Power engagement through intelligent tech

Personalization, flexibility and choice aren’t just aspirations for modern benefits programs — they’re expectations. But many organizations are concerned they’re either compounding complexity by introducing more benefits, or creating an admin burden they can’t support. Because to deliver personalized experiences at scale, you need the right technology in place.

You can’t solve today’s employee experience challenges with yesterday’s infrastructure. Especially when the old ways — spreadsheets, emails, disconnected systems — are already stretched. Systems need to be intelligent, adaptive, and designed around how people actually live and work.

But global technology isn’t just about managing benefits; it also needs to engage, educate, and empower people. When done right, this becomes the foundation for unlocking real, measurable value.

1. Engage: Make information accessible

Employees are navigating complex decisions about health, finances, and family. In those moments, they don’t want a list of 50 benefits — they want clarity. The experience has to meet them where they are: accessible 24/7, in their language, in formats they can easily digest.

That’s where search and discovery matter most. When platforms are intuitive, self-service, and responsive, they reduce questions and allow employees to get to the desired outcome faster. Employees don’t need to call HR to ask what their medical plan includes. They can ask the platform, get an answer, and move forward with confidence.

And for global workforces, this isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential. In markets with fewer employees and no dedicated reward team, technology can be the difference between feeling supported and feeling forgotten.

2. Educate: Surface the right insight at the right time

One of the biggest barriers to value? People don’t understand what’s available to them. Benefit information is often buried in dense policy documents — the kind no one reads until they’re in an urgent situation.

Technology should surface relevant content in the moment it’s needed. A parent trying to access healthcare support shouldn’t be digging through 100 pages of policy documents, they should be guided to the right options with context and clarity.

Often the reason employees aren’t sure of benefits value is they don’t understand the breadth of coverage. There might be proactive remedies buried in a plan — like early access pathways — but they’re forgotten after implementation. We have to change that.

Education must be ongoing, bite-sized, and intuitive. That’s where AI helps most — transforming static documents into conversational tools and real-time guidance.

3. Empower: Let people tailor the experience

The more flexibility and choice you can offer, the more likely benefits will feel valuable. But this isn’t about offering everything to everyone. It’s about enabling employees to get the most from what matters to them right now.

We’ve seen this work in practice — we have a customer in Singapore who allowed employees to use a benefits allowance to choose the best option for their personal circumstances. New parents put more toward childcare and family coverage. Others invested in wellbeing or savings. That autonomy created deeper value without increasing spend.

People don’t always assess value in the same way. A benefit that costs £20 could be life-enhancing for one person, irrelevant to another. The job of technology is to let people make the experience their own.

And when platforms are designed to activate that flexibility, through smart configuration, nudging, and personalization, they transform how employees engage with their benefits.

Great technology doesn’t just deliver benefits. It removes barriers, drives better decisions, makes employees feel more confident — all at scale. Ultimately, this creates better outcomes for employees, and for the business.

Read all expert takeaways from the Benifex Forum here.