than half in a Randstad US survey have left their jobs to work for another employer with more attractive benefits. Employers may need to review their offerings in order to assess quality as well as quantity; benefits that appear generous on the surface with high levels of investment may be a waste of resources if their utility is not made obvious to workers. To that end, employers may need to consider their communication strategies, helping employees to determine which perks make sense to use at different life stages and events. And high cost is not a necessity, either, with several low-cost and voluntary options seeing high demand in employee surveys.