BENEFITS & COMPENSATION INTERNATIONAL TOTAL REMUNERATION AND PENSION INVESTMENT

Transcription

1 BENEFITS & COMPENSATION INTERNATIONAL TOTAL REMUNERATION AND PENSION INVESTMENT

2 Indonesia: Using Benefits Effectively Lilis Halim Consulting Director Towers Watson Jakarta A Key to Competitive Advantage South East Asia s largest market, Indonesia, is preparing for the spotlight. In the past, it has been overshadowed by its giant neighbours India and China but, bolstered by positive growth in recent years, it is now enjoying a new focus placed on it by investors. Its low cost of living and growing middle class make it a natural target for organizations wishing to expand. However, the country has felt some growing pains including economic fluctuations, an unpredictable regulatory environment, a bureaucracy that slows business activity and a talent shortage. This is of particular concern to employers in this market, and for good reason. Workers show a strong inclination to change jobs as the opportunity arises, unsurprising in such a rapidly growing economy. Further, even for those in work, it s not all good news: my firm s data 1 has shown that about one in six employees in Indonesia are disengaged. This signifies a major challenge for employers, who will have to face the hidden costs of increased turnover and disengagement lost time, absenteeism, low morale, decreased productivity, and so on. Indonesian employers are looking for a way to win the war for talent, without taking too much of a hit to their bottom line. My firm s recent research has shed fresh light on these issues, highlighting some of the gaps that may be responsible for the challenges employees are facing. There is a significant gap in perceptions between the employer s and the employee s view of the value of their total rewards which means that much of the spending on these programmes represents a lost investment, or at least one with a very low return on investment (ROI). The key for employers will be to take another look at the programmes that they offer, their design, and how they are communicated and administered, to ensure that they are optimizing their benefits package and expenditure. TODAY S EMPLOYMENT ENVIRONMENT According to my firm s -13 Global Talent Management and Rewards Study, Indonesian employers struggle more with attraction and retention than do their global counterparts, particularly for critical-skill and highpotential employees (see TABLE 1 below). In addition, attrition rates are significantly higher than in other regions (see TABLE, also below). Indonesian companies reported significantly higher turnover than the global rate (more than twice the global rate for voluntary turnover) and 64 higher than in other fast-growing economies in Asia Pacific. In addition, most Indonesian companies reported that the figures could be higher next year, while most global and other Asian companies said that their figures were more likely to remain the same. These gloomy numbers are reinforced when we turn to look at employee engagement in Indonesia. Sustainable engagement measures engagement on three counts: how engaged an employee is; how enabled he/she feels; and how energized he/she is. The last includes physical, interpersonal and emotional well-being at work. TABLE 1 Attraction and Retention Global vs Indonesia Global Indonesia Employee category attracting retaining attracting retaining Critical-skill employees High-potential employees Top-performing employees Source: -13 Global Talent Management and Rewards Study, Towers Watson, TABLE Attrition Rates Global vs Indonesia Attrition rates All employee categories Global Fast-growing Asia-Pacific countries Indonesia Voluntary Involuntary Total Source: -13 Global Talent Management and Rewards Study, Towers Watson, 1

