New benefits technology not on employers’ horizon

Employers appear to be shunning the introduction of new technology for their benefits provision, according to research.

Only a small minority (less than 10%) of those companies who do not yet use technology to administer benefits said they were planning to introduce new technology within the next year.

A further 4% said they planned to do so in the future.

However nearly half (47%) said they had no plans to do so while a similar number were not sure.

They were questioned as part of the fourth JLT 250 Club which periodically surveys 250 companies with at least 500 full-time employees.

The study did reveal that almost two thirds (60%) of these firms were already using technology to administer their benefits.

Of this group, three-quarters (78%) believe it was essential or important for benefit platforms to work in conjunction with other systems, such as payroll software.

With the introduction of real time information looming, this figure may be set to increase further.

More than half (55%) use their system for the full benefits package, with around a third doing so for just flexible benefits.

A third also felt it was either important or essential that employees were able to access details of their benefits package through smartphones, while more than 80% felt it was important or essential to be able to use the system to communicate to employees.