Making Benefits Work: Engaging Hybrid & Remote Employees
By Joe Holness, Director, Growth & Partnerships, Parallel Employee Benefits
In the modern workplace, flexibility has become the norm rather than the exception. Many organisations, especially SMEs, now operate with a blend of office-based, hybrid and fully remote teams. While this shift has unlocked new possibilities for productivity and work-life balance, it’s also exposed a major challenge for HR leaders: how do you ensure your employee benefits strategy remains visible, engaging and inclusive for everyone?
The visibility problem
When teams aren’t all in one place, benefits can easily fade into the background. Gone are the office posters, team briefings and casual “did you know we offer that?” conversations that used to drive awareness. For many employees, if a benefit isn’t front-of-mind, or simple to access digitally, it might as well not exist.
This can lead to underused benefits, wasted investment, and a workforce missing out on valuable support.
Rethinking benefits for hybrid reality
Making benefits work in a hybrid or remote setting starts with understanding how your people interact with work now. Employees expect personalisation, flexibility and transparency. HR teams should therefore consider three things:
Accessibility: Are your benefits platforms, communications and support channels digital-first and mobile-friendly? Employees should be able to discover, understand and use their benefits from anywhere.
Relevance: Remote employees may value different benefits such as wellbeing support, virtual GP access, financial wellbeing tools or flexible leave options, over traditional office perks.
Engagement: Benefits communication shouldn’t stop after onboarding. Regular, data-driven engagement campaigns can remind employees of what’s available and highlight stories of real impact.
Creating connection through communication
A successful hybrid benefits strategy depends on visibility and storytelling. Use bite-sized updates through company channels, spotlight individual benefits monthly, or share real employee experiences that show the value of your programme. It’s about humanising the offering to help make it feel less like a policy, and more like a genuine part of the employee experience.
At Parallel, we see the best results when organisations combine smart technology with clear communication. Our work with growing businesses shows that when benefits are visible and easy to navigate, uptake and satisfaction rise dramatically.
Bringing everyone along
Employee benefits are one of the most tangible ways a company demonstrates care and culture. But they only deliver value if employees can see and use them, wherever they work from. For HR teams, the priority now is to make benefits both available and visible, meaningful and shared across every corner of the organisation.
