Maxis Looks Ahead to 2045 – Will Most Employees Be Gig/Freelancers?

Will organisations in the year 2045 employ mostly gig workers? Will they provide portable employee benefits credits and offer support to workers for services like gender reassignment? Will personalised healthcare, tailored to each individual’s genetic makeup, improve employee health and increase productivity? These are just some of the issues explored in MAXIS Global Benefits Network’s new discussion paper, “2045: The future of work – the changing face of employee benefits.”

The paper leads with a vision of the employee benefits market in the future, explored through the experiences of four employees working for the fictional company ‘Autolec’ in the year 2045. This innovative approach brings into focus future challenges facing global multinationals and their employees, serving as a model to explore anticipated market developments for employee benefits over the next 25 years.

The discussion paper is available to download now from: https://maxis-gbn.com/landing-pages/2045-the-future-of-work-%E2%80%93-the-changing-face-of-employee-benefits.pdf

The paper draws on the expertise of the MAXIS Data & Digital Innovation Lab, which focuses on exploring employee benefits, insurtech trends and developing innovative data and digital solutions for multinationals. The paper extrapolates current trends and builds out on first-hand experiences shared by multinationals, local insurers and leading consultants.

Key trends explored include:

1. A flexible future: how and where we work – global multinationals will need to cater for the evolving needs and wants of employees when planning their benefits packages and the trend for remote and flexible working cannot be ignored. The paper looks at the impacts of the gig economy and the rise of fully portable benefits, which rather than being tied to an employer are linked to an individual and taken from job to job without a loss of funding or coverage, with multiple employers paying into it at the same time.
2. The future of healthcare – the paper explores the potential for personalised medicine and bespoke medical interventions for individuals based on their genetic profile. In addition, it discusses the widening scope of medical coverage such as gender reassignment, fertility and mental health provision.
3. Insurtech innovations shaping the future of employee benefits – analysing the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, the automation of manual processes, speeding up of data analytics and service improvements.  It also looks at developments in parametric insurance, when insurance pay-outs are automatically triggered by an event exceeding an index level.
4. The changing role of employers – the report looks at the expanded role of employers and the potential trend of taking a wider role as the scope of state or governmental support reduces.

Helga Viegas, Director, Digital and Innovation, MAXIS GBN, commented: “This paper transports employers into a not too distant future and confronts them with a new status quo. We’re taking the trends we’re seeing now – fast technological changes, AI and automation, new skills and roles emerging, lifestyle changes from an “always on” culture, gig working patterns – and projecting how they will impact workers and employee benefits in the future. As technology enables more personalisation and flexibility than ever before, the benefits employers provide need to be just as tailored. There are lots of challenges from a commercial, regulatory and technological perspective to arrive where we need to be, but overall we want to present an optimistic look at how the world of work and EB might change.”

Mauro Dugulin, Chief Executive Officer, MAXIS GBN, said: “25 years ago Google hadn’t been founded and the internet had yet to become mainstream, which shows how rapidly the world has changed. Global multinationals must constantly anticipate new developments if they wish to recruit and retain the best talent. We believe that a benefits package that engages employees, keeps them healthy and supports them when they need it will continue to be as crucial for business success as it is today, if not even more. It’s now up to employers and benefits providers to take on the challenge and develop the EB package of the future.”