A good employee benefits package can play a big part in the success of any UK business. However, given that 25% of UK employees are not satisfied with their benefits, it’s an area ripe for improvement.
There are so many employee benefits to choose from. So, how do you know which ones are worth the cost and will make a real difference to your business? This guide covers the best employee benefits and perks workers value from their employer.
Besides the obvious benefits each solution offers, a top employee benefits package:
Stress and low job satisfaction are becoming pervasive trends within the UK workforce. In our recent Employee Benefits survey, 53% of employees cited work to be their main cause of stress. Ignoring statistics like this could end up being costly for organisations.
It’s well known that stress can have a detrimental effect on mental and physical health. As an employer, it’s in your best interest to do what you can to help your employees combat stress.
Left alone, it could lead to bigger problems, such as depression and anxiety. This can have a knock on effect to an employee’s work performance. It can lower motivation, morale, and productivity. It could also end up being quite costly if it results in long-term sickness.
A comprehensive employee benefits package can go some way in helping your staff work through these issues.
There are two main types of employee benefits:
An auto-enrolment Workplace Pension is mandatory in the UK. Employees and employers must make minimum contributions to a pension scheme. Beyond this, there is still a lot you can do to make your group pension a valuable employee benefit.
According to our latest workplace pension survey, 41% of employees listed additional pension contributions as one of the most important employee benefits. And, 56% said that pension provisions were an important factor when considering a new employer.
When executed correctly, a workplace pension evolves from a mandatory requirement to a benefit your workforce will value the most.
To set up the best workplace pension for your business, you should give real thought to the following questions:
Another thing to think about is if your current employees actually understand their workplace pension? If an employee does not understand something, they won’t value it. In recent survey findings, 41% of staff said they don’t understand corporate pensions. We find this too often the case with workplace pensions and half the battle is good communication.
Whether it be retirement webinars or 1-2-1 financial education, helping staff to understand the importance of saving for tomorrow makes all the difference.
Besides finding our clients the best group pension, much of our work is providing the tools and support to deliver great communication to educate employees. We also aim to increase their engagement with their workplace pension.
At the end of December 2023, NHS data revealed 7.6 million people were on NHS waiting lists in England. Around 3.3 million of these have been waiting more than 18 weeks.
If a worker had to wait 18 weeks for treatment with a debilitating health condition, this would have a considerable impact on their life. Your business could also face difficulties. They may need time off sick, for instance, or not be able to work to their full capacity due to their condition.
It’s here company-paid Private Health Insurance can support your employees.
Group Health Insurance gives your staff access to top-notch healthcare in private UK hospitals. This lets them bypass NHS waiting lists for eligible acute conditions. They therefore get treated faster and may go back to work sooner.
Many households would struggle financially if a wage earner passed away. Yet, only a third of adults have Life Insurance. This would leave the majority of families in difficulty.
That’s why company-paid life cover (also known as Death In Service Insurance) is a valuable perk for uninsured Brits. 26% of whom said Life Insurance is a benefit they’d like.
Cost is a big barrier to the uptake of individual Life Insurance. Offering group cover, therefore, not only shows your employees you care but also takes a weight off their shoulders. They have peace of mind knowing their loved ones have financial protection without having to pay a penny.
Group Life Insurance pays out if one of your workers sadly passes away while under contract with your company. You set the payout amount, which is normally a multiple of each worker’s salary.
A typical payout is between 2 and 4 times their salary. However, cover for up to 15 times earnings is possible with some insurers.
The policy pays out into a company-owned trust. From there, it’s distributed to the employee’s family, sidestepping any inheritance tax issues on the payout.
The family can use this payment to cover funeral costs, pay off loans or meet everyday expenses.
Nearly half of UK adults told us money worries are a significant cause of stress. This makes financial concerns one of the biggest stressors workers face. In fact, 1 in 5 employees said they wouldn’t survive longer than a week on their savings if they were unable to work.
Employers can help by making employees feel more financially secure. One way to achieve this is by introducing some form of comprehensive sick pay, so staff know their income won’t just drop off a cliff if they’re unwell.
This might include a set number of days / weeks of full pay, over and above the limited Statutory Sick Pay the government requires employers to offer.
But for further protection, you could consider offering Group Income Protection Insurance.
Group Income Protection pays out if an illness or injury prevents staff from working. This can be a vital lifeline for those without savings or any other means of supporting themselves if they’re ill.
If an employee is too ill to work, Group Income Protection pays out a monthly benefit (a proportion of their wages) to support them.
Employees can claim for 1, 2 or 5 years or, alternatively, you can buy a policy that covers them until retirement.
The risks of developing a serious illness during your working life is higher than you might think.
