Albert Einstein once said: 'The human spirit must prevail over technology'
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Albert Einstein once said: “The human spirit must prevail over technology.” But in today’s age, it’s almost impossible not to embrace digitalization – and really, why would you want to?
A recent report from the Davos economic forum found that, by 2025, more than half of all workplace tasks will be carried out by machines. Today, that figure stands at just 29%.
So, how will the wave of robotics enhance our people function? We spoke to world-leading entrepreneur Mike Serbinis, founder and CEO of digital benefits platform League. He’ll also be speaking at our upcoming HR Leaders Summit in Toronto.
After college, Mike turned down a six-figure job at Microsoft to work as an engineer alongside Elon Musk, helping him build his first internet company, Zip2. From there, Mike’s successes grew and grew – culminating in his foray into the world of employee benefits.
We picked his brains over what he believes the future of perks will look like.
“I envision a future where health is highly personalized and focused on always-on prevention,” he told us. “We spend $4 trillion on healthcare, but just a fraction of that goes towards preventative care and the health insurance industry is stuck in the stone age, comprised of ‘one-size-fits-none’ options; according to The Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey 2016, these models, established in a post-WWII era, will satisfy less than 20% of people by 2025.”
Netflix, iTunes, Google alerts - in a world where we can individualize every aspect of our lives, it stands to reason we’ll want to personalize our benefits plans. Mike thinks companies should be offering an experience that really supports proactive wellness by placing the control in the hands of the employee.
“The benefits experience has changed because of the flexibility, personalization, and always-on trends we are used to seeing as consumers,” he continued.
“Workers demand this consumer experience translate into their employment experience as well. Given this shift, it is no surprise that this is in-line with what we are seeing from younger generations - According to PwC Millennials at Work, health insurance coverage is the number one desired hard benefit for older Millennials (28 to 35), the number two desired benefit for younger Millennials (20 to 27), and the number one desired benefit for Gen Z.
“And the benefits experience has changed because of the flexibility, personalization, and always-on trends we are used to seeing as consumers. Workers demand this consumer experience translate into their employment experience as well.”
Hyper-personalization may well be here to stay, so perhaps it’s time to embrace the change and give the power back to your employees.
As for Mike, he’s in the unique position of working with both technology and wellness – meaning he really appreciates the benefits of ‘switching off’ from time to time.
“I believe in the importance of injecting small moments of healthy habits into your day - even the smallest moments of reprieve can go a long way in ensuring your overall wellbeing,” he told HRD.
“Personally, I start every day by working out for 90 minutes, with no iPhone, email, Slack, whatever; just my music. If I’m moving better, everything is better.”
