The top 10 most valuable benefits
When we asked UK employees to identify the three types of benefits that they find most valuable, health and health insurance, financial wellbeing, and lifestyle savings came out on top.
This is certainly in line with what we’ve seen in the trends on our own benefits technology platform, OneHub. When we analyse the millions of data points for employee benefit selections on OneHub, it’s clear that benefits that support financial wellbeing and provide financial protection have seen the biggest increase in popularity and now top the table of employee selections. Across the board, people see the greatest value in insured benefits.
Interestingly, however, some of the benefits that employees are now looking for to enhance their financial wellbeing, such as share schemes and access to affordable loans, are not currently being offered by many employers. Of course, not all organisations can offer share schemes, but the fact that so few employers currently do shows that many organisations could be doing more to meet employee needs.
Similarly, only 4% of employers offer access to affordable loans, despite the value that employees are placing on this as a way to consolidate debt, access cheaper interest rates and gain more control on their finances.
“Without doubt, extending benefits provision to address all aspects of financial wellbeing is proving to be more difficult for employers than previous initiatives to provide greater support around mental health and emotional wellbeing. Some organisations are still shying away from areas of financial wellbeing, often because they are worried about being seen to be offering financial advice or endorsing specific financial products. On the whole, there is definitely a need for employers to be more responsive to evolving employee needs and quicker to react to changing external pressures. The data suggests that some employers have been slow to revise their benefits offering in light of a cost-of-living crisis, which has been getting worse for more than 12 months.”
Charlotte Godley VP of Customer Delivery, Benefex
Alongside financial protections, health insurance and access to medical care are still very much a focus for employees. With NHS waiting lists at record highs in the UK and ongoing challenges within the US and Indian healthcare systems, employees place enormous value on health insurance plans.
“Industry data from the UK shows the speed at which the workplace healthcare and protection sector is growing. The biggest growth has come in the group PMI market, with providers increasing the number of employees covered by 10.9 per cent in 2022. At the same time, group income protection and group critical illness both increased the number of employees covered by over 5 per cent.
Clearly, employers aren't always able to fund all the benefits employees want, but there is still value in making them available on a voluntary basis. So while there hasn't been a big uptick in employer funded benefits over the past 12 months, employers do have an opportunity to make employees feel valued by offering them access to voluntary versions of these important benefits.”
Stephen Hackett Head of Corporate Benefits, Benefex
We’ve also seen an increase in the popularity of benefits which support wider business objectives. For example, sustainable benefits like electric car schemes and tree planting are now offered by around a third of businesses, and take-up of these types of benefits has more than doubled over the last year.
Interestingly, our research found that 88% of employees think that benefits show them whether an employer aligns with their personal values. As a result, employers are assessing their benefits programmes through the lense of the wider organisational strategy, values and purpose.
