Research: UK Employee Benefits Watch 2018 Report

This year’s report from Thomsons Online Benefits explores the critical role that benefits play in creating the connection between employees and the organisation, making the case for benefits to be perceived as a more strategic part of HR’s toolkit, not simply a tactic to tick the reward box.

Key findings:

• Those employers who are providing a consumer grade experience for employees are twice as effective at enabling employees to make good benefit decisions and at improving employee perception of benefits.
• Of those offering a holistic programme and personalised support at life events, 35 per cent are very effective at offering the benefits their staff want, compared with 0 per cent that do not offer this personalised support.
• Twice as many employers are implementing wellness pots than last year and 40 per cent more employers offer private/virtual GP services.
• 60 per cent of HR and reward professionals who use analytics have implemented mental health initiatives, compared with 26 per cent of those who do not.

The research covers 450 UK employers representing an estimated 1,800,000 employees. The report is broken down into three areas covering: the critical elements of UK benefits strategy; the key to consumer-grade experiences; and creating a holistic programme.