How to Build a Business Case for Benefits That Global Leadership Will Back in 2025

Employee benefits have evolved far beyond free snacks and birthday leave. In 2025, they’re a strategic lever—impacting everything from talent retention and productivity to compliance and brand perception. And yet, many organisations still struggle to secure internal buy-in for a truly competitive, future-ready benefits strategy.

If you're preparing to make the case for investing in benefits—whether it's expanding private medical insurance, launching a global mental health programme, or rolling out flexible allowances—this guide is built for you.

Below, we outline a step-by-step approach to building a compelling, data-backed business case that speaks to the priorities of finance, legal, and leadership teams at enterprise scale.

1. Start with Data-Backed Employee Needs and Business Objectives

Even the most generous benefits package will fall flat if it doesn’t meet the real needs of your workforce or align with company-wide goals. That’s why the strongest business cases begin by tying employee demand to broader business outcomes.

According to Gallup, 76% of employees say benefits are a major factor in deciding whether to stay with an employer. But retention isn’t the only driver—benefits also improve wellbeing, reduce burnout, and support inclusion goals.

Use your existing employee data (e.g. pulse surveys, exit interviews, DEI audits) to surface unmet needs across your organisation. Then, map those needs to your company’s objectives—whether that’s lowering attrition, improving employer brand perception in competitive markets, or supporting distributed teams across jurisdictions.

2. Benchmark with Enterprise-Scale Data

Leadership won’t greenlight a benefits strategy in a vacuum. They need to know where your offering sits in relation to your competitors—especially when it comes to attracting and retaining top-tier talent across borders.

Use trusted sources such as Mercer’s Global Talent Trends or WTW’s Global Benefits Trends Report to understand global benchmarks. Mercer found that 87% of companies are actively personalising benefits to support a multi-generational, distributed workforce—yet many still fall short on global parity.

You can also explore Ben’s Benefits Benchmarking Tool, which offers insights from over 1,100 companies in 25+ countries.

This type of benchmarking allows you to identify:

• Gaps in core offerings like PMI, pension, and life insurance
• Regional disparities in access to support
• Underinvestment in areas like financial wellbeing (only 18% of companies currently offer a structured policy, per Aon’s Wellbeing Survey)

3. Demonstrate ROI with Modelling and Scenario Planning

One of the fastest ways to lose stakeholder buy-in? Talking in principles without showing numbers. You need to quantify both the cost and the return of your proposed benefits investment.

Start by modelling:

• Direct costs (e.g. insurance premiums, vendor costs, tech platform fees)
• Indirect costs (e.g. payroll admin, tax liabilities, compliance risk mitigation)
• Opportunity cost (e.g. reduced attrition, improved engagement, fewer sick days)

According to WTW, 52% of global companies are expanding their benefits investment specifically to strengthen retention and workforce resilience.

Use tools like Ben’s ROI Calculator to model potential savings from reduced attrition. For example: If losing one employee costs the business £25,000 and your benefits programme helps prevent just five exits per year, that’s a £125,000 saving—not including productivity gains.

4. Align Your Strategy with the Business, Not Just the Culture

Too often, benefits proposals are framed through a cultural lens: “This reflects who we are as a company.” While that’s important, it doesn’t always move the needle with your CFO or CEO.

Instead, show how benefits enable your company’s strategic goals. For example:

• A business prioritising long-term retention should offer enhanced pension contributions and income protection.
• A company expanding into Asia should demonstrate benefits parity for employees in Singapore, India, and Japan—not just the UK and US.
• An innovation-focused company might link learning stipends and mental health coverage to creativity and performance outcomes.

To do this effectively, you need to balance consistency with flexibility. With Ben’s global benefits infrastructure, companies can maintain a unified approach while tailoring benefits to meet local market standards.

5. Account for Compliance from Day One

Benefits design is not just a culture or cost question—it’s a legal one. When operating across multiple countries, you must comply with:

• Local statutory minimums (e.g. pensions, healthcare, parental leave)
• Tax treatment of benefits (e.g. salary sacrifice schemes, remote stipends)
• Classification risk (particularly with contractors and remote hires)

Overlooking compliance can result in fines, reclassification, or reputational harm. Yet according to Aon, fewer than one-third of multinationals offer a compliant global mental health solution.

When building your business case, work closely with legal and finance teams to identify risk exposure and mitigation strategies. You can also reference Ben’s Global Benefits Country Guides to understand local norms and legal requirements.

6. Build Cross-Functional Buy-In and a Clear Rollout Plan

Your case won’t land if it’s built in an HR silo. Instead, involve cross-functional stakeholders—Finance, Legal, Ops, and Country Leads—from the start. Co-owning the strategy increases buy-in and reduces surprises at approval stage.

When you're ready to present:

• Frame the conversation around business impact, risk reduction, and growth enablement.
• Use stakeholder-specific messaging (e.g. tax savings for Finance, compliance wins for Legal).
• Offer multiple implementation options: phased rollouts, pilot programmes, or region-specific trials.

Once approved, develop a communications strategy for employees. Show not only what benefits are on offer, but why they matter—and how to use them. From onboarding to internal toolkits, Ben supports consistent communication at every stage.

7. Measure Impact and Keep Iterating

You’ve built the case, launched the plan—now what? The best HR leaders treat benefits like any other business function: test, measure, and improve.

Use KPIs like:

• Benefits adoption and utilisation
• Employee engagement and satisfaction scores
• Turnover and absenteeism rates

Tools like Ben provide engagement dashboards, region-level reporting, and employee feedback channels to help you track performance and iterate.

💬 Don’t underestimate qualitative data either. Employee testimonials can be powerful proof points in your next board-level review.

Final Thoughts: Bring Benefits to the Strategy Table

Benefits are no longer a tactical add-on—they're a key lever in shaping a competitive, future-ready workforce. But to get the buy-in you need, you must speak in the language of leadership: data, ROI, compliance, and strategic alignment.

With Ben, you can build and manage a global benefits programme that’s flexible, compliant, and scalable—without the admin burden.

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