Employees are paying out-of-pocket for the benefits they're not getting at work

Over the last few years, organizations have boasted their efforts to invest in broader, more inclusive benefits. So why are employees still looking for — and even paying for — benefits elsewhere? 

Fifty-eight percent of employees have paid out-of-pocket for tools or services they wish their employer provided, according to a new survey from HR employee software provider Inclusively, with the majority seeking more productivity tools and mental health support. Benefit leaders are clearly still at a loss when it comes to understanding what their workforce needs, and risk alienating and even losing talent to more proactive organizations. 

"There's clearly a misalignment in what organizations are offering and what people are after," says Charlotte Dales, CEO and co-founder of Inclusively. "It's up to leaders to figure out what people are looking for, what are the problems they're trying to solve, and then identify what's driving these gaps." 

Read more: Organizations are missing the mark on workplace perks

Employees are nearly twice as likely to remain loyal to their employer if they're satisfied with their benefits compared to those who aren't, according to recent data from insurance provider Metlife. Employees often don't even know what their companies offer, and benefit leaders aren't leveraging the proper tools to figure out where those communication gaps exist. 

"Companies are paying a lot of money for things that are going under-utilized," Dales says. "And if these expensive benefits are not serving their purpose, it's going to negatively impact the very reason they were invested in, which is usually productivity and retention." 

Staying on top of employees' benefit needs

Historically, organizations have relied on internal surveys and feedback forms to gauge what employees want. While that process has led to positive change in the past, Dales urges benefit leaders to rethink their approach to data collection and use tools that gather information on how employees' are engaging with their benefits every single day, not just when they're asked. For example, instead of simply staying on top of which benefits employees are enrolling in the most, there are tools that can highlight the keywords employees are searching for in their benefit portals. That way they know whether it's an accessibility problem or a lack of communication. 

Read more: How micromanaging can negatively impact your benefit strategy

"Leaders look at utilization data and then they look at employee engagement surveys and there's nothing really connecting the two of those things together," Dales says. "If you can capture daily interactions across different tools and aggregate those insights into a more cohesive picture, what employees want becomes easier to understand." 

Bridging the benefit gap is not only the key to retaining the current workforce — it will play a critical role in recruiting younger talent that has already expressed their expectations when it comes to receiving better, more holistic support from their workplaces.  

"Your ability to be able to personalize your employee experience is incredibly important if you intend to future proof yourself and meet incoming demands," Dales says. "Companies that get ahead of that now are going to have a significant competitive advantage on talent attraction versus companies that don't."