.png)
⋅ X min read
Table of contents
It’s not that impact doesn’t exist. It’s that the tools we use to track it aren’t built for the job. Dashboards show clicks, not outcomes. Reports track logins, not life changes. And in the rush to prove return, we often forget the point: benefits are about people, not platforms.
Here’s the reality: you probably won’t be able to draw a direct line from an EAP to a retention stat. But you can tell if your benefits are removing friction, improving trust, and supporting meaningful moments.
Why ROI Is So Hard to Pin Down
Most ROI models were designed for sales or operations not for people strategy. Trying to retro-fit them to wellbeing, mental health, or flexible allowances is like using a stopwatch to measure joy. It misses the mark.
Meanwhile, benefits teams are often stuck proving value using outdated methods:
- Counting logins instead of understanding outcomes
- Tracking spend without mapping impact
- Reporting participation with no context of satisfaction
This pressure leads to surface-level insights that don’t serve leaders, or employees.
What We Should Be Measuring Instead
Let’s reframe ROI in terms of employee experience. Are your benefits:
- Easy to access?
- Intuitive to use?
- Aligned with what employees actually want and need?
If the answer is no, no dashboard can make up for that.
Trust, clarity, and usefulness are your new KPIs. These are the things that drive real engagement, long-term loyalty, and yes indirect, but very real return on investment.
Shifting the Mindset
The goal isn’t just to prove that benefits work it’s to make them work. That starts by removing admin noise, simplifying options, and helping employees make confident choices.
Because in the end, benefits that are easy to access, well-communicated, and fit for purpose will always outperform a suite of services that look great on paper but fall flat in practice.
And that’s the real measure of ROI: not what’s in the benefits catalogue but what actually changes someone’s day.
Want to hear how a global leader actually put this into practice? Dive into our second episode of the Friends with Benefits podcast featuring John Whitaker from Workday.