Why companies offer employee benefits
Across the board, employers see benefits as the primary vehicle to protect and enhance the wellbeing of their employees. 90% of HR and Reward professionals believe that the benefits an employer offers directly impact employee wellbeing.
A well-defined and targeted benefits package can support every aspect of an employee’s wellbeing – physical, emotional, and financial. And with employers assuming a greater role in protecting the wellbeing of their people, both inside and outside of work, benefits provision is now a key strategic focus for business and HR leaders.
Benefits provision is also seen as important in addressing major workforce-related challenges around performance, productivity, talent retention and attraction. 85% of HR and Reward professionals state that benefits can tackle issues around quiet quitting and 84% claim that benefits can help align employee values with organisational purpose.
Employers have started to think about benefits, not just as a way to reward people, but as a way to support them in every aspect of their lives. Whether it’s an employee going through a divorce, suffering from a mental health problem or developing cancer, organisations are telling their people that they’re going to give them support and help them through it.
But now the employer value proposition is much broader - come and work for us, and your life will be better as a result. It's a seismic shift in approach.
The employer value proposition has evolved. It used to represent the deal the individual would get from the organisation – come and work for us and give us your time, creativity and ideas, and we’ll give you this amount of money. But now the employer value proposition is much broader – come and work for us, and your life will be better as a result. It’s a seismic shift in approach.
Benefits provision is being driven primarily by employee wellbeing needs and this is enabling HR leaders to secure budget and sponsorship for wide-ranging wellbeing programmes which were previously
unattainable. Many organisations are far more inclined to invest in wellbeing-based employee benefits with tangible, measurable outcomes rather than some of the more abstract and conceptual wellbeing initiatives.
“Employee benefits are now the vehicle for organisations to deliver on the promises of their employee value proposition, and to differentiate their employee experience. People can apply for a job believing that an employer takes wellbeing seriously, but they only find out whether there is substance behind the company’s promises when something goes wrong, and they need support. This is where benefits come into their own, demonstrating to current and prospective employees that their employer really is there to help and protect them.”
Gethin Nadin Chief Innovation Officer, Benefex
