I Want It Now: Why Changing Your Approach to Benefits Can’t Wait

Before “quiet quitting,” “The Great Resignation” and “The Great Realignment,” employers were already struggling to attract and retain talent. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated a situation that had been problematic for some time.

Just ask David Setzkorn. As the National Practice Leader at HUB International who oversees its Workplace Absence Management (WAM) team, he’s been tracking WAM trends for more than a decade.

Setzkorn and Jeff Faber, HUB’s Chief Strategy Officer for Employee Benefits, noticed their clients were experiencing similar issues in the workplace: worker burnout, recruitment and retention challenges, chronic absenteeism, job apathy and overall fatigue.

They came to realize employees need to change their benefits as they move through their employment lifecycle to address common life events — think new car purchases, marriage and having a family, first homes, paying for college, health issues, eldercare for parents and retirement.

Faber calls them “lifequakes.”

And Setzkorn says employers can’t ignore them.

“Employers can’t wait,” Setzkorn says. “They need to know who their employees really are and where they are in their lifecycle.”

That pressing need is why HUB developed its Persona Analysis tool to provide a data-driven deep dive into an organization’s workforce, and its wants, needs and expectations.

All of this, as well as a company’s culture, dovetails into HUB’s Quality Employee Experience (QEX) approach that can help employers deliver an experience that improves productivity, employee satisfaction and loyalty — and helps employers keep top talent.

The days of “one-size-fits-all” benefits plans are over. Employers can’t muddle through the motions, offering what they think their employees want instead of finding out what they really need.

“If employees aren’t getting what they need — and the support behind it — they will leave,” Setzkorn says.

Setzkorn and Faber will tackle these issues at the 75th annual Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) conference set for June 11-14 in Las Vegas. “No Employee Left Behind: How to Recruit, Retain and Reinvigorate Your Workforce,” their presentation at the world’s largest HR convention and networking event, is part of a gathering that features the best in cutting-edge practices.

There’s a real urgency for employers to truly understand their workforce’s needs and implement changes to attract, keep and encourage talent. However, change doesn’t happen overnight, so employers must address QEX issues swiftly.

But why?

“Because your most expensive employee is the one who left you,” Faber says.

Beyond benefits

Salary is still the top reason employees leave an organization, with benefits “very, very close behind,” Setzkorn says, explaining there are certain benefits that employers are expected to provide, as well as standard absence and disability programs.

“Yes, you have to build programs that are going to address all of those core functions,” he says. “But employers need to ask what is driving that income need.

“In other words, you can’t just throw a dollar value or a benefit amount at employees without understanding how that’s going to affect them beyond the workplace.”

For example, take parental leave. An employee takes 10 weeks off at 100% pay and returns to work. It's great the employee is paid, but is she getting additional support, like post-partum care, childcare, helping set up wills and a college fund?

Employees want to work for an employer who not only takes care of them with base benefits but also understands where they are in their lifecycles and that both planned and unexpected lifequakes may require more support.

Setzkorn uses himself as an example.

“Someone just entering the workforce is going to have much different needs than somebody who is at the mid- to senior level in their career, like me,” Setzkorn says.

In fact, the generation of new employees entering the workforce have far different expectations and needs than Setzkorn’s generation.

"With my generation, if you got sick, you still came to work,” he says. “You took your two weeks’ vacation — if you took it at all — because you’re expected to be here, because ‘that’s the way it’s always been.’”

However, young employees may see things differently: Benefits, paid time off and paid sick time are table stakes.

The key, Faber says, is to create an experience employees will value in the workplace and beyond.

By having a comprehensive understanding of employees’ real priorities through QEX, employers can develop a modern and customized benefits plan that enhances the quality of the workplace experience. And it will help employers stay ahead in the competition for talent.

If you’re interested in learning more about QEX, let us know in the comments below.  

And if you’re attending SHRM23 in Las Vegas, get HUB’s full agenda, including more information about this presentation.