Dive Brief:
- Employers might be overlooking four key aspects of employees' well-being, according to a new report from Gallagher, an employee benefits consulting and brokerage firm. The 2018 Human Capital Insights Report identifies ways organizations can become employers of choice among today's workers and job seekers by focusing on employees' physical and emotional wellness, career development, financial well-being and organizational engagement.
- The report recommends appealing to millennials through community involvement, flexible scheduling and work-life balance and integration; making fairness and equality, timely performance reviews, pay equity and a respectful workplace part of employees' experience; creating a safe and respectful work environment; and helping employees overcome anxiety about money by offering them an education on budgeting and saving.
- The report also recommends that organizations align their technology goals with a human capital management (HCM) strategy and have people in mind when developing risk management plans.
Dive Insight:
Employment reports generally agree on what drives employees: organizations whose values mirror their own; development opportunities; fairness and equality; work-life balance; and benefits that help solve their problems, including health and money. But many of those aspects are directly tied to company culture and having a keen understanding of what makes the business work — which HR can then enable through specific policies.
Wellness is certainly part of it, and there's been a strong movement as of late to broaden wellness beyond the traditional parameters of fitness and nutrition. HR, however, must have the trust of its employees in order for any initiative to find real success, and that ties back to culture as well as, increasingly, technology.
Keeping the employee experience up to date through solid, modernized HR tech has never been more critical to an organization's success than now. Employees want access to their benefits in real-time; employers that neglect this need may not see as much success with their programs. If employers aren't in tune with what drives today's workers, they risk losing the competition for attracting and retaining talent.
