Employee Benefits Trends for 2023: The future of benefits

Which employee benefit schemes will trend in 2023?

According to the Reward Management Survey by CIPD, the most popular employee benefits currently offered by employers are:

1. Flexible working (offered by 85% of employers)
2. Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) (76%)
3. Free eye tests/eyecare vouchers (63%)
4. A workplace pension with a minimum of 6% employer contribution (62%)
5. Death in service support/life assurance (61%)

How will this change in 2023?

We’ve certainly seen a rise in the popularity of flexible working, while in our own experience the EAP has always been one of the most popular benefits offered by employers, and we expect this to remain the same.

Schemes like Employee Discounts will grow even further in popularity as they help employees save on everyday essentials including the weekly/monthly shop.

Other benefits like MotorSave, a scheme that helps employees save up to 10% on car maintenance, will prove popular too in helping employees manage regular costs.

Commuting Loans, the Bike to Work Scheme and the Car Benefit scheme are likely to be adopted by employers even further as schemes like these help employees with their commute but also help support their green priorities too.

Health and wellbeing benefits like Dental Cover, PMI, Health Cash Plan and Eyecare Vouchers will prove to be increasingly popular in 2023 with employers and employees as employee health and wellbeing comes increasingly under the spotlight.

What our clients are saying about employee benefits trends in 2023

At Access, supplying over 2,000 organisations internationally with employee benefits, we’ve picked up a number of emerging trends from our clients of all shapes, sizes and industries.

We’ve found bespoke branding around benefits to be emerging as a key trend as employers look to put their stamp on their employee benefits.

Bespoke branding allows employers to create a brand that speaks uniquely to their employees where a corporate customer-facing brand might not be appropriate.

Often employers want something more fun and free-flowing to improve employee engagement.

Our client Blenheim & Pye even included in their platform hand-drawn characters representing their diverse workforce, all produced by ourselves at Access, to really engage with employees.

We’ve also found that employers are increasingly looking to support staff with the cost of living through their benefits and we expect this to continue at pace in 2023.

Employers will increasingly utilise employee discounts, more empathetic employee benefits communications and employee benefits platforms as company intranets to support staff with rising costs in 2023.

Supporting employees with their financial wellbeing in general has appeared as an emerging trend among the organisations we work with who are looking to make the most of things like salary sacrifice to help employees save and manage their finances.

Employee benefits technology trends in 2023

The employee benefits technology trends we believe will emerge in 2023 include:

• Flexible benefits
• Integration with wider HR systems
• Easily accessible technology for remote employees
• More personalised employee benefits experiences with technology

We see 2023 as a year that will see even more organisations adopt Flexible Benefits technology as they look to allow employees more flexibility and choice over their benefits.

Flexible Benefits allow employers to offer benefits to their staff that make a real difference, helping win and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive labour market.

Integration with wider HR processes will become more and more expected over the coming years as technology advances and HR teams look to streamline processes and reduce admin, to allow time to focus on the key strategic HR goals and objectives.

Employers will expect their employee benefits platform to seamlessly link and share information with their wider HR technology to save valuable hours and allow HR to win back time and the freedom to do more.

We also anticipate easily accessible technology, particularly for remote workers, to be a key employee benefits trends and to be largely expected of employers in 2023 and beyond by employees looking to access and manage their employee benefits wherever, whenever and on whichever device they choose.

This could mean apps, mobile optimised platforms and even integration with wider systems including annual leave booking and payslip reporting could be even more crucial in 2023, particularly for larger enterprises.

And finally, a benefits trend we believe will emerge even further in 2023 is the demand from employees for a more personalised employee experience with their benefits.

Employers are expected more and more to provide a benefits package that is suitable for as many employees as possible. This is where things like flexible benefits technology can help, as well as offering a wider and more accessible range of benefits to suit all demographics.

Emerging employee reward and recognition trends

In terms of reward, we see the following employee reward trends emerging through 2023:

• Financial bonuses in response to the rising cost of living
• A rise in popularity for peer-to-peer recognition tech
• An increased use of digital rewards and recognition

Reward will tie in crucially with the rising cost of living through 2023, and we expect to see more financial bonuses and monetary rewards handed out through the year.

Conversely, with the recession we may also see non-monetary rewards gain in popularity too as businesses struggle to hand out financial bonuses during difficult financial times, and we see reward tech as crucial to this.

Peer-to-peer recognition technology will be crucial in keeping remote and dispersed teams integrated as remote and hybrid working look set to stay.

A key trend for employees is an increased demand for hybrid and flexible working, which have proven hugely valuable for employees in recent years.

Alongside this, employers must provide staff the right reward and recognition technology to suitably reward and recognise each other both personally and professionally to stay connected.

This means digital rewards and recognition will likely gain in popularity through 2023, also tying in with employee expectations around user experience, the digital age and environmental goals too.

For example, peer-to-peer ecards could replace physical reward and recognition cards for both personal and professional occasions, be it a gift card for a well done or thank you or even Christmas cards or recognition of Diwali or Eid, for example.

So, what should you do next?

How should you interpret these employee benefits trends?

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from what’s to come in 2023 is that getting reward and benefits right will be crucial in tackling some of HR’s biggest priorities going forward.

The right employee benefits package can be hugely valuable on top of your overall pay and compensation package for employees which will be hugely important through the recession and the rising cost of living.

So, can you offer the employee benefits mentioned here to your employees? What about flexible benefits? What benefit schemes can you provide that can help your business follow these emerging benefits trends?

For more information, browse our range of employee benefit schemes or take a look at what our flexible benefits technology can do to help your business deliver the right benefits to your employees easily and effectively.