Drawing on 3,000+ interviews with employers and workers around the globe, Benifex’s new world analysis report, Propel Reward and Advantages, explores how main organisations are transferring quicker and imagining extra to drive measurable worth and influence in reward and advantages.
It asks the massive questions – is elevated funding in advantages paying off? What do workers really need from their advantages? Ought to we be excited or terrified by AI in HR?
One of many key findings was the large bounce within the variety of organisations rolling out advantages platforms…
Organisations are digitally remodeling advantages
Over the previous yr, there’s been an enormous bounce within the variety of organisations rolling out advantages platforms. Practically a 3rd (32%) of employers at the moment are utilizing a single, unified platform to handle their advantages, and one other 14% are juggling a number of platforms throughout completely different areas. That’s an enormous leap from final yr.
Most of the 78% of organisations that had been pondering about investing in a platform final yr have gone forward and made it occur. And with over half (51%) of employers nonetheless contemplating making the transfer, it seems to be like this development is barely going to choose up pace by the remainder of 2025 and into 2026.
So, what’s behind the massive shift in direction of advantages platforms? The analysis factors to a mixture of causes, however a number of stand out. For starters, corporations need to make it simpler for workers to truly use and perceive their advantages – no extra digging by complicated paperwork or clunky methods.
There’s additionally an enormous push to spice up engagement throughout the board, ensuring everybody’s getting essentially the most out of what’s on provide. On prime of that, HR groups are loving the time financial savings from smoother processes and fewer admin. And let’s not overlook the ability of information – platforms are giving employers significantly better visibility into how advantages are getting used, what they’re costing, and the place there’s room to enhance.
Managing complexity in world corporations
As you’d anticipate, use of advantages platforms is greater amongst employers with a global workforce (50% of organisations), versus these with a workforce solely within the UK (33%).
International employers level to the deployment of a single platform to handle your entire worker expertise as the simplest approach to sort out the challenges of managing and interesting a global workforce.
Over half (59%) of HR and reward professionals in world corporations imagine that implementing a single, scalable platform for rewards, advantages, recognition and wellbeing is vital to overcoming complexity. Linked to this, 51% emphasise the significance of integrating HR methods with an worker advantages platform.
As Samantha Sergent, Director of Worldwide Advantages at Microsoft, highlights, “Utilizing know-how is actually serving to us ship on these ‘moments that matter’. We had been actually desirous about levelling up the worker expertise and serving to our workers perceive what their profit applications are, why we’re providing them, and the way these advantages match inside the entire deal we’re providing workers.
“We’re capable of showcase advantages in a manner that we’ve by no means achieved earlier than. ‘Simply go to the platform to study your advantages. You’ll be able to click on out to different areas and now we have all of the apps in a single spot. We even have hyperlinks to different areas. It’s essential enroll or change? Cool, go there shortly.’ It’s all in that one view,” Sergent explains. “After which we’re utilizing the articles and the house feed to create some pleasure. Staff can see every little thing that they won’t have recognized they’d, in addition to their profit assertion.”
Know-how is driving strategic outcomes
The analysis makes one factor fairly clear: organisations which have already rolled out a advantages platform are seeing some actual wins. They’re significantly better at protecting monitor of what they’re spending on advantages – and, extra importantly, they’re seeing the payoff. Assume happier, more healthy workers, stronger engagement, and a noticeable increase with regards to attracting and protecting nice expertise.
HR and reward professionals utilizing a platform additionally say they’re not as slowed down by the standard complications – like not having sufficient information, struggling to tailor advantages to particular person wants, or feeling like their advantages don’t fairly match up with firm values. They’re additionally extra upbeat about utilizing AI in HR and really feel extra assured that their advantages technique can sustain with rising expectations round worker expertise.
Ross Spearman, Chief Expertise Officer at Benifex says: “Advantages platforms was once about bringing a restricted set of advantages into one place, primarily serving to workers take motion, however provided that they already knew what to do. That’s why, for over a decade, a lot vitality went into training and engagement. In lots of instances, these platforms merely existed to streamline administration.”
“However with native AI, platforms are evolving to be outcome-driven, for each workers and employers,” Spearman provides. “Take an worker with a toothache. Beforehand, they’d have to know they must declare on dental insurance coverage or use a money allowance of their non-public medical plan. The platform’s function was to facilitate a call already made. Now, that very same worker can merely state the end result they need, to repair their toothache, and the platform will analyse the insurance policies, floor related choices, and provide a personalised advice with clear rationale. It shifts the main target from motion facilitation to consequence optimisation.”
From administration to influence: The subsequent period of advantages know-how
The shift in direction of platform-driven advantages isn’t only a digital improve – it’s a strategic evolution. As this analysis reveals, organisations investing in smarter methods are already seeing tangible returns, from improved worker engagement to sharper decision-making and stronger alignment with enterprise targets.
With platforms changing into extra clever and outcome-focused, the chance is evident: to maneuver past administration and ship advantages that genuinely matter. Whether or not you’re rethinking your present method or simply beginning out, Propel Reward and Advantages presents sensible steerage and daring pondering to assist HR and reward leaders keep forward of the curve – and design experiences that actually resonate.
Get your copy of the report right here.
Benifex is the proud Wellbeing Associate of Tradition Pioneers – a marketing campaign to each assist organisations driving impactful tradition change, and commend those that are main ahead and difficult the established order at work.