For example, according to Cancer Research UK, nearly 1 in 2 people born in the UK in 1961 will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. Meanwhile, the British Heart Foundation says that more than 100,000 hospital admissions in the UK each year are due to heart attacks. That’s a heart attack every 5 minutes.
Group Critical Illness Insurance pays out a tax-free cash lump sum if one of your staff is diagnosed with a critical illness. The top 3 claims on such policies are for cancer, heart attacks, and strokes.
The payout is typically between 1 and 5 times an employee’s annual salary.
Most policies cover around 12 critical illnesses as standard. Some have the option to add 20-25 additional illnesses for an extra premium.
Most policies come with a range of additional benefits on top of the core cover, including:
Most importantly, most of these can be used whenever. The employee doesn’t have to be in the middle of a claim. As such, they can be a powerful tool for businesses to support their team’s health and wellbeing.
These can help staff address niggling issues before they become full-blown health concerns needing treatment, time off, or a claim.
We have a team of expert employee benefit consultants who provide independent advice. They compare all the leading group insurance providers in the UK for you, including Aviva, AIG, Bupa, AXA, Legal & General and Vitality.
If you’re looking to set-up an employee benefits package or want to review any existing schemes, give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
As well as paid insurance policies, there is an array of low cost or even free employee benefits to consider. Despite the low cost, these benefits are still valuable to staff. They can become a core part of your overall proposition and make a real difference to your team.
Many employers are adopting flexible working, also known as flexi-time, allowing staff to have more say over their working hours.
Flexible working is one of the fastest growing workplace trends. It’s only accelerated since the mass shift to remote work during the pandemic.
Considering the cost of introducing flexi-time is zero, it’s one of the best perks to start with.
All employers are legally obliged to offer staff at least 5.6 weeks paid annual leave. Many companies are actually attracting top talent by increasing their holiday entitlement.
Large corporations, such as Netflix and LinkedIn, offer unlimited holiday. This is to encourage employees to take regular time off to recharge.
While this might not be suitable for every business, there are some excellent benefits to giving employees more holiday. Some companies offer Holiday Trading where staff can buy or sell their holiday allowance.
One of the downsides of a limited holiday allowance is that many workers adopt the habit of saving their allowance in case they make plans later on.
This means at the end of the holiday year, many with holiday allowance remaining will try to use it up all at once.
From a business perspective, these absences, usually taken by several workers at once, result in a significant loss in productivity.
For employees, saving up their holiday instead of using it during the year means they aren’t getting the regular breaks they need to relax outside of work. Having unlimited holiday, or simply more holiday, could reduce such situations.
For parents, one of the most difficult aspects of maintaining a full-time job is arranging childcare. This is partly down to a lack of services.
But cost is also a major barrier. In some instances, the cost of childcare can result in a financial loss if both parents work full time, as opposed to one parent staying at home. Many find leaving the workforce costs less than paying for childcare.
Employers offering childcare resources can relieve some of the stress associated with this. You could provide:
What you’re able to offer will depend on your business. Larger companies are better suited to offering on-site nursery facilities, for instance. While a more affordable option for smaller businesses could be to offer more flexible working, so parents can better manage work with their childcare schedule.
Even something as simple as providing information about local childcare options can reduce some of the stress involved in arranging childcare.
32% of employees told us that a lack of career progression in their job role is a top reason for their unhappiness. For those looking for a new job, 37% cited career advancement opportunities to be a top benefit they look for.
These numbers may partially explain why workers increasingly hop from job to job instead of staying put. Without opportunities to learn and progress, staff may turn to a new job to achieve career development.
To combat this, some of the most common and cost-effective options you could offer include:
Training employees can open doors for them and your business. It can help your company stay up to date with industry trends and give you an advantage over competitors.
Meanwhile, training employees for management roles allows for better internal mobility. Internal hiring tends to boost morale and increase engagement. It’s also generally more cost-effective over hiring externally.
Giving staff the chance to climb the career ladder within your business makes them less likely to leave to find a better role elsewhere.
A combination of stress and inactivity are becoming some of the biggest health concerns for UK workers.
Our population is around 20% less active than in the 1960s. What’s more alarming is that physical inactivity is associated with 1 in 6 deaths in the UK.
Another factor is stress, which has caused 46% of employees to adopt unhealthy eating habits. While 29% report increasing their alcohol intake.
To ensure these habits don’t lead to long-term health problems, employers can help support their team’s physical and mental health by providing:
While top global employers can offer onsite gyms or lunchtime yoga classes, this is not the case for all companies. The most popular healthy living benefit SMEs offer is discounted gym memberships.
