Modernizing Benefits: From Transactional to Transformational

Previous Benefit Trends surveys have seen a steady progression in how employers and employees view their employee benefit plans. From a transactional, “check the box” item, benefits have evolved into a true attraction, retention and engagement tool. Today, employers understand that their benefits can be instrumental in shaping the type of organization they are and the way their employees — and their peers — perceive them.

Our last survey showed a trend toward enhancing benefits to include broader concepts such as wellbeing. Today, we see this trend go even further as employers embrace concepts such as inclusion and diversity, corporate social responsibility and flexible work policies. However, as the scope of what is considered to be employee benefits becomes broader, are they truly effective in what they have been designed to do? While employers are actively furthering their benefit agenda, our survey aims to pause and reflect:

• Are employers getting the full value from their benefit package?
• Are they truly equipped to address the needs of a changing, multigenerational workforce?

Our 2019/2020 survey shows that only a minority of employers think their benefits are truly effective. While this can be explained by the increasingly ambitious nature of employee benefit programs today, it raises the question: What can employers do to ensure that employee benefits are truly addressing the changing needs of the future — for both employees and employers?

Willis Towers Watson’s 2019/2020 Benefit Trends Survey was designed to provide an overview of where employers are heading with their benefit programs. The survey is based around five dimensions of managing and optimizing benefit programs around the world. In this report, we seek to understand organizations’ objectives for these dimensions and the key trends emerging in each.