Going to work can be a slog, especially if your job is full of tedious tasks and pointless meetings. Obviously, work is necessary to earn an income, and if you get good job satisfaction it's a bonus! But what can make it more worthwhile are the extra perks¹ that your employer offers you as a reward for your loyalty² and commitment.

 

Employee benefits are commonplace these days. Traditionally, these have included a good pension and extra days off work. But when a job used to be for life, there wasn't much incentive³ to try and keep staff. Now millennials look to leave their jobs within the first two years, and when they are seeking a position, they want to know the benefits they'll get on top of their pay. These include half-price cinema tickets, cycle to work schemes and gym passes.

 

But these perks come at a cost to an employer, and now technology is being used to discover if and when they offer value for money. Writing for the BBC, Jessica Bown says "Emerging technologies such as data analytics, chatbots, and wearables can help employers know which benefits resonate with employees.” The idea is to avoid wasting money on things that don't get used and enable a company to tailor what it can offer to attract and retain the right staff.

 

As an example, at merchant bank, Close Brothers, AI has been used to develop chatbots that can help employees to find information on subjects ranging from mental health to saving for retirement⁴ at any time. And Microsoft has developed software to help businesses track their employee's wellbeing needs. Anna Rasmussen, founder⁵ of Open Blend, told the BBC "It shows companies what their employees need to stay motivated and reach their full potential in real-time." Insurance company Vitality⁶ offer wearable technology to track employees' movements. Staff can earn 'rewards' by having their activity tracked. A study found that by measuring participant's performance, they did the equivalent of 4.8 extra days of activity per month.

 

It seems that if used in the right way, technology can provide greater engagement between an employee and the company. That can lead to a happier, healthier and committed work force. But human resources experts warn against relying solely⁷ on tech for deciding on employee benefits provision. Greater understanding of new technology and how it's used is needed, they say.

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