HR practitioners in Singapore, Hong Kong discuss obstacles around employee benefits: survey
Meeting employee expectations emerged as one of the top challenges faced by HR practitioners in Hong Kong and Singapore when it comes to designing their employee benefits.
But this is likely because they aren't putting a lot of value in employee feedback, according to the report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and insurance provider AIA.
The report polled over 400 respondents, predominantly HR practitioners in Singapore and Hong Kong, to identify the employee benefits approach taken by employers.
It found that budget emerged as the top-cited challenge worldwide (58%), as well as in Singapore (62%) and Hong Kong (51%), in designing employee benefits offering.
After that came meeting employee expectations, cited by 39% of Singaporean HR practitioners, 38% in Hong Kong, and 42% worldwide.
Source: Asia employee benefits report
Value of employee feedback on benefits
The report attributed the findings to neglect of employee feedback when creating benefits packages. In fact, only 26% of employers in Singapore and Hong Kong said gathering employee feedback was important when they are designing benefits offering.
"Meeting employee expectations to attract and retain talent is one of the main concerns of organisations as they develop their workforce benefits offering," the report read.
"To address this, employers should focus on truly understanding their people's individual needs through various employee listening channels. This will help them tailor benefits to the preferences of different workforce groups and get the most value from the programmes."
To get around budgetary constraints, the report advised employers to find "creative ways" to provide cost-efficient benefits.
"Providing alternative working arrangements as well as flexible or voluntary benefits programmes are key ways of putting employee needs at the heart of the benefits approach," the report read.
Satisfaction, retention influencing benefits
The findings come as the report discovered that increasing employee satisfaction and retention is the top factor influencing employee benefits offerings across organisations.
This was cited by more than half (53%) of the respondents, followed by budgetary controls and considerations (35%), and then enhancing employee wellbeing (33%).
But recent trends are also impacting employers' approach to employee benefits - with the biggest influencer being the competition for talent.
Source: Asia employee benefits report
May Leng Kwok, Head of Market Development, Global, for CIPD, said the increasing demand for talent and shifting employee priorities are making staff benefits become more critical than ever.
"Organisations are recognising this shift and are actively tailoring their benefits offerings to resonate with the evolving needs of their workforce; however, more can still be done to meet employee expectations," Kwow said in a statement.
"This report aims to serve as a valuable guide to equip employers with insights and strategies needed to navigate this dynamic language," she added.
CIPD and AIA's report surveyed a total of 162 respondents in Hong Kong, 157 respondents in Singapore, and 90 respondents from other countries.
"Our inaugural report with CIPD explores how an increasing focus on flexibility, preventative care and holistic wellbeing complements comprehensive insurance offerings to help businesses create stronger benefit packages to attract and retain talent," said David Chow, director, Group Corporate Solutions at AIA Co. Ltd.
"With today's workforce seeking more than just monetary benefits, employers need to their insurance packages to see if any coverage needs to be added or enhanced for them to be more competitive and meet employee expectations."