If your business has a small budget, there are alternatives to help promote a healthy lifestyle, such as:
In our 2022 Workplace Pension survey, we found that 29% of employees don’t think their employer contributes enough to their pension. 49% also said they would consider increasing their contributions if their employer did too.
As people progress in their career, the threat of being unable to afford retirement begins to loom. It can prove a great source of stress and worry.
Since auto-enrolment, the number of workers saving into a pension via their employer has risen considerably. However, many feel underwhelmed by the minimum contributions employers must make. This is set at 3%.
To counter this, you could match your employees’ pension contributions rather than paying 3%. As well as generating good will among staff, this could help cut your corporation tax bill, as employer pension contributions are classed as a business expense.
When employees don’t feel valued, they see no reason to stay.
It doesn’t take much to show employees that you care about their contribution to the business. Giving deserving employees a reward or gift when they have worked particularly hard can make times of stress feel worthwhile.
Finding the best perks, gifts, and rewards to give employees offers the opportunity to get creative. For example, you might offer:
Recognising your staff’s effort gives them an incentive to be more engaged with the organisation.
Rewards also motivate workers and help businesses maintain high productivity and employee satisfaction. Happier employees mean better employee retention.
In a time where the cost of living is high, helping your employees save some money through their benefits can go a long way. There are a number of benefits that help staff save some pennies in one way or another, including:
An employee discount scheme provides staff with savings on everyday purchases. From groceries, clothes and homeware to travel and technology, employees can end up saving hundreds of pounds a year.
Many employers are looking for ways they can help their team make their salary go further. And the best part? Introducing a discount scheme only costs a few pounds per month for a company.
The My.Drewberry platform has a retail discount scheme you can set up for your employees. Considering offering discounts to your staff? Get in touch by calling 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
Techscheme is a UK government programme allowing employees to get a new piece of tech or homeware through their workplace. It can help your employees save money as it’s set up via salary sacrifice.
What this means is your employees exchange part of their gross pay to cover the cost of their new products. By doing this employees can save up to 10% in National Insurance (depending on their tax bracket).
The cost of the item is then spread out over 12 months, making pricey products more affordable. Although the name suggests you can only buy tech, the good news is your staff can actually choose products from Currys or IKEA, this includes things such as laptops and PCs, TVs, and even sofas.
Cycle to work schemes work in the same way as Techscheme. Your employees can get a brand new bike or e-bike and accessories through salary sacrifice. They can save between 23-39% on the purchase and pay nothing upfront.
Not only is this employee benefit cost effective, it can also help to support a company’s eco initiatives. Commuting to work on a bike is more environmentally friendly than driving or taking public transport. It has health benefits, too. Cycling is a great form of exercise, so offering a cycle to work scheme to your team can help them stay fit and healthy.
The setup is easy. All employers need to do is register online, then your employees can apply for the scheme. Or, you can work with an Employee Benefits Consultancy such as Drewberry, who can help you set the scheme up and ensure it works alongside your other benefits.
Employees will be able to request a certain sum to use for their purchase. It’s then down to you, the employer, to approve their request and cover the costs of their items. You’ll then receive this back over 12 months and save on National Insurance.
Nadeem Farid
Head of Health & Wellbeing Benefits
So, you’ve set up the best employee benefits for your company. How can you let your employees know what’s on offer? This is where total reward statements come into play.
Total reward is a term used to describe a company’s entire employee benefits package. And many employers use it as a solution to show staff what is available and the total value of their employment compensation. It can include:
By creating a total reward statement which encompasses all the benefits you provide, you can highlight to staff the great bundle of benefits and rewards you offer.
If implemented well, as part of a well-thought out reward strategy, total reward offers a host of benefits, including:
When team members understand and value the benefits their employer offers, they are more likely to show higher levels of engagement.
This can lead to a happier and more productive workforce, who are less likely to be tempted away for a small increase in salary elsewhere.
Joseph Toft
Senior Consultant, Employee Benefits
Employee Benefits for small businesses are just as important as they are for big corporations. But few small business owners offer an employee benefits package. This is often due to a limited budget. But not providing any benefits makes it difficult to gain the competitive edge you need over your competitors.
Offering benefits doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are some of the best employee benefits offered by major international corporations, as well as more affordable alternatives for your business.
Setting up and maintaining a competitive Employee Benefits package requires a decent bit of admin, so it quickly becomes time consuming. We do the heavy lifting for businesses of all sizes in the UK, so you can focus on delivering your own proposition.
If you need help setting up group insurance or reviewing existing cover, give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
We started Drewberry™ because we were tired of being treated like a number.
We all deserve a first class service when it comes to things as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to talk to us.