3 TABLE 3 Top Attraction, Retention and Engagement Drivers for Indonesian Employees Attraction Retention Engagement Basic pay/salary Work location Career advancement opportunities Opportunities to learn new skills Health and wellness benefits Basic pay/salary Relationship with manager Career advancement opportunities Retirement benefits Work location Stress, balance and workload Leadership Goals and objectives Benefits Career development Source: Global Workforce Study Indonesia, Towers Watson, The proportion of highly engaged workers (36) is lower than in other fast-growing economies. The research also shows that a sixth of the Indonesian workforce is disengaged (1), which represents a potential risk to productivity and performance, while 3 are unsupported, meaning semi-disengaged. Furthermore, a quarter of employees view themselves as detached. So what drives engagement? Part of the problem could be that employers do not know we identified gaps between what employees feel are factors that would keep them in, or attract them to, certain jobs and what employers feel are attraction and retention factors. TABLE 3 above shows the top drivers for attraction, retention and engagement for employees in Indonesia. While employers agreed that basic pay was the number one factor for attraction and retention, they routinely underestimated others. For instance, they did not rank retirement benefits at all, which is the fourth most important retention factor for employees unsurprising, given today s fluctuating financial environment when many fear for their savings in retirement. In terms of attraction factors, work location the second most cited factor was also not ranked by employers. In addition, it is worth noting that stress was the number one factor for engagement. We will see later how employers in Indonesia are dealing with this tricky concept. When it comes to actions taken, employers are doing what they can. For instance, the 13 Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey found that improving attraction and retention is the top objective for employers when it comes to their benefit strategies. However, there is a sense that employers are not completely clear on how this objective can be achieved many () are planning to increase the number of benefit programmes on offer (at the regional level, only of employers said they were planning to do this). Perhaps unsurprisingly then, benefits take up a significant proportion of expenditure: said that they were spending over of payroll on benefits annually (and this number includes of employers who are spending over 4!). Despite this high level of spending, the employee value perception of benefits is significantly lower in Indonesia than in the rest of the region: only one in four (6) said that, overall, benefits were not valued enough (see FIGURE 1 below). It was the highest number in the region to feel this way regionally, only of employers feel the same. Satisfaction with total rewards is also lower in Indonesia than in other fast-growing economies in Asia (see FIGURE overleaf). Given the myriad challenges, how can Indonesian employers improve their attraction and retention rates for key talent, reduce attrition and reignite engagement? THE ROAD AHEAD There are a few ways in which Indonesian employers can optimize their total reward spending to improve attraction, retention and engagement without incurring an enormous increase in cost. Most employers are taking action already: the vast majority are reviewing and updating their benefit plans and strategies (see FIGURE 3, also overleaf), and almost three-quarters were planning to increase communication. FIGURE 1 Employee Value Perception of Benefits in Indonesia Yes overall benefits are highly valued Yes overall benefits are sufficiently valued 38 Yes overall benefits are somewhat valued No overall benefits are not valued enough 6 No overall benefits are not at all valued 4 6 Percentage of employees Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13

4 FIGURE Satisfaction with Total Rewards Package Percentage of satisfied employees Value of total rewards Fast-growing economies Indonesia 4 41 Satisfaction with benefits Value of bonus/incentive 1 39 Value of pay / basic salary NOTE: In this analysis, the fast-growing economies are China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Source: Global Workforce Study, Towers Watson, Reviewing benefit strategies often to ensure that they are relevant in a fast-paced economy is always recommended. The fact that 6 of employers said that they have reviewed their strategies in the last months, and another 9 said that they plan to do so in the next, means that there is a high proportion of employers for whom this is an annual activity. However, as FIGURE 4 opposite shows, approximately a fifth (1) of employers last reviewed their benefits strategy more than two years ago, or do not know when the last review occurred. This presents a significant missed opportunity for employers to assess the effectiveness of their benefits expenditure, and update it according to new organizational and workforce needs. The second most cited action item was an increase in communication. Given that almost half of employers cited Poor understanding of employee benefits as a concern and that benefits are among the top five drivers of sustainable engagement for Indonesian employees, this is a sound action plan too. Currently, the majority of employers communicate about benefits either through (4) or an online benefit portal (6). Only a very small percentage () of employers said that they still communicate through paper-based means this number compares favourably with the rest of the region, where an average of of employers said that they used paper for communication. However, almost half of employers still do not communicate on benefits at all, within which have no plans to begin (see FIGURE, also opposite). Regionally, when we looked at employers who felt that they communicated on benefits effectively, and the value perception of their benefits, there was a direct correlation (see FIGURE 6, again opposite). Of those employers who thought that their benefits were valued, a higher percentage said that they also FIGURE 3 Actions Taken and Planned by Indonesian Employers Review and update benefit plan designs and strategies 6 9 Increase employee communication 38 1 Increase number of benefit programmes 6 Improve transparency of costs Increase flexibility in benefits Introduce flexible benefits Implement new business systems, e.g. payroll/hr software Make consumers more accountable Decrease number of benefit programmes In the next months In the last months Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, Percentage of employers 3

5 communicated effectively. For those who felt that benefits were not valued, almost a third thought that they did not communicate effectively, compared with only 9 who thought they did. There is a clear link between effective communication and benefits value perception again highlighting an opportunity for employers to gain ROI on their benefits expenditure without changing their benefits package substantially. A CLOSER LOOK AT BENEFIT DESIGN Let us now turn to how employers are approaching benefit design, and the individual programmes that they offer. The other significant action planned that we saw from FIGURE 3 was those employers who plan to either introduce or increase flexibility in their benefits. The number of employers planning to take both actions has doubled from last year to this. Introducing flexibility in a benefits plan accomplishes several things. By introducing employee choice, employers signal to employees that they recognize that diverse groups of people will have diverse needs according to their age, family situation, health profile, and so on. Not everyone will value the same benefits someone younger may value the ability to buy more annual leave, while someone older would prefer to FIGURE 4 13 to 4 1 The Last Time the Organization Reviewed its Benefits Strategy More than 4 Don t know Less than six 9 Six to 33 Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 FIGURE Employers Actively Reporting on Benefits Yes communication 4 Yes online benefit portal 6 Yes paper-based communication Yes online total rewards statement No, but we plan to No, and we have no plans to 4 6 Percentage of employers Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 FIGURE 6 8 Percentage of respondents 6 4 Benefits Value Perception by Communication Effectiveness (Asia Pacific) 8 18 Yes overall benefits are highly valued 9 3 Yes overall benefits are sufficiently or somewhat valued No, my organization does not communicate on benefits effectively Yes, my organization does communicate on benefits effectively 9 No overall benefits are not enough / at all valued 1 Don t know Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 4

