When an online platform is simple and user-friendly, and makes it easy for people to manage their needs, users are more likely to return and experience higher rates of satisfaction. Plenty of apps and platforms serve as great examples of this: think the Google suite for work and communication, or Uber for transportation and food delivery.
But with so many areas of our lives simplified through easy-to-use apps, why are employee benefits platforms still so antiquated? Even the most seemingly modern, tech-forward companies tend to rely on a series of benefits platforms that are clunky and disjointed, and most employees have several different logins for their payroll, health benefits, or retirement accounts.
One solution to this problem is to offer an all-inclusive benefits program with a single login that connects benefits, wealth, wellbeing, and payroll. This is the mission of Alight, a company that offers a streamlined, intuitive benefits platform designed to save businesses time and money, give employees better options, and help companies retain valued staff members. Alight is setting out to transform workplaces by offering companies the consumer technology they’re familiar with in order to tap into their employees’ specific needs and the resources to help employees manage their assets and personal health.
Pushing beyond traditional benefits programs
Most benefits programs are complicated, and studies show that employees have a hard time navigating their health insurance plans. The way most benefits programs are set up today, employees get a fragmented system that lacks a holistic view of their financial and health needs.
Additionally, many plans overwhelm — offering many choices, rather than a select few that truly reflect the needs of employees. Almost anyone who’s enrolled in an employer-provided benefits program has experienced decision fatigue, a phenomenon that happens when our ability to make decisions worsens with every additional decision we’re required to make. After a long day of making important decisions at work, the last thing employees want to be faced with is a benefits program that offers hundreds of complicated options. When employees are freed from making an overwhelming number of decisions about benefits, they’ll feel more confident in their choices, and in turn, use the benefits offered to them and experience healthier outcomes.
“We’re providing the right set of information across payroll, health, and wellness into one concrete, personalized platform, so that you as an employee, whether you make $40,000 a year or $100,000 a year, can make the right trade-offs and decisions,” Alight CEO Stephan Scholl said in an interview with the Brunswick Review. “An employee does not want to go through 15 different systems to make 15 different decisions. They want to go to one place. They want it to be personalized. They want you to know who they are.”
What a modern, customized platform looks like
Alight’s “hyper-personalized” company-wide platform can handle health benefits, retirement benefits, and payroll. For example, Alight Worklife’s cloud-based platform can send a text to schedule PTO or a quick email about 401(k) investments. By automating processes and offering more tailored health insurance options, employers can cut down on employee frustration and effectively meet the needs of their workforce.
“We reinvented this whole engagement platform where we can go out and use these datasets around payroll and deductions. We have the ability to understand your 10-, 20-year history of benefits, the choices you’ve made. We can understand your personal situation, your claims data,” Scholl told the Brunswick Review. “Are you healthy? Are you not? Are you financially secure?”
The company uses analytics and AI insights to interpret employee data and offers a reporting dashboard that works in real-time, providing leadership with valuable insights on their staff. Having access to this data makes it easier for companies to meet their employees’ needs, eliminate options that don’t serve employees, and increase employee wellbeing and satisfaction, which makes Alight an investment in a company’s most valuable asset — their workforce.
How an employee-first platform can retain talent
Adopting a modern and intuitive benefits platform is a win-win for everyone. Employers can offer fewer, better plans, and employees can save time and choose health care and retirement plans that are tailored to their needs.
Today’s employees are prioritizing their own interests, especially when it comes to their mental, physical, and financial wellbeing. The days of company loyalty being the sole reason for staying at a job may be gone. But the upside is that companies who listen to what their employees need and offer real solutions have a better chance of retaining a happy, productive workforce.
As Scholl has said, “Our objective as a company is simple: ensure that every employee stays healthy, is financially secure, and has the confidence and the know-how to be able to make decisions in those two categories.”
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