A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for enterprise technology leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the CIOApplications Editorial Board.
Whether it’s Gen Z’ers working alongside Baby Boomers, a mix of nationalities, ethnicities, and genders in the boardroom, or an increasing number of LGBTQ+ employees being vocal about their identities, today’s workforce is markedly diverse. This brings a number of opportunities for employers, especially when it comes to the exchange of ideas and innovation, but challenges remain in the area of employee benefits.
Standard, cookie-cutter employee benefits just don’t cut it anymore for a workforce with unique needs and wants. How will retirement planning appeal to fresh graduates? Generous paid maternity leave may be appreciated by pregnant women, but what about aligning this with adoption leave to achieve true equality? Even when it comes to the universally-desired private medical insurance plan, isn’t it possible that employees prefer different benefits?
In the context of the ‘Great Resignation’ and talent crisis facing employers, these questions are more relevant than ever, and employers must adapt their approach to stay competitive. One way to do so is by embracing flexible or flex benefits that help employees personalize their employee benefits.
Put simply, flex benefits allow employers to present their employees with an array of benefit options like medical insurance, dental insurance, health screening, gym membership, pension plan, childcare vouchers, annual leave, and a lot more.
The employee in question can then choose the benefits that appeal to them, and may also be able to enhance their benefits with an additional cost - a win-win for both parties!
The future is flex: Pacific Prime’s flex benefits technology and one-of-a-kind administration
If we consider the world’s largest employee benefits market - the United States - as an example, there’s a clear trend towards employers offering flex benefits, and I firmly believe that other regions are set to follow. It’s why Pacific Prime has added full flex and light flex employee benefits solutions to adapt to different clients’ needs. This largely involved our acquisition of insurtech CXA’s brokerage arms in February 2021 and incorporation of their industry-leading flex benefits technology into our suite of offerings.
CXA’s integrated flex benefits and wellness platform allows employers to gain a holistic understanding of their employees’ health and wellness, and gives employees personalized recommendations about their benefits selections. As everything is on a single, centralized platform, employees can easily purchase additional items from CXA’s marketplace, view their benefits, submit claims, and keep track of claims status.
Pacific Prime makes the technology available to clients and helps with the design, management, and administration of flex benefits
Pacific Prime, not only makes the technology available to clients, but also helps with the design, management, and administration of flex benefits. Our strengths have always been in our ‘Broker Framework’ or three-step process consisting of consulting, policy broking, and plan administration, which emphasizes the needs of clients and ensures the best possible solutions in a systematic, consistent, and personalized manner.
More than an employee benefits brokerage
Going beyond the role of a traditional employee benefits brokerage, Pacific Prime ensures that we remain at the forefront of changes in the world of work and employee benefits trends, including flex benefits. We make these insights public via our annual Global Employee Benefits Trends report and use them to develop our capabilities, which helps HR teams of all sizes and industries worldwide unlock the potential of their people.
