How Smarter Employee Benefits Close the Value Void with Neil Ryland, Benifex

Benefits have become the make-or-break factor in how people choose employers, stay engaged, and perform at their best. We sit down with Neil Ryland, CRO at Benifex, to unpack the Big Benefits Report 2025–2026 and translate its findings into practical plays HR teams can run now. From measuring ROI to closing the “value void,” this conversation maps the shift from perks to performance.

We dig into why benefits surged in importance post-pandemic and how economic pressure, caregiving demands, and strained health systems put real support front and center. Neil explains how organizations are moving beyond compliance to strategy—using technology to simplify enrollment, improve access, and generate the data leaders need. When adoption is high and the experience is intuitive, HR can correlate benefits with engagement, sick days, claims, and attrition, proving impact and guiding smarter investments. We also cover sector contrasts—why tech, energy, and finance often see outsized gains—and how total reward visibility helps counter external offers without knee-jerk pay hikes.

Annual enrollment alone no longer cuts it. We explore always-on education keyed to life events, personalization without complexity, and mobile-first delivery for deskless workforces. Real examples—from life-moment campaigns to holiday trading and healthcare clarity—show how the right message at the right time boosts utilization and retention. Neil closes with two priorities for 2026: make benefits a living expression of your EVP and bring benefits data into strategic workforce decisions. If you’re ready to turn benefits into culture you can feel and outcomes you can measure, this one’s for you.

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Transcript

Welcome And Report Overview

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts, and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media, and visit hrgazette.com.

Meet Neil And Benefits Context

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Welcome to the HR Chat Show. Hello, listeners. This is your host today, Bill Bannham. And in this particular episode, we're going to unpack the Big Benefits Report 2025-2026 from Benefix. The report draws on more than 3,450 interviews across seven global regions, and it paints a clear picture. Benefits have become a defining part of the employee experience and a major driver of productivity, engagement, well-being, and retention. To help us dive into the findings today, I'm delighted to welcome back my friend Neil Ryland, Chief Revenue Officer over at Benefits. Neil has deep experience leading global expansion, building high-performing teams, advising startups, and helping organizations rethink how they create better people experiences through technology. So listen up as we're going to explore why employees now expect more from their benefits, how HR teams can simplify and personalize the experience, and how organizations can close the value void between what's offered and what employees truly feel. Neil, my friend, how are you doing? Welcome back to the show after way too long.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

I know, I know. It's been ages. It's great to be back, Bill. I feel like it's uh it's been a while. And then uh the joys of the HR circuit, right? Where we uh bump into each other in various glamorous places and less glamorous places, but it was in Vegas for HR Tech, right, most recently.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

It was, yeah. You and I uh we got to catch up and hang out a little bit in September in in Vegas. Um and can I just say you haven't aged a day since the last time we've recorded? Um, but it has been a while since we spoke on this show. Can you maybe uh can you maybe reintroduce yourself to our audience?

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Of course, can I? It's hard to look any older, Bill. So if you already look 50 when you first met me, I'm just kind of like catching up with how I looked now. Um so yeah, I'm Neil Ryland, chief owning officer here at Benefec. Um uh I've been leading growing sales teams now for for more years than I care to say, um, but I've been very lucky to work on some amazing journeys. So I've supported fast growth tech journeys with companies like Huddle uh in this space with Pecon. Um and then more recently looking at the transformations are happening around the benefits of Evans Tech Space. So uh now lead our teams here at Benefects across sales, uh, marketing and customer success.

Why Benefits Became Make Or Break

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Okay, succinct, but to the point. Thank you very much. Okay, so some bold statements came out of the report. Um one is that benefits now are pretty much make or break. Uh so my question there is why? Well, you know, the report opens with a clear message. Benefits have become central to how people choose employers and stay engaged. Why do you think that benefits have risen so sharply in strategic importance for the employees and the HR teams?

