Gain Miles urges rethink on compensation and benefits packages

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Talent is the key to success in any business. However, with Hong Kong’s unemployment rate hitting a 20-year record low of 2.8%, the competition for top talent is fierce.

Despite the booming trend of talents’ pursuit of work-life balance, compensation and benefits have long been their top priorities.

“To lure and retain talent, companies need to offer competitive and overarching compensation and benefits packages,” said Gloria Siu, chief executive of Gain Miles Group.

Polling 609 companies with 49,680 employees, Gain Miles’ latest Employee Insurance Benefits (EIB) research foresees a prominent and inevitable challenge for employers. While compensation costs are steadily increasing every year, the employee benefits costs in the past 12 years are reaching entirely new heights.

The benefits costs per employee have rocketed by 17.1%, from HK$28,290 in 2015 to HK$33,118 in 2017, which is equivalent to 10.9% of the employee’s relevant income. Pension, group medical insurance and check-up services are the top grossing expenses.

Taking the increasingly competitive talent market in Hong Kong and the substantial impact on the budget into account, there is an urgent need for all companies to review their packages. In view of this, Gain Miles, a leading employee benefits consultancy, has designed extensive research to examine the entire labour market landscape, followed by providing practical solutions.

The aforementioned employee insurance benefits research is conducted with the College of Professional and Continuing Education of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University once every two years. Since 2003, the research has produced five reports – a market overall report and four industry focused reports on the business and financing services, manufacturing, logistics and trading sectors.

Each edition features 13 types of major employee insurance benefits and provides insights into the market trends and benchmarks on the benefit provision scope, costing and medical service utilisation.

In 2017, Gain Miles released its second collaboration with the academic institution, debuting the first group medical insurance index in Hong Kong.

The study, comprising three sets of indices – the Group Medical Insurance Premium Index, Group Medical Expenses Index and Group Medical Utilisation Index– monitors the current trends and provides useful references to various decision makers, including employers, healthcare providers and insurers on medical cost and utilisation trends.

Based on the results, Gain Miles uses its clout and comes up with holistic employee benefits solutions that incorporate cost-containment measures such as providing prevention and early detection services and offering corporate wellness programmes.

The market leader also reacts quickly and innovatively to changing market conditions. In response to the launch of the government’s Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme in April 2019, Gain Miles provides pragmatic solutions and introspective advice to integrate the new policy with employers’ group hospitalisation insurance plans, with the aim to help employers control benefits costs while offering a more competitive package for talent acquisition and retention.

Gain Miles’ endeavour in safeguarding employees’ health has been acknowledged with the company securing awards at Human Resources’ Vendors of the Year for the fourth year in a row.

“We were honoured to garner a gold award for Best Compensation and Benefits Consultant and a bronze award for Best Corporate Wellness Service Provider,” Siu said.

“In 2019, we will continue to keep track of market developments and provide comprehensive and win-win benefits solutions to corporate clients and their employees.”