If last week’s improvements to Ben’s flexible allowance and wallet functionality had you thinking ‘This sounds great, but what exactly is a wallet and how does it relate to employee benefits?’ then read on. This week we’re going back to basics to take a look at flexible spending allowances, digital wallets and cards.
What are flexible allowances and how can they be used for employee benefits?
A flexible allowance is a digital ‘wallet’ that allows you to provide employees with an amount of money each month or year, that they can use to purchase the benefits or work-related products and services that matter to them.
From a benefits perspective, this means that they can truly tailor their benefits budget to focus on the things they care about, whether that’s assisted reproduction services, gym memberships, a meditation app, or increasing their life insurance contributions. With four generations now in the workforce, building a benefits offering that provides what everyone needs is impossible. Flexible allowances mean you don’t even have to try - employees are given the freedom to choose what works for them.
How are flexible allowances and digital spending cards used?
Ready for more good news? The way flexible allowances can be used is very… flexible, so you can set them up in a way that feels right for your business.
- Create a tailored experience by limiting spending to your own digital marketplace of carefully selected providers. This ensures budgets are being spent on products and services that you consider relevant to your benefits strategy while giving employees plenty of choice.
- Some businesses choose to provide digital payment cards to be used anywhere that cards are accepted - although you can still put restrictions of certain types of businesses (like alcohol or gambling for example). These can be easily added to Google/Apple Wallets via the Ben app for on-the-go convenience. This is particularly useful for companies with a mixed workforce, where some employees don’t sit at a desk all day and are more likely to use their benefits budget when they’re out and about.
- Employees can also make purchases themselves with a streamlined reimbursement process with automated claims and payments. This makes it easier for both employees and HR teams to manage benefits.
- Finally you can simplify expense tracking through receipt capture in Ben’s mobile app, ensuring quick and accurate validation of claims. Learn more about how Ben's intelligent mobile app makes it simple to handle claims and reimbursements.
What can flexible allowances be used for?
Flexible allowances simplify benefits budget management. Instead of complex administration, you can create any type of employee budget - from general benefits spending to specific allowances for work-from-home equipment, team socials, learning and development, lunch, or team expenses.
Additionally, Ben's digital wallet technology powers reward and recognition programs, enabling instant monetary rewards that employees can spend using their digital card.
Can HR teams check on allowance usage and analytics?
Having all your flexible spending allowances hosted in one platform really comes into it’s own when you need to report on budget usage and employee engagement with their allowances.
Ben’s intelligent platform provides all the data you need to track wallet balances and movement of funds, as well as real time analytics on wallet usage across different locations and currencies. Cross referencing this data with employee engagement metrics like eNPS scores and retention rates can help you demonstrate the clear ROI of providing flexible allowances for employees.
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