b'RELOCATION POLICYBENEFITS: REDUCED OR RECALIBRATED?By Sarah B. HoodIs the relocation industry seeing the dawn of a perk-session?A fter weathering the rough watersexisting ones, relying heavily on enhancedFinancial education and wellness resources, of COVID-19, the global busi- benefits to attract and retain workers. Buthealth and fitness discounts, home office ness community is slowly rebal- in 2023, faced with an economic slowdownstipends, and learning and development ancing. A key challenge is thatand a return to at least a semi-traditionalprograms were cited by 32 per cent of the economic equilibrium pointworkplace, some have been tempted torespondents each, followed by senior care has shifted: there is no going back to therevert to old practices. benefits and 401K matching (41 per cent), same conditions that allowed for financialmental health support (30 per cent) and stability in the pre-pandemic era. One costNot all companies are clawing back bene- childcare benefits (28 per cent).category currently under the microscope isfits across the board. Instead, they are the employee benefits plan, so much so adjusting their plans to better reflect theMeanwhile a significant proportion of that the term perk-session has beenpost-pandemic workplace and combat thecompanies is actually planning to devote coined to describe the shrinkage trend in quiet quitting phenomenon, which ismore dollars to childcare (46 per cent) existing packages. seeing employees put a higher premiumand/or senior care (43 per cent) this year. on work-life balance. The Future of BenefitsThese choices match with the highest-Last March, Care.com, a leading platformReport points out that only 47 per centpriority motivators for making benefits for finding and managing family care,of the companies surveyed are trimmingchange. About half the respondents named released its 2023 Future of Benefits Report,overall employee benefits in 2023, while subtitled Employee benefits trends that95 per cent are merely recalibrating theirproductivity and/or retaining talent as top are shaping todays workforce. It demon- companys benefit strategies. drivers, and research evidence shows that strates how businesses are making changessupporting employees in their family obli-to their benefits plans in response to currentWhen asked which benefits were likely to begations yields gains in both these areas.economic conditions.cut, 35 per cent of those surveyed named adoption and fertility assistance, and The Future of Benefits Report presents Based on surveys with 500 C-Suite execu- 33 per cent said commuter benefits wouldconvincing figures, noting that over the past tives and HR decision-makers, the reportdrop (perhaps a natural choice given thefew years nearly 20 per cent of working notes that during the Great Resignation ofnumber of businesses retaining at leastparents had to leave work or reduce their 2021 and 2022, employers were desperatelysome of their pandemic-driven work-from- work hours solely due to a lack of child-courting prospective employees and wooinghome flexibility.) care, while nearly one-third of senior 20PERSPECTIVES Summer 2023'