The role of employee benefits in wellbeing
The research shows that both employers and employees have come to regard benefits as the most important and effective way for organisations to support and enhance employee wellbeing.
90% of HR and Reward directors believe that the benefits an employer offers directly impact employee wellbeing. Indeed, wellbeing is now the principal driver and biggest goal for employee benefits, and its importance will continue to grow over the next two years.
Wellbeing is also seen as the principal reason for organisations to offer employee benefits – with 66% of HR and Reward professionals pointing to enhanced wellbeing as a key objective.
From an employee perspective, 91% state that the benefits that an employer offers them can directly impact their own wellbeing.
Significantly, the research highlights how employees are increasingly prioritising benefits which directly support all aspects of their wellbeing and, in particular, their financial wellbeing. Amongst the top 10 most valued benefits are life insurance, health screenings, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, pension contributions, private medical insurance, and income protection.
More than a third of HR and Reward professionals state that employees have become more engaged with benefits over the last 12 months, an indication that significant numbers of people are viewing benefits as an important way to manage their financial, physical and emotional wellbeing.
Indeed, employees point to financial wellbeing, protection against illness, and mental health and emotional wellbeing as the most important ways in which they are looking for benefits provision to support them. Significantly, financial wellbeing is now considered to be the most critical focus for benefits, with 65% of employees viewing it as very important, compared to 53% in 2022.
