Why is everyone talking about lifecycle management?

The Roland Berger study on Benefit Trends 2025 was presented at Zukunft Personal Nord. A term that also floated around the exhibition hall was used throughout the study: "lifecycle management". The concept behind it is simple: employees have very different interests depending on their stage of life. While some focus on their career entry, vacations and further training, others are already balancing family, career and retirement planning. The needs are as different as the realities. And this is precisely where the concept of lifecycle management comes in - a strategic approach that designs and offers benefits along the various stages of life.

Steven Knaack

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4 min reading time

What does lifecycle management mean?

Instead of distributing benefits according to the scattergun principle, lifecycle management aims to create target group-specific offers - tailored to the respective life situation of employees. This means that your benefits portfolio should cover both professional and private phases and provide support from onboarding to retirement. (1)

Why does this approach make sense?

Benefits have the strongest impact when they are personally relevant - i.e. when they hit the "pain points" of employees in their respective phase of life.
By providing targeted support, the right specialists can be recruited for the respective position and retained in the long term. Junior and senior positions rarely have the same benefits requirements.
69% of HR managers see lifecycle benefits as an important future trend. (2)

This is how the concept works:

The career is divided into different phases. Every employee goes through roughly these phases. Point 3 "Starting a family" is of course not suitable for everyone, but can also be covered by further training, more flexible working hours to pursue hobbies or travel, or support with a start-up or the next career step.

A lifecycle approach can cover the following life phases, for example:

1. onboarding & career entry
→ mobility offers, starter vouchers, discount codes, mentoring

2. work & everyday life
→ Home office equipment, meal allowances, benefits in kind, discount codes

3. starting a family
→ childcare, parental leave plus, fertility benefits

4. health & well-being
→ Mental health offers, fitness subsidies, EAPs

5. careers & development
→ training budgets, learning platforms, coaching

6. retirement planning
→ company pension scheme, financial advice

Depending on the phase of life, different benefits are desired and can be used by the company in a targeted manner to retain or attract employees. Of course, the benefits should not be taken away from employees as soon as you move on to the next phase of their lives. The list is merely intended to help you as an HR department think about the topic of benefits.

Conclusion: A benefits portfolio like a CV

The new approach is therefore leading to a change in thinking: instead of offering as many benefits as possible, the right benefits are offered at the right time. This leads to greater satisfaction and increases employee retention.

If you're looking for more ideas for benefits, take a look at this list of ideas from 2024, which are still relevant today.

Would you like to test our discount platform without obligation?

Good idea, because the selection of different brands means that discount platforms cover every phase of the life cycle. Simply write to us at employers@futurebens.co or on LinkedIn and we'll get back to you.

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Sources:

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(1): Roland Berger, Lost in the German employee benefits jungle? Key market trends 2025, 2025, pp. 9-10: https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Insights/Publications/Lost-in-the-German-employee-benefits-jungle-Key-market-trends-2025.html

(2): Roland Berger, Lost in the German employee benefits jungle? Key market trends 2025, 2025, p. 9: https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Insights/Publications/Lost-in-the-German-employee-benefits-jungle-Key-market-trends-2025.html

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