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15 Aug 2018
by Andrew Walker

What benefits employees really get and use

In our 2017 employee benefits survey, we asked 2,002 UK adults to tell us how valuable they would find certain services if they were provided by their employer as part of a benefits package. The results revealed two clear winners, with pensions (95 per cent) and flexible working (91 per cent) valued the most highly. Third place went to health insurance (89 per cent) and fourth, jointly to legal advice and life insurance (87 per cent). It appears that employees look to employers to help them protect their health and financial interests, as well as achieve a work/life balance through flexible working hours.

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Our follow-up survey conducted in June this year, aimed to find out what benefits are actually being used by employees. Research company, Opinium, conducted an online survey of 1,234 employed adults in the UK, who were shown a list of sixteen benefits and asked which if any were available to them and which of them they had used.

So, what’s on offer?

The results of the survey revealed that the most commonly offered benefits from the list were; time off to deal with personal matters (57 per cent), flexible working hours (54 per cent), cycle to work scheme (36 per cent), counselling services (35 per cent), childcare vouchers (33 per cent), discount vouchers (33 per cent), confidential advice lines (30 per cent) and financial advice and health screening (24 per cent).

The least commonly offered benefits were; legal documents, such as wills (15 per cent), company cars (18 per cent), health cash plans and legal advice (20 per cent), medical advice/GP appointments and gym membership (22 per cent) and free fruit in the workplace (23 per cent).

However, 13 per cent of responders claimed not to know whether some of the benefits on the list were offered by their employer or not, so the overall availability of each benefit could be higher.

What’s being used?

The findings relating to the actual usage of benefits revealed a surprising low level of usage overall, and gaps between some of the most widely available benefits and rates of usage. For example, although cycle to work schemes were the third most widely offered benefit (36 per cent), only six per cent of employees had used them. Similarly, childcare vouchers were used by only five per cent of responders, despite 33 per cent saying they were offered as a benefit.

The top five most widely used benefits from the list were: flexible working hours (22 per cent), time off work to deal with a personal issue (16 per cent), free fruit in the workplace (10 per cent), discount vouchers (nine per cent) and health screening and gym membership (seven per cent).

The least widely used benefits were; legal documents, such as wills (three per cent), financial advice, legal advice and childcare vouchers (five per cent), and cycle to work schemes, medical advice/GP appointments, counselling services, company car, health cash plan and confidential advice line (six per cent).

The popularity of flexible working tallies with our previous survey where 91 per cent of employees said they value this kind of benefit. However, the low usage of counselling services (six per cent) and legal advice (five per cent), shows gap between what’s valued and what’s actually used. In our last survey, counselling services were valued by 70 per cent of respondents and legal advice by 87 per cent. This, of course, may simply be that employees rarely encounter the need for these services, but value the fact that they are available to them should the need arise.

Usage between ages and genders

When we looked at the difference usage levels between genders, it appears that, perhaps unsurprisingly, more women (22 per cent) than men (16 per cent) are taking advantage of flexible working hours. However, usage of the other benefits listed were pretty equal between genders.

A difference in usage across age groups was more pronounced with, on average, 12 per cent of employees in their 20s using one or more of the benefits listed, compared to just four per cent of employees in their 50s. The average usage rates for other age groups were; 30s (nine per cent), 40s (six per cent) and 60s (three per cent). The higher usage levels among younger employees could be that, as they are likely to earn less than their older colleagues, they get more financial value from the benefits on offer, so use them more.

What the findings means

When looking at these findings in conjunction with our previous research, it appears that while the actual usage of many benefits is occasional, employees genuinely value the availability of them to call on in times of need. I believe, therefore, that employers should look to make a wide range of benefits available, even if on a discounted basis, while accepting that usage levels overall are likely to be quite low. Just the existence of benefits gives employees peace of mind and helps to engender their trust and loyalty to their employer. 

And, although it is encouraging to see younger employees being actively engaged with their benefits, our research suggests that perhaps employers should be doing more to make their benefits more relevant and attractive to their older employees.

Read the complete findings from the employee benefits survey.

The author is Andrew Walker, commercial director at Epoq. 

This article was provided by Epoq.

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