London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

High-tech ways to keep employees happy

High-tech ways to keep employees happy

Companies offer gym deals and cycle schemes - but how do they know if these are what staff want?

Half-price cinema tickets, cycle to work schemes and gym passes have long been part of employee benefits programmes.

But with research showing 84% of millennials look to leave their jobs within the first two years, employers want to tailor their perks packages to their employees' needs.

Emerging technologies such as data analytics, chatbots, and wearables can help employers know which benefits resonate with employees.

And machine learning can monitor take-up and avoid wasting money on unwanted benefits.

"From an employer perspective, there is already a lot more emphasis on looking at data to see what benefits employees are using," says Jeanette Makings, head of financial education at merchant bank Close Brothers.

"This allows them to make better decisions, meaning they can tailor their benefits spend while improving employee engagement".

She says that for some companies "data analytics technology allows them to see who is taking up which offers, as well as what forms of communication are working best.

"This type of information is very valuable and could easily prompt a change in the company's overall benefits strategy."

For example, some companies have changed their gym membership programmes in response to analysis showing another local gym is more popular with their employees.

Online portals and apps have already transformed employee benefits provision over the last 10 years, but are now more sophisticated.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems "could help them to avoid wasting money on benefits their employees do not want, and to improve their communications, for example by identifying pockets of the workforce who need an extra nudge to get involved," says Ms Makings.

AI has been used to develop chatbots that can help employees to find information on subjects ranging from mental health to saving for retirement at any time.

"Employees can now use them to access services such as financial advice whenever they want - including at midnight when they are lying in bed," says Ms Makings.

AI is not the only tech being used to improve employee benefits provision, though.

A new generation of hi-tech benefits providers also offering innovative add-on services designed to cater to individual employees' needs.

Faith Howe, a director of talent at global communications agency FleishmanHillard, says: "One of the biggest changes over the last few years has been the breadth of choice of technology available".

One example is Wagestream, which allows employees to access their pay before pay day.

Peter Briffett, chief executive at the UK-based company, says Wagestream uses technology "to tackle the cashflow problems that come with being paid once a month".

"We know that lots of employees face financial stress as a result of this, with many being pushed into taking out high-interest lending.

"Our tech, which calculates how much people can withdraw by looking at how many hours they have worked, aims to prevent this issue."

It comes with a charge: employers pay £1 per employee per month and staff are charged a fixed fee of £1.75 each time they make a withdrawal.

Another example is Open Blend, a management performance tool provider that counts French fashion brand Lacoste among its clients.

It uses Microsoft's Power BI business analytics tool to provide businesses with information about their employees' wellbeing needs.

"Attrition is a huge problem for businesses," says Anna Rasmussen, founder of Open Blend.

"Our research indicates that 84% of millennials look to leave their jobs within the first two years.

"So live data of the kind we can provide because our system is updated each time an employee has a session with his or her manager is very valuable as it shows companies what their employees need to stay motivated and reach their full potential, in real-time."

Employers can even go a step beyond analysing data by tracking employees' movements.

This is where wearable technology comes in.

Health and life insurance provider Vitality, for example, claims its Active Rewards Apple Watch scheme, which is available in 13 countries including Australia and Germany, "helps more than a million members make the most of their health and wealth".

Users of the scheme can earn "rewards" such as discounts on their insurance premiums by tracking their activity with an Apple Watch.

And according to a study conducted by RAND Europe for Vitality last year, combining the two can really get people moving.

The study, which included more than 400,000 people in South Africa, the US, and the UK, found that participants using Vitality Active Rewards in conjunction with an Apple Watch to measure their performance did the equivalent of 4.8 extra days of activity per month.

That's an increase of 34%.

There are concerns about how employers could use wearable device data in the future, though.

"Personally I think monitoring how your staff sleep, for example, is a bit Big Brother," says Ms Rasmussen.

Human resources experts also warn against relying solely on tech for your employee benefits provision.

"Apps, for example, can increase engagement if used in the right way," Ms Howe said.

"But if you don't have a collaborative culture, apps alone won't solve your problems of uptake and engagement.

"At this stage, I think we need greater understanding of the technology coming through, as well as more practical examples to help us understand what works and what doesn't."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×