The COVID-19 crisis has drastically changed how we work and altered the relationship between employers and employees. Workers now expect their employers to view them as individual human beings and provide benefits that support them on a personal level.
The pandemic has forced employers to embrace flexibility — if they didn’t offer remote work and wellness benefits, or if they didn’t allow employees to adjust their working hours based on their responsibilities at home — both parties wouldn’t have survived. But now that employees have experienced a more flexible and people-first work environment, they may have difficulty transitioning back to the way things were before. A one-size-fits-all approach will no longer cut it, and that’s where personalization comes in.
Read More:
For HR teams, this is the next phase of the employee experience. Previously, standardization streamlined workflows for HR departments in ways that eliminated inefficiencies and enabled mass application. For the most part, working hours were the same for everyone and each employee received the same blanket benefit offerings and all were tied to the physical office.
Benefits and experiences weren’t based on the employee as an individual, but rather subsets of the organization. People were segmented into broad groups based on assumptions around the needs of varying age groups, employees with different levels of work experience, job titles and so on. By providing these options, employers were assuming they covered what employees needed, but that wasn’t always the case. So while standardization has brought the HR industry to where it is today, customization and personalization is how HR will evolve now and in the future.
Read More:
“The Human Capital profession is evolving to best serve organizations by best serving the workforce,” says Dr. Solange Charas, a human capital expert and adjunct professor at Columbia University and the University of Southern California. “Organizations that aren’t actively embracing an employee-centric business model will soon find that their competitive advantage will erode, along with a diminished employer brand and sub-optimal efficiencies.”
One of the easier ways for HR teams to tailor the employee experience is by offering on-demand pay as part of a financial wellness benefit. Each employee has their own unique and individual circumstances outside of work. For instance, one employee might be hit with a large financial expense like a home repair, medical care or an emergency the week or day before payday.
Read More:
“The shift from standardization to equitable personalization is complex but necessary to create an environment where the workforce can thrive and the organization can achieve their stakeholder-based goals,” Dr. Charas says.
Employers can further personalize the experience by incorporating a financial education offering. These could be courses, tools and articles that serve as guides to help workers make more informed decisions to improve their personal finances. With a variety of financial education resources, employees have the choice to learn what best helps them achieve financial wellness.
Read More:
With an on-demand pay solution, employees are able to access their paycheck ahead of payday. It’s a win-win for all stakeholders. From the employer’s perspective, there are no hidden fees or paperwork, the solution can be easily integrated into existing payroll processes and they’re actively showing employees that their wellbeing matters. As a result, the employee is able to bypass the bottleneck that is the two-week pay-cycle, avoid high-interest loans and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with increased financial flexibility.
The next phase is an opportunity for employers to “take into account who we are and what our intent is,” says James Norwood, chief marketing and strategy officer at isolved. “The time is here that employees have those same expectations for accessing benefits and pay. To keep up, employers must offer a flexible employee experience that allows for a more guided, real-time path to benefit enrollment and pay accessibility.”
Read More:
Personalization in our everyday lives isn’t new. If e-commerce sites and social media news feeds are providing custom recommendations to us, it’s only natural that the same expectation extends to our work life. Now is an opportunity for employers to get ahead and help address the overall wellness of their employees.
