People are rethinking how they want to spend their time and what they want out of their jobs and careers. In fact, 65% of employees say the pandemic has made them evaluate their relationship with work.

What does this mean? I believe it means that in the next 10 years companies will be measured by the way they treat their workers — it will be the decade of the employee.

Streamline the employee experience

In the decade of the employee, feedback is essential. Employers have shifted from asking what they can get from employees to asking what they can do to support employees and their families, by posing questions like, "Do the compensation, benefits, and culture match what I want in a socially responsible company?"

The employee experience is a key component of this. For example, the number of software and technology companies that serve clients has gone down from hundreds to a few dozen, because it's simpler for the clients to meet with fewer suppliers.

In contrast, the average Fortune 500 company sources from 50 to 150 different technology platforms and service providers to deliver a range of human capital solutions — including benefits, payroll, talent management, and HR services. This system places the burden on the employee, who must navigate 15 different systems to make 15 different decisions.

Less than half of U.S. employees positively perceive their overall wellbeing in a significant downturn from early 2020, according to Alight's 2021 Employee Wellbeing Mindset Study. This decline is an opportunity for companies to reevaluate their future of work strategy and use this time as a point of transition for the customer experience.

As companies are grappling with return-to-office plans and all they entail, like implementing a landscape of return-to-work strategies, like implementing vaccine requirements, the world of benefits and regulation has never been more complex. The pandemic prompted much-needed innovation, spurring investment in benefits like virtual counseling and caregiver support. These are great tools — when employees use them.

HR organizations are taking a holistic approach to wellbeing, offering resources that promote physical (80%), financial (67%) and emotional (87%) wellbeing. However, Gartner reports few employees (nearly 50% less than the average offer rate) are using those benefits. After salaries, benefits are typically the second-biggest cost for a company, and they increase between 6% and 20% every single year. Yet often it's the cost most executives understand the least because it is so mired in complexity.

Identify areas for improvement

Asking the right questions can help HR leaders approach some of their biggest workforce challenges, educate their stakeholders and use data to better understand the enablers and barriers to employees' health, wealth, and overall wellbeing.

For example, Alight's 2022 Hot Topics in Retirement & Financial Wellbeing report found that 7 in 10 employers are creating or implementing a financial wellbeing strategy. Of those, 83% intend to include diversity, equity and inclusion in those programs in order to educate their employees and increase utilization of financial benefits. They're doing things like reviewing communication materials with an eye toward DE&I, measuring financial wellness by different employee segments and leveraging employee resource groups to discuss retirement and financial wellbeing topics.

The pandemic has proven that HR is adaptable and agile, and can meet the challenges of the new employee economy. The relationship between mental, physical, and financial health is symbiotic. When one is off, all other areas are impacted. Now that focus on wellbeing is the norm, HR leaders are looking for ways to enhance the tools and resources available to their workers.

The Great Reprioritization is not a death sentence. It's a chance for HR leaders to continue to refine the employee experience and develop a holistic approach to benefits and wellbeing in preparation for the decade of the employee.

Stephan Scholl is CEO of Alight Solutions.