A staggering 70% of global or regional benefit managers at multinational companies have limited or no access to timely financial information related to current employee benefit spending, according to Towers Watson’s 2014 Current and Emerging Global Benefit Themes research.
The research also shows that two-thirds of multinationals are still at the early stages of developing their global benefit strategy and management approach, suggesting they are either just getting started or narrowly focusing on a single global benefit management area.
Steven Yu, Asia Pacific Director, International Consulting Group, Towers Watson said, “It is striking that global and regional benefit managers at many multinationals—sometimes spending hundreds of millions of dollars on employee benefits annually—do not have this vital information. Nowhere else within their businesses would such a lack of management information be acceptable.”
The research does, however, confirm that more advanced multinationals continue to be focused on the management of financial risk, the optimisation of benefit spend and the effective handling of M&A transactions. They are, however, shifting their focus from defined benefit pensions to a more balanced view across a broader range of benefits, in particular, defined contribution retirement plans and health care.
Yu added, “Review and refinement of the global benefit organisation and its processes, programs and strategies lead to better outcomes for organisations and their employees. Multinationals that focus on answering the most business-relevant questions are typically the companies that achieve the greatest value from their employee benefit programs and investment.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
