Employers say ‘employee experience’ is increasingly important

March 2019

At a glance

Half of employers are planning to develop an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) to support overall employee experience because it impacts engagement, recruitment and retention
72% of international employers have a single benefits strategy, or are working towards one
77% of employers benchmark benefits with peers

The 2019 Aon Benefits & Trends survey highlights that having an employer value proposition (EVP) is gaining in importance to organisations. The report also shows that 51% of employers plan to develop their ‘employee experience’, or EVP - a significant increase on the 16% of last year.

Overwhelmingly, employers say that an EVP has a positive impact on employee engagement, retention and recruitment, with 65%, 63% and 70% agreeing respectively.

Almost a quarter of employers (24.5%) currently have an EVP in place, yet surprisingly almost a third of those do not communicate it to employees.

Aon’s Benefits and Trends Survey, now in its ninth year, is formed from the responses of over 200 employers of all sizes, from less than 100 employees to many thousands, who work across a broad range of sectors, with 74% of them working internationally. This year, a number of new questions were introduced, including those about an EVP, as well as how employers approach benefits strategy on a global basis.

The survey showed that almost three-quarters of respondents have employees in more than one country; it is striking that 72% of them have a single benefits strategy or are working towards one. However, the use of technology to deliver benefits seems to be lagging behind, as only 13.5% say they have a single global benefits platform. Over a quarter (26%) are working towards this objective, but 60% have no plans to do so.

Richard Morgan, principal at Aon, said:

“Our experience during 2018 was that many organisations have become more joined up in designing and managing their benefits in the context of an overall EVP. For example, wellbeing, and particularly mental health, are key to the overall employee experience for many organisations, so it’s important to align benefits to support mental health strategies as well as to communicate them effectively to employees. When it comes to communications, it is likely that employers don’t feel this is successful. They say the biggest challenge they have with benefits is communication, yet most have an annual communications budget of less than £5k.”

Richard Morgan continued:

“Fascinating too, is that 77% of the survey respondents benchmark benefits with their peers. On top of this, there’s also a great deal of employer interest in benchmarking their whole approach and strategy through Aon’s Benefits Score, which takes into account the overall business, people and communication strategies alongside employee demographics analysis.

“Employers often use internal and external pay and benefits benchmarking as a core part of their strategy to help decision making. However, this is an important part of an EVP which employers are seeing as increasingly effective to meet the unique needs of both the business and its employees."

For more information download the 2019 Benefits and Trends Survey or to discuss any of the issues outlined in this article, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected] or calling us on 0344 573 0033.