Benefits in 2025 

Total Rewards is not rewarding unless it includes a compelling set of benefits. Organizations have always looked at benefits as a balancer to the compensation offered. Post pandemic, benefits and well-being have taken a different dimension and have been looked at from a perspective of VOI (value of investment). With Gen Y and Gen Z dominating the workforce and having different life stage expectations personalization has become inevitable. Everything cannot be personalized and some need to be uniform and standard. The standardization is essential to ensure life and health contingencies are not compromised. Hence organizations need to get a perfect balance between personalization and standardization. 

Not just this, there is also an alignment required with statutory requirements, the employer value proposition and corporate brand.

There can be many equations on the balancing line when it come to deciding the right benefits. Some of them include the following:

The focus for employee benefits therefore should be

1. Benefits for all (Inclusive, Equitable and Diverse)
2. Benefits for a fast-changing world (Suit all generations and expectations)
3. Benefits for a healthier society (sustainability focused)
4. Benefits that are affordable and aligning with the Organization’s value proposition

In order to design the right set of benefits, Organizations need:

1. Benchmarking – While the organization may be offering a set of benefits, it will be important to benchmark benefits to understand the latest prevalent benefits in market, what the organizations in the comparator basket are offering, what are some of the new norms and what is innovative. 
2. Best Practices – Traditionally organizations are known to carry certain value. It is important that benefits that are aligned with these values are sustained and made visible. There can also be additional practices in the market which are the best practices and creating the better employment experience. These best practices need to be studied as well.
3. Build – They key step after benchmarking and studying best practices is to design or build your own set of benefits. Benefits need to be tailor made for each organization based on its demographics, brand, industry and it should align with the larger purpose of the organization. 

The total rewards pyramid is incomplete without the right set of benefits. Today’s workforce expect a family friendly workplace that enables employees to have their “Me-time” and “office-time” demarked.

What is key in benefits is also the benefits communication to employees. Communication on benefits should provide enough information to make informed benefit decisions, help find answers to questions that employees have on benefits packages and advantages of these programs.

Year 2025 will be a year of benefits where most organizations will look at redefining / revamping their benefits offerings. While there are many including leave, wellness, flexibility, pet care etc.. that can be relooked – the key focus should be the below categories: