Benefits Planning: You’re Asking the Wrong Question

When employers start planning their benefits packages, they often begin with the wrong questions. We frequently see employers inquiring about what other organizations are offering, curious what their competitors are doing, and asking what benefits are trending right now. While benchmarking against others in your industry or in the workforce has some value, it shouldn’t be your starting point. A benefits plan designed around staying competitive or reacting to trends may look impressive on paper, but it might not actually support the needs of the people it's intended to help. Your benefits should really be based on a deep understanding of what your employees are experiencing right now and should reflect your values and desired outcomes. 

Copy-and-paste benefits rarely work, for a number of reasons. Not only is every workforce different, but employees' needs within a single workplace are constantly changing. Standard benefits packages might focus on health coverage, but what your employees need might go beyond health conditions to look at what pressures they are carrying. Importantly, different people need different forms of support - and that especially includes traditionally marginalized communities or underrepresented voices. 

Every Workforce Is Different

No two organizations have the same workforce. Employee needs are shaped by age, family status and structure, income levels, industry, geographic location and workplace culture, among others. The ‘best’ benefits plan is rarely universal across all organizations. For example, a startup with mostly employees in their 20s may have different priorities than an organization with mid-career professionals balancing mortgages, children, and caregiving responsibilities.

Supporting People Through Different Seasons of Life

Employees’ needs change across life stages and benefits should reflect where they are today, not where they were five years ago. Early career employees might benefit more from mental health support, financial literacy development, and career guidance; whereas mid-career employees might be focused on burnout prevention, retirement planning and chronic disease management. Employees raising families might require parental leave support, childcare resources and flexible work arrangements; while employees caring for aging parents might value caregiver support, counselling resources and flexible scheduling. For employees approaching retirement, they might benefit from health management and transition support, as well as retirement planning. Knowing where your workforce sits in the human life cycle can help you better understand what benefits might be the best investment for your organization, right now and as things change. 

Look Beyond Health Conditions when Benefits Planning

What pressures are your employees carrying - both in the workplace and at home? While benefits conversations often focus on healthcare coverage, employee wellbeing is influenced by much more than physical health.

Consider:

• Financial stress

• Caregiving responsibilities

• Housing affordability

• Mental health challenges

• Loneliness and isolation

• Burnout

• Work-life balance

• Major life transitions

A strong benefits strategy addresses the realities employees face both inside and outside the workplace.

Moving Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Thinking

Not every employee needs or will use the same resources. Different people need different forms of support. Some may benefit from counselling, physiotherapy, virtual healthcare and wellness spending accounts. Others may need financial coaching, flexible schedules, caregiver support or additional leave options. Benchmarking can be useful when it comes to costs, but when it comes to people, averages are rarely indicative of people’s true experiences. Your goal should be to create a plan that gives people meaningful ways to access the support they need, when they need it and as they change.

How to Understand What Employees Actually Need

Benefits are solutions, but before you choose solutions, you need to understand the problems. The most valuable insights often come from asking questions rather than making assumptions, so start with listening. Before changing your benefits plan, spend time understanding your employee’s experiences. Not those available in case studies, industry benchmarks or trend reports. Your own employees.  You can do this in any number of ways: employee surveys, focus groups, pulse checks, claims data analysis, exit interviews, stay interviews, conversations with managers and HR teams, etc. A combination of these might be the most effective strategy. 

One of the biggest mistakes an organization can make is asking employees what benefits they want because most people will answer based on what they already know exists. Rather than asking employees what benefits they want, ask what challenges, pressures, and life circumstances they are experiencing. Listen out for life stage differences, sources of stress, barriers to accessing support, and gaps between demographics. Also focus on what employees value most. 

Not every conversation needs to focus on problems. You could also ask: what support has made the biggest difference in your life? Or: What makes you feel cared for as an employee? Or maybe: What helps you stay healthy, productive and engaged? Sometimes, valuable insights can be drawn from what’s already working. 

The Real Value of a Benefits Strategy

Benefits are about people, not plans or products. A benefits plan should be more than a collection of coverages. It should be a reflection of your organizational values, your employees’ needs, your workplace culture and your long-term goals. 

The most effective benefits strategies don't begin with benchmarking reports or trend lists. They begin with curiosity and asking the right questions: what are our people experiencing, and how can we support them? The answers you discover may lead to a very different conversation – and a much more impactful benefits program.

The benefits programs that offer the greatest value aren't necessarily offering the most benefits, they're offering support that is relevant, meaningful, and aligned with the people they employ. As Rob Crowder, from The Benefits Trust, often says: “benefits are a promise that an employer makes to an employee.”