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Cost and time pressures are the key barriers to offering much-needed digital benefits in SMEs – but there is a solution – and it’s already serving over 47,000 UK employees.
The results of Cloud8’s nationwide survey of HR professionals in the SME market are in. Our second nationwide survey of SMEs
got even bigger in 2022, taking on board the views of more than 150 HR professionals from UK companies employing 1-249
people, in industries ranging from pharma and telecoms, to energy, healthcare and the charity sector.
And the findings make interesting reading.
Firstly, why SMEs?
Because millions of people across the UK work in SME businesses. According to FSB, SMEs account for three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector. Yet these workers are still under-served when it comes to their employee benefits, largely due to the costs and complexity of implementing and running a benefits system.
Starting with some good news…
94 per cent of companies questioned in our survey are offering employee benefits, underlining the continued importance placed on workplace benefits by smaller companies. Interestingly, 61 per cent of companies in our survey offered a mix of core and voluntary benefits (funded by the employee), with 39 per cent offering core benefits only.
Historically we might have expected the proportion of companies offering only core benefits to have been close to 50 per cent. So, it’s particularly interesting to see this breakdown from the perspective of the corporate adviser. This is a really quick and easy way that advisers can add value when they switch on digital benefits for their clients, especially as a large proportion of our respondents are seeing their employees use benefits more.
…and the surprising news!
We were surprised to see that nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) of our surveyed companies manage their benefits fully in-house, dealing directly with providers and insurers.
Opportunities for advisors ahead.
When asked ‘Would you be interested in taking your employee benefits digital if it was something your advisor offered?’, only 11 per cent of our companies said ‘no’, strongly highlighting the scope for advisors to move beyond a traditional product and service offer, and open doors by leading with a value-add proposition to their clients.
In fact, 50 per cent of respondents said that they were already aware of systems in the marketplace which offer digital employee benefits solutions.
So, what’s holding SMEs back from making benefits digital?
Overwhelmingly, cost concerns. A massive 86 responses in our survey indicated that cost is the primary reason stopping them from taking benefits online. Other reasons given were time and the resources to set up and administer a digital system, the perceived complexity of moving online, and retaining the flexibility and independence over which benefits to offer staff.
This isn’t a surprise to us, but it’s also a false barrier. We’ve seen the cost of HR systems come down over the years. In 2022 HR teams are using good tech at a low cost – it’s an absolute no brainer for them. We created Beam at Work to give the same affordability and simplicity to HR teams – but for benefits.
This is such a huge opportunity for the corporate adviser and SMEs. HR professionals in SMEs are ready to implement a digital platform, but they’re telling us it must be conscious of budget, time and resource constraints. That platform is already here and it’s tried and tested. It’s Beam at Work, it’s already being used by over 47,000 employees across the UK – and the best bit is that it can be introduced in just half a day and for around a couple of thousands of pounds.
To read the full 2022 survey report, including HR professionals’ priorities in the employee benefits space, the impact of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis on benefits, and why SMEs are looking for a switch to digital benefits in 2023, visit teamcloud8.co.uk/2022insights.
“Beam at Work from Cloud8 has created a new and valuable revenue stream for us as employee benefit consultants – both the platform and the Bridge panel products. It’s helped us to tap into the SME market providing our clients with much needed solutions for their employees that they wouldn’t have traditionally been able to offer, it’s a win-win.” Chris Jenkinson – Lloyd & Co. Employee Benefits.