For quite a while we have been talking Fair Pay. A lot of progress has been achieved in many companies. More recently the talk about ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) and management incentives has become an important topic. Here we start to see inroads made. So, how is this road map moving on to the employee benefits side, you might ask?
2 major external factors are impacting this: The S for social in ESG is gaining in importance, as companies and their stakeholders accept that social aspects are as important as environmental aspects. In addition, the SDG’s (strategic development goals) of the United Nations are receiving more publicity and traction as their timeline objectives are getting closer.
Not just these external factors, but also new ways of working are demanding new ways of benefits. Combining this with the trend that most employees now, after 18 months of a global pandemic, are realizing that health is their most important personal asset, this means that now is the time to focus on Fair Employee Benefits.
The options of designing employee benefits programs, which are customer focused and give the employees more choice, is a key decision to create more employee engagement. This is shown by multiple studies recently. Combining this with social protection programs which ensure that the duty of care is delivered by the employers, and which live up to the SDG’s by setting a base social protection level for all employees and their families, is another important part. Linking this to the ESG program on the social side, gives options to create a strong addition, and therefore enhance employee engagement and stakeholders’ support. By taking company culture and purpose into the equation, it enables you to ensure that both the employees, the business and the external stakeholders are served in a holistic way.
The path towards ensuring Fair Employee Benefits, which encompasses wellbeing, is not the shortest. However, I believe that if you do it diligently and sustainably, it will pay off in the long run, raising employee engagement and satisfaction!
