22 Nov 2018

Reward research: the top 10 employee benefits

What makes your employees happy at work? In our Employee Happiness Index (2018) research, we found that good managers (88 per cent), workplace culture and colleagues (85 per cent) and a strong work/life balance (84 per cent) are the top three factors in choosing a workplace today. So too are employee benefits.

Our findings reveal that, on average, employees who are most happy with their workplace benefits are up to a fifth more engaged than those who are least happy. The data also suggests that it’s not just quality but also quantity that can make a big difference. Employees who receive more than twenty benefits are, on average, 17 per cent more engaged than those who receive fewer than 10.

What are the most popular employee benefits in 2018?

The Employee Happiness Index 2018 surveyed more than 20,000 employees and HR leaders to find out the top 10 employee benefits of today’s employees. It investigated what the most popular benefits were, as well as which benefits employees say are most important to them, and which ones are most appreciated.

The survey also measured employee satisfaction and engagement across a range of popular benefits, including:

Health and wellness benefits (gym, fitness, massage etc)
Pension benefits
Employee insurances
Employee healthcare
Flexible working and vacation benefits
Employee personal finance benefits (financial counseling, advice, services etc)
Employee financial incentives (bonus, commission etc)
Work/life balance benefits (home cleaning, food delivery, childcare etc)
Career, training and skills development
Employee clubs, associations and events
Workplace food and drink benefits (lunch subsidy, coffee, fruit etc)
Employee mobility benefits (commuting, bikes, company cars etc).

Top 10 most appreciated employee benefits 2018

Health and wellness benefits are ranked as the most appreciated benefit for all employee groups – apart from the workplace’s youngest employees who instead opted for food and drink benefits and staff clubs.

And that’s not the only way in which Generation Z employees differ. While the same benefits feature in the top five across all other generations (albeit with varying priority), today’s graduates and young professionals were the only workplace group to include work/life balance benefits in their top five. Surprisingly, career and development benefits don’t feature in the top five for generation Z employees – suggesting that these benefits have completed the transition from “nice to have” (appreciated) to “needed” (important).

Counting down from 10, here are the top most popular benefits: