Insights from Alight
My recent discussion with Alight, a benefits services company, highlighted pivotal insights into the urgent evolving need to redefine benefit strategies to foster engagement, productivity, and long-term employee loyalty.
Alight’s 2024 International Workforce and Wellbeing Mindset Study paints a stark picture of employee sentiment. Nearly 75% of employees report moderate to high daily stress, but it also reveals a significant opportunity for improvement. Despite the high levels of stress and burnout, there is potential to enhance employee wellbeing and satisfaction.
This stress and burnout are translating into financial insecurities. Almost half of employees admit to struggling financially, and 67% believe they won’t retire as planned. Compensation remains a top driver of job changes, but better benefits and work-life flexibility weigh heavily on retention decisions, particularly for women.
Despite employers investing more in benefits, Alight’s findings reveal a “Benefits Impact Gap,” with 81% of employees feeling overwhelmed and 52% unsure about what is available. This fragmented approach, characterized by siloed offerings and complicated systems, fails to address employees’ holistic needs, leaving engagement and productivity stagnant. It also corresponds to data 3Sixty Insights uncovered in our benchmark report, which found employee satisfaction was at a low 61% due to low engagement, inadequate compensation, and a lack of internal opportunity.
Integrated benefits, however, tell a different story. Employees with access to streamlined, personalized benefits are significantly more engaged, productive, and loyal. Alight’s research shows that these workers are 81% more likely to feel productive, 61% less likely to consider leaving, and 74% more likely to trust their employer.
For Alight, their strategy to close this gap involves transforming benefits from a transactional model to an integrated ecosystem powered by AI-driven personalization and big data. Their Worklife platform enables employees to navigate health, wealth, and wellbeing through an intuitive, centralized experience. From here to retirement, this solution emphasizes meeting employees “at the moment,” fostering better decision-making, and ultimately improving outcomes.
HR leaders and workforce strategists must challenge the status quo. The data is precise: prioritizing wellbeing drives employee satisfaction and organizational ROI. Our 3Sixty Insights report found the same: leaders who encourage internal mobility, reskilling, redeployment, retention, and employee growth have higher employee satisfaction. Companies making strategic investments in technology enhance and transform their ability to meet future needs, achieve business goals, and streamline their tech stack. Those businesses that embrace innovative, employee-focused solutions are employers of choice in an increasingly competitive labor market. Yet, many still view benefits as a periphery expense rather than a strategic tool to attract and retain top talent. The time has come to shift the narrative and place wellbeing at the heart of workforce management strategies.