6 FIGURE Advantages of Flexible Benefits (Asia Pacific) Recognizes the diverse needs and values of the workforce 6 Promotes employee understanding/appreciation of benefits Improves attraction and retention 3 6 Improves employee engagement Helps the organization remain competitive Reinforces the concept of total rewards Makes the organization an employer of choice Promotes employee understanding of the cash value of benefits 3 Reduces/contains the cost of total rewards Reinforces company culture/objectives 3 Other Percentage of employers Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 put money away into a pension fund. People with dependants will choose differently from people without. Putting everybody into the same benefits plan is not only expensive, but it can also breed discontent. For employers who have introduced flexible benefits, many said that they saw these advantages and more (see FIGURE above). Combining this methodology with a smart technology platform can reap rewards for employers as well. As FIGURE 8 shows us, a third of Indonesian employers still use a paper-based method of communication. Not only can this be cumbersome for HR professionals, tying up their time with paperwork and administration, it can also be off-putting for employees who may not be able FIGURE 8 In-house, online 1 Benefits Administration Methods Used by Indonesian Employers Other 1 Outsourced to a third party 9 In-house, paper-based 33 Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 to keep track of all the forms they have to fill out and may be confused on how to submit them. Bringing all HR systems together on one technology platform can cut costs for employers, free up time and resources for HR to put into more strategic projects, and increase the awareness of employees regarding their benefits through targeted communications. Lastly, let us turn to the specific programmes offered by Indonesian employers. Individual benefits offered are mostly the customary ones of annual leave, medical screening and so on (see TABLE 4 opposite). However, it is interesting to note that a few non-traditional items are creeping into the mix: for instance, almost one in three employers in Indonesia now offer a lifestyle benefit, such as gym membership. It is clear that health benefits are still at a nascent stage for most Indonesian employers. With stress being such an important factor for employees (they named it as their number one engagement factor), it is disheartening that only 11 of employers currently offer a programme around stress management (see TABLE, also opposite). INJECTING NEW LIFE INTO TOTAL REWARDS Indonesian employers seem to have their work cut out for them: they are facing a raging war for talent, sky-high levels of employee disengagement and attrition rates that are much greater than those of not only their global counterparts but also their Asian neighbours. How can they effectively contend with these issues while also keeping an eye on costs? My firm s research has shown that there are some missed opportunities that Indonesian employers could take advantage of in order to inject new life into their total rewards, concentrating specifically on those factors that employees look for to become more engaged and productive. Benefits are a key way of doing this

7 TABLE 4 Benefits Offered by Indonesian Employers Currently offer Plan to offer in the next months Plan to offer beyond months No plans to offer Medical outpatient Medical inpatient Annual leave Dental Medical screening Critical illness and/or disability insurance Life and AD&D * insurance Pension benefits Optical Housing allowance Education allowance Lifestyle, e.g. gym membership Child-care benefits Retiree medical Financial planning Ability to buy/sell annual leave * Accidental Death & Disability Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 TABLE Health Benefits Offered by Indonesian Employers Currently offer Plan to offer in the next months Plan to offer beyond months No plans to offer Biometric screening, e.g. blood pressure and BMI EAP Health risk assessment / appraisal Absence management Lifestyle behaviour coaching C hronic condition management Stress management ( resilience ) S moking cessation programme Source: Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, Towers Watson, 13 Indonesian employees rank health, retirement and other benefits in the top five factors for attraction, retention and engagement respectively. If employers are open to innovation in their benefit design, supported by effective and targeted communications and a smart technology platform, the battle could be more than half won. Reference 1 1 Global Workforce Study, Towers Watson,. Copyright Pension Publications Limited 13. Reproduced from Benefits & Compensation International, Volume, Number 1, July/August 13. Published by Pension Publications Limited, London, England. Tel: Fax: Website: Produced by The PrintZone ( Prior written permission required to reprint in bulk. 6