Blockchain technology is more than just going to revamp the financial industry. The underlying mechanism behind the latest disruptive force is the role it plays in authentication and validation. Because of this, blockchain technology will soon be responsible for a seismic revolution in society, and the most important beneficiary of this revolutionary change will be employee benefits.
Blockchain technology is poised to become the backbone of businesses, economies and the healthcare industry.
Even though Blockchain is still in its infancy when it comes to everyday use in the workplace, that will soon change in the near future as employers and the HR department start getting to grips with the emerging technology. All aspects of the HR trends will be completely overhauled, from promoting efficient recruitment, checking and verifying information such as an employee’s education, skills and their performance, improving how talent is managed at the workplace, and automating data heavy processes such as payroll transactions.
It could completely change how employees sign in to work, by essentially allowing them to use their phones to officially ‘time in’ at which point their paychecks are promptly deposited into their accounts in a continuous, seamless stream rather than for them to wait for weeks. They could send money home in real time, and even buy lunch, dinner or little trinkets with what they earned earlier in the morning.
Another aspect of employee benefits is medical insurance. Blockchain will allow contracts to be shared between the employer, healthcare provider, employee, insurer, pharmacist and all other incumbents. This will save the time it takes to verify an employee’s information which previously was done using emails, phone calls and cross checking with multiple companies and their departments. This will afford them an increased amount of transparency.
This is important for employers because it can save them from misclassification battles and save their company from spending legal fees in disputes such as enforcing employment contracts.
So what makes blockchain technology so transparent?
Blockchain technology allows peers to exchange valuable pieces of information with each other without having to rely on a middleman, which traditionally would be the bank, governments and other agents. Any piece of information can be authenticated, this could be virtual currency such as Bitcoin, intellectual property and even resumes.
All of this is done on a decentralized virtual ledger which is made up of a trail of validated facts. Each transaction and its details are recorded across a network of computers. Everyone who has access to this virtual ledger receives these details and all parties agree to its accuracy. A ‘block’ of data is then created and added to the existing chain of blocks. Once added, the piece of ‘block’ becomes irrefutable evidence the authenticity of which cannot be challenged by anyone. What makes this tiny piece of programming code so useful is the fact that is permanent and unalterable.
Once on the blockchain, data can only be added, and not removed, thus providing a public historical record of transactions which shares what is owned by whom.
