2022 predictions: Human capital, employee financial wellbeing, and health in APAC

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Recent research noted that in 2021, companies became more employee-centric, assessing employee personas and obtaining the opinions of employees on a range of matters.

In observing human capital risks in 2021, Aon's research on the risk landscape noted that companies became more employee-centric, assessing employee personas and obtaining the opinions of employees on a range of matters. 

As part of its overall Asia Market Review, Aon did a study to gain insights on tips and predictions across various categories, including human capital, employee financial wellbeing, and health.

Human capital risks observations

Predictions

• A clear and consistent value proposition for the future of work is crucial for building a foundation for post-pandemic success and beyond.
• There will be a greater need for companies to deploy lead analytics to understand their workforce and implement programmes that build workforce agility and resilience.
• Companies will need to optimise their workforce for the future by identifying future skills and developing plans to reskill employees.
• Although companies are maintaining flexibility as they bring employees back on site, determining the right working model is a multifaceted process based on various factors.
• There will be a concerted drive to establish an inclusive culture for employees with diverse backgrounds to improve workforce agility, enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies.

Salary increase rate movements

Tips

1. Incubate, incentivise and lead transformation through workforce intelligence.
2. Build agility and resilience by assessing current and future people risks.
3. Construct roadmaps to realise workforce potential.

Employee financial wellbeing

 Predictions

• Foregrounded by volatile investment markets and rising inflation, monetary policies and regulatory settings will tighten, having impact on bond yields and employer pension accounting liabilities.
• Life expectancies will continue to increase due to wealth and healthcare improvements, as will above-inflation healthcare costs.
• New legislative and regulatory changes will continue to impact markets, including changes in Australia, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand.

The report also categorised several trends impacting key APAC markets. In Singapore, Aon identified the increase in minimum retirement and re-employment ages from 62 to 65 and 67 to 70 respectively, as a key trend. Meanwhile, the introduction of the National Pension Fund (NPF) in Thailand was also noted as a trend.

Tips

1. Focus on the smart design of retirement strategies.
2. Focus on linkages to drive engagement and better employee financial decisions.
3. Focus on the effective governance of retirement programmes.

Health trends observations

Predictions

• The easing of movement restrictions will increase utilisation levels for both inpatient and outpatient claims.
• Further cost increases will be driven by rising inflationary pressures and an expectation that more COVID-19 healthcare costs will transition to the private sector.
• As the roadmap to normal will be uncertain and vary by country, plan sponsors need to be agile and secure commercial protection upon renewals to deal with volatility.
• The largest change in insurer capability is set to be seen in the areas of virtual care and employee wellbeing, creating a great opportunity for plan sponsors to build business resilience.

Tips

1. Use commercial protection to deal with pandemicrelated volatility.
2. Digitalise the employee benefits experience to support agile working.
3. Analyse population risk factors to improve employee wellbeing and productivity.

Photos / 123rf.com

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