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Yeah, I think we've kind of been on this trend for a while, as in you know, salary is not the only decider. Now, let's not think that it isn't an important factor, but we've seen over the years how things like culture drive whether people want to work in a company. We've seen how managers operate in sport that you get. And I think this is just the evolution of that journey that's been accelerated off the back of, you know, I don't really like the term, but the kind of the post-COVID world we live in, it is a reality. Um, I think all of those things came to the forefront during that time. And we're now almost playing catch-up of what does it really mean to employees? How do we leverage that and how do we do it in a meaningful way? So I think top that on the economic pressures that workers have, they're joining at a times where they really want stability. And I think that's reflected a lot if like a real world example, you want to drive people back into the office. People have become accustomed to, you know, maybe it's two working parents, you know, so drop-offs now are different. Um, there's a huge cost to travel. So suddenly, actually, if you ask people to go back to the office, they see it as a reduction in pay, you know, like the train fares haven't gone down. Um there's all those things that you have to take into consideration. And I think what the data shows to kind of actually back up those stories that we feel is like actually now 81% of employees in this report say they look at benefits of whether they pick a company, you know, and whether that's things around childcare, healthcare, whatever it might be. And then at the same time, it's a key reason, even higher reason, like pushing almost 90% of people say it's a key factor whether they stay or leave. It becomes a decision factor when they get an offer now. And I think that's a really, really important shift around why benefits have become so, so important. Um, and employees have more opportunities now. I think that's the last one. When you everyone would say no, they have a well-being option, but well-being can be broken down into many things. You know, you've got physical, you've got mental, you've got social, and now you've got financial well-being. Um, and I think all four of those pillars are things that employees expect, and employees have opportunities to leverage those, to attract talent, retain talent, drive productivity, um, and also do the right thing. So I think they're some of the things that um have really changed the shift in how benefits are deployed and viewed.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

As a quick follow-up to that, do you think there are generational differences? Do you think that um benefits around wellness, for example, um, particularly those perhaps that support family members are more important to folks like myself, older dudes in their 30s, 40s, 50s, compared to maybe the culture fit with a company being more important to folks who are entering the workforce for the first time, perhaps in their early 20s.

Benefits As A Growth Lever With Data

SPEAKER_02 6:07

I think there's a lens where when you look at the data, you you can definitely kind of oversimplify those things. And I think one of the things that I've really learned and reflected on is you know, things like a pension, you associate it being like, well, that becomes a certain point where you know you get gray hair or no hair. Oh, I really need to start thinking about those things. But actually, a lot of it's around the communication. Like the Gen Z coming in are thinking about their future. They are thinking, how do I get into position, you know, with the fact that it's hard to get a job now, um it's more expensive in life to own a house of things that maybe we thought were just on that radar and it's just timing and working hard, feel so far away. But actually, rather than using the word pensions in your comments, you're talking about savings accounts and driving. So I think there are differences, but ultimately at the core, we all kind of think about the same things. I do think what's actually really interesting as a shift that we've seen, uh, and I felt this as a hiring manager a lot, is I remember hiring like young salespeople, for example. Uh, private medical was, and this is very UK relevant, but like it was never something that would have come up. If I'd ever offered the benefit that said we don't want to take any salary sacrifice, that I'd rather have the extra 40 pounds for beers. Um now that's a complete shift. And that's because the world's changed, right? The pressures on the health system here in the UK are different, waiting lists. Therefore, even younger generations, I think it's really important to have private medical. So I think there are nuances and changes, and definitely the ways that you communicate that are different. Um, but I think the pressure on all sorts of benefits is very real across all generations.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Let's talk about the productivity lift with 74% of organizations and specifically 84% in the UK reporting that benefits are driving productivity and business growth. What's behind this noticeable jump?

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah, so I think it poems a little bit into the previous answer of how benefits are not now just views as like a cost line. Okay, we've got to do the bare minimum, offer a pension. I think they're now actually recognized as a growth lever. I think that'd be a message that, again, of the changing world, it would have been driven by forward thinking HR leaders. And then what you tend to find is it folds into like your CFO and other business leaders starting to understand it. And I think we're at that really, really good tipping point now. And the main driver is that more and more organizations are starting to deploy technology to support benefits, both to reduce the administration burden in the background, but equally to drive the kind of consumer experience you would expect, right? As an employee today being able to select my benefits. But what it means is we become more data rich. And when you become more data rich, you can start to do better things of doing the correlations. So all of a sudden you're seeing like amazing brands like BOPA that have deployed a mobile app to access benefits and make changes, they're then able to see that data. One, what benefits are working? Like, are we spending money in the right areas? So you're kind of proactive in your decision making. But secondly, what's really maybe a bit geeky here, but I find what's quite cool about it is you can now go, well, let's correlate it against our employee engagement scores. Let's correlate it against sickness days, let's correlate it against claims on our private medical. And are all of those things then moving in the right direction? Um, and boobers was amazing, their attrition fell from like 29% down to 24%. You know, and this is an industry that, like, you know, is is under pressure to hire talented people, but it has to be really good at customer care a lot of the time. And they also then saw a drop in employee sickness because they've made investments in well-being and driven use of the tool, which again, so I think that for me is the big shift. If you start to use it as strategic lever and use the data that comes off the back of it, you can start to make better business decisions around how benefits truly drive the things that as your CFO starts to care about. Um, I think it's around, it's not just around spending more money, it's around the utilization of what you do spend. Um, and are you shifting from reactive to proactive in the way you manage that?

