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BENGALURU: Companies in India offer more and better benefits to their employees than those in the Asia Pacific (Apac) region in general, says a study by Willis Towers Watson , the Londonheadquartered insurance brokerage company.

The study, which surveyed more than 1,000 companies in Apac, including 100 from India (MNCs and India-headquartered companies), said almost 70% of companies in India provide more choice and flexibility around employee benefits, compared to 50% for the rest of the companies in the Apac region.

The opportunity and desire to attract younger talent is seen to be one of the main reasons why the companies here are being more competitive in giving benefits.

“Money is no more a differentiator. IT companies, for instance, have a younger pool of employees, who are more vocal about their demands. The employer wants to be a choice employer to attract potential employees. Beyond a point, you cannot keep on increasing salaries and differentiate with cash,” said Cedric Luah , head of health and benefits at Willis Towers Watson, Asia and Australasia.

Benefits like health and wellness, childcare, and elderly care are among the areas that employers in India are investing in.

Adobe Systems in India is one such company. It started investing heavily on employee wellness this year. The company invests $550 per employee per year on health and fitness. “It was started a year ago. We pay the employee and they can join a gym, or subscribe to a diet plan or take care of their health in any way they like,” said Abdul Jaleel , VP, customer and employee experience, Adobe Systems.

Luah added that MNCs operating in India have huge scales of operations, and hence are coming out with localised plans.

Indian employees want their benefit plans to be flexible and are looking for plans that include parental coverage and child care. And both employers and employees take it seriously,” he said.

According to the report, 75% of the companies in India had retirement benefits. Over the next three years, the report expects a 30% increase in prevalence of child care benefits, and 12% increase in employee discount programmes and wellness programmes like chronic disease management and lifestyle risk management. India also fared better when it came to using technology for these programmes. In 2017, more than 65% of the companies were using tools and apps to manage their employees health and finance benefits . The tools included using social media and online forums on health issues, those for monitoring health conditions, and helping manage spending..

“Technology is helping the employers to get more data on employee health and requirements and is helping them to give employees informed choices. Earlier, giving choices was difficult, but with tech advancement, personalising is not expensive. Employers are bold enough to experiment,” Luah said.

