Why it’s time to centralise employee benefits, wellbeing and reward

From wellbeing to reward, the tools and platforms we use to support our people have multiplied significantly over the last decade.

But with that growth has come increased complexity that is costing employers more than they realise.

Problem with fragmentation

Today’s employees are expected to navigate a maze of apps, online portals, and platforms just to access the support or information they need.

One app for mental health, another for pensions, a third for recognition, and yet another for booking annual leave – or even just reading the sickness policy.

Each with its own login, interface, and learning curve.It’s no wonder employees are overwhelmed.

According to a recent survey, more than half of workers (53%) waste up to two hours a day just trying to find information they need to do their jobs or nearly £13,000 of salary per employee – lost to inefficiency.

In other words, disjointed experiences have a financial cost, as well as adding to employees’ mental load.

Searching for answers shouldn’t be this hard

When employees don’t know where to go for help, they often give up, or worse, make poor decisions based on incomplete information.

Whether it’s trying to understand their benefits, find a policy, or access wellbeing support, the lack of a single source of truth creates friction at every turn.

Among the top five reasons for not choosing a benefit, not understanding it ranks just as highly as not being able to afford it.

Employees are finding it increasingly challenging to find, understand and appreciate what’s on offer and as a result, 80% of employees don’t fully make use of their benefits.

When it comes to wellbeing, the figures are even more worrying.

More than half of employees say they aren’t aware of what support their employer offers. Just 15% of employees in the US and the UK report being aware of employer-sponsored stress-management programs.

Benifex’s global research found that 38% of employees want more support in making better or more informed benefits choices.

The hidden cost of complexity

This isn’t just a productivity issue – it’s a wellbeing issue too.

When employees are stressed, confused, or frustrated by the systems meant to support them, it undermines their trust in the organisation.

It sends a message that their time, and their wellbeing, isn’t valued.

When an employee is in crisis or under strain, it shouldn’t be difficult to find the benefit or wellbeing support than can help them.

A McKinsey study found that employees spend 1.8 hours every day (nearly 20% of their working week), searching for information.

That’s time that could be spent doing meaningful work, not chasing answers or searching across multiple internal systems.

The case for a centralised hub

The solution is simple: bring everything together in one place.

All your connected experiences across reward, benefits and wellbeing.

One app, one online location, one login. An easy-to-use repository for everything within the employee value proposition (EVP).

A centralised platform for benefits, wellbeing, and reward doesn’t just make life easier for employees – it makes business sense.

It reduces wasted time, improves engagement, and ensures that the support you’ve invested in is being used.

Employee benefit spend has now reached over 20% of global payroll (in my experience the figure is more like 24-26%).

Ensuring what we are investing in is known, understood and appreciated is a large part of ensuring this investment in safe and generates returns.

David Wood, reward and analytics manager at Womble Bond Dickinson said: “We’ve had a flexible benefits platform in place in the business for some time. But we wanted to take things to the next level.

“We wanted to create a platform that brought all of our benefit offering together. And that’s not just the flexible benefits that people can access through a platform like this – it’s everything we offer. We wanted to create a space where everything could be accessed in one place.”

A centralised hub also empowers employees to take control of their own experience.

When they can access everything they need quickly, easily, and without friction, they’re more likely to engage with their benefits, use wellbeing tools proactively, and feel recognised for their contributions.

Clarity is currency

In today’s fast-moving world of work, clarity is a necessity.

Dan Lawyer, chief product officer at Lucid Software said: “Workers are spending too much time searching for basic information needed to do their job, which is crippling productivity and making it more difficult to move projects forward.

“We owe it to our people and the significant investments we are making in benefits and wellbeing to do better.

“We shouldn’t be making employees jump through hoops to access the support they need. This should be a frictionless experience; one place to go, one platform, one login, one experience. Simplifying the experience amplifies the impact.”