Sector Differences And Total Reward

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Okay, let's talk a bit about um particular industries. The the report reveals that employees in tech, energy, and finance see greater benefits impact than those in, for example, media, healthcare, or logistics. What can HR leaders learn from these regional and sector differences?

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, I think there's lots of lessons you can take from it. But I think just stepping back, I do think one of the things is that in some of those markets, like tech, for example, there is a level of kind of like added competitive nature for some of the talent. So the wide range of benefits that kind of stand out when you see them posted on LinkedIn or whatever. And again, been very fortunate with some great companies like Workday, where the benefits are phenomenal. I think there's also that thing of that is the perceived impact because it's it's better. But if I then step back and go, okay, what can you learn because they they have invested, they've then looked at ways they can utilize them as a as a true tool for attracting talent. Um, I think what's really exciting for me about what they do is that take something like a total reward statement. You know, most people in most organizations could not tell you what their total reward is by the time you kind of count into like a pension benefit, a healthcare benefit, small things like free, like you get parking at the office. I don't know, there could be other things, holiday trading. What um companies like UNCO uh do a brilliant kind of benefit seed of the guy called Peter Stack is that they've used technology to create the visibility around what total reward is. So if you imagine that classic scenario where someone comes in and goes, look, I'm looking to leave, I've been offered this job and it's X amount more dollars, pounds. And you're able to visibly show employees that the total offering when you take account of the benefits far outweighs that that that kind of additional increase that maybe they're getting somewhere else. And so then it becomes a really good tool to make people realize how good they've got it or the things they're not fully utilizing. Um, I think some of the companies that have got ahead of benefits and invested in it, they're some of the things that they are they are doing really, really well that companies can learn from. I'd also think about like like adoption. Um again, another real world story, maybe quite personal. I was like, we used to have this brilliant discount around coffee, right? I would much rather pay£2 for my coffee than than four pounds. Of course I would. But if the benefit is difficult for me to understand, it's difficult for me to access, to sign up, what happens is it's one of the things when you sign your letter to say you joined a company, you go, that's great. And then six months later, you're not doing anything with it, so you don't realize the value. And again, I think what some companies are doing really, really well, Denone's a good example, is they're deploying like the mobile app or they're finding ways to communicate to employees that may well be deathless workers. And therefore, all of a sudden, you know, you're you're driving up and simplifying the whole process for them, um, which makes it so much, so much easier. Um, and leveraging tech makes a big difference, right? I don't know if you ever, I'm sure you haven't been a busy man, but you ever wanted to try and read like a healthcare policy document? They're not the easiest documents to understand uh or digest. And in the moment, I've got a healthcare claim to make, you know, I want that to be very easy to understand. You go through an old process, contacting HR, contacting the provider, trying to figure out a claim form. Imagine if you use technology, and that process is simple and you can understand it. I think there's some of the things that some of those companies are really leaning into that other organizations uh could totally benefit from. I've got a whole host I can tell you about we can talk about this.

Adoption, UX, And Mobile Access

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Um okay, let's now talk about uh annual enrolment. Yeah, is annual enrolment outdated? And what I mean by this is that the report highlights the need for ongoing year-round education and personalized guidance. How should organizations rethink their communication model? Um, you've used some good examples in your previous answer. Are you able to maybe point to a couple of brands that perhaps you guys work with that are doing a good job in that space?

Rethinking Annual Enrollment

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Yeah, definitely. And I think you mentioned it in the start, this kind of um theme we've coined around like the value void. I think this kind of plays into like an annual enrollment, which definitely still has its value in today's world, but I don't think it's enough. Um I think there's a couple of things to unpack around that. So again, interesting stat, like we're seeing benefits spend massively increase across all industries. But then when you speak to the employers, they're like, yeah, we're delivering so much value here. It's like 90% of people think they're doing a great job. Um, it's a bit like leaders always mark the strategy as fantastic because they set it. You roll down the organization, the scores tend to get lower. And that's happening in the benefit space. A lot of money being poured in, but actually there's a gap, you know, again, it varies from like 62% to like 69% of employees actually feel they're getting any value from the benefits versus this really high thing of the reward leaders thinking everything's amazing. And I think that that plays into like why the annual enrollment window isn't enough. I think annual enrollment, brilliant, but what you're really doing is you're broadcasting messages for people to sign up. Our lives don't work on a one-day in a year thing where everything happens. During the year, lots of different things can happen us, good and bad. You know, if you think about the big life events, you can have a child, you could fall sick in a year, um, one parent can't work for a period of time, uh, you might be moving house. All these things impact how your life works, and you need your benefits to almost move with you. So that's one part of why I think you know that it's changing. We're moving to more of like an always-on type model. So your benefits mirror your life. I think the second thing is obviously the this kind of balance between people want choice, but they want personalization. And that's a little bit of a juxtaposition, right? Like lots of choice is the opposite of personalization, but in order to deliver personalization, you have to have choice. And I think that's where technology starts to really help us to solve that because it becomes the benefit at the right time in the right moment. And to your point earlier, when you think around like the generations of what becomes important at different times, we we talk about childcare, you know, that that's so important at a certain time of life, but not in another. Um, and I think for me, those two things kind of go into why one window is great, but you've got to think beyond that now in order to deliver the maximum value from your benefits. And you know, looking at customers, we're we're so fortunate to work with some incredible customers that are making some brilliant savings and the backband or ad administration to allow them to deliver personalization. Because if you don't do that, the admin burden is too heavy to solve the that riddle. Um, but equally they're using tech then to drive the employer experience to be phenomenal. So Baker Hughes put this fantastic campaign with benefits around life's key moments, which was communicating to different personas on across the organization what was important, and even culturally, you know, things that are really important for like a benefit scheme in Saudi Arabia will be very different to what's important in the UK or in Canada based on what's going on. And they did a phenomenal job, and it drove like over 75, I think 75-80% increase in the amount of adoption within in the technology and in the platform. So people going in, reading about the benefits, knowing how to use them, when to deploy them. Um, I love some of the stuff that Gatwick Airport have done. You know, a lot of des workers uh thought up what was really important to them around like holiday trading and being able to buy holiday. Uh struggle to reach that workforce generally. You mentioned like the industries, hard workforce to reach, can be quite transient. Deploy the mobile app, give them the ability to understand their holiday, to be able to trade it. At the same time, you're then able to deliver the other communications around well-being and other support that's available. It's sort of like a 12% bounce in year-on-year engagement from what is a really, really difficult workforce to engage. So I think this again, it comes down to not just spending more money, but thinking through the design of your benefits and managing that juxtaposition really, really well.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Neil, we are flying through this conversation today. Just a couple more questions for you, buddy. Um, in terms of the top priority for HR teams in 2026, based on the reports and what you're seeing across global organisations. I mean, you personally, you you you you do lots of work in the UK, in the US, and elsewhere. Uh, what is the single most important area that HR should focus on in the next 12 months?

Life Moments And Global Personalization

SPEAKER_02 18:17

My personal view is I think look, culture underpins everything. And I think benefits are a really good way of how you show up and make your culture visible. Um, and it's a very old saying, but I think it stands true. It's very easy to write lots of words on your office or in your company handbook, but being able to feel those and see them being lived is completely different. And I think benefits is a really still uh under-leveraged way of being able to demonstrate that. And we all know the um actual impacts you start to see when you drive up employee engagement off the back of delivering on a fantastic culture. So I think thinking through how you're deligning your benefits to your EVP and making it a true expression of your culture is something to really consider. Uh, cheat, if I can say the second one, which is I think companies need to think about how they're using tech for benefits. So many people have these things that go out in job office and they read them, and then there isn't the utilization, there isn't the review of are these benefits being adopted? Are you correlating against the business metrics? Because the companies that are doing that, I said we're very lucky to work with some of the best brands in the world. Um, those companies are being able to talk about benefits data as a lever for where they hire, where they invest, you know, what are they doing to drive the most productive teams? I think there's something to start thinking through. Are you using the data around your benefits to make strategic decisions for your workforce? Um I've got two, sorry, Bill, my two cheat answers. As it's you, buddy. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Okay, just finally for today, Mr. Ryland. How can folks connect with you? So is that LinkedIn? Do you want to share your email address? I bet you are super cool, and you've got some sort of um Ipswich Town heavy Instagram feed. Um, and of course, how can folks learn more about Benefits?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Right on cue there, Bill. Um for the audience, I don't know, me and Bill support rival football teams. So I was trying to subtly get different things like the football over here in the background, my carp. Uh just try and wind him up a little bit as we went for this podcast. Uh yeah, LinkedIn's some of the best way to get hold of me. Um uh also uh Neil at nabbiefflow.com is the kind of email that I use for providing any mentoring, support, um, guidance. I'm always happy to to try and help or at least share some of the things I didn't do very well, so you don't make the same mistakes I did. Um, but yeah, LinkedIn and that.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Excellent. Well, that just leads me to say for today. Let's not leave it so long next time, Neil. Great. Thank you very much for joining me on the show.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Always a pleasure, Bill. Great work. I'll speak to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

And listeners, as always, until next time. Happy working.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette? And remember, for what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media, and visit hrgazette.com.