The best employers know that focusing on salary alone will only get you so far. You need to provide salary and support to engender loyalty amongst your people.
This is why employee benefits matter. They provide the support that impacts all aspects of people’s lives – our health, our happiness, our family, and even our future.
From an employer's perspective, they are one of the most important factors in determining the success of your recruitment and retention efforts. And our new research suggests that now might be a good time to refresh your benefits package, especially from a global employee benefits perspective.
Our study shows that nine out of ten candidates will strongly consider your benefits before deciding whether to take a job with you. It also reveals that more than two-thirds of employees have moved jobs to secure a better benefits package or would do so in the future.
That’s a pretty big number, and while 62% of employers believe they already offer attractive benefits, unfortunately, this view is not echoed by the wider workforce. We found that more than eight out of ten (84%) of employees are unhappy with their current package, a worrying statistic given that there are record numbers of job vacancies to tempt them elsewhere.
It hasn’t always been easy for employers to keep up with employees’ benefits needs – particularly when they’re employing people from radically different backgrounds or across multiple countries.
On the plus side, however, change is now easier than ever, with tech-enabled tools and advice available to deliver a competitive, flexible benefits package wherever you operate. So let’s take a closer look at what employees are asking for and consider how you can better meet their ever-changing needs.
The top five benefits currently being offered to employees
It’s no surprise to see pensions topping the list of the most popular benefits on offer. Pensions have long been the most sought-after benefit by employees with an eye on the future, and over the past decade, governments such as the UK one have made a concerted effort to get as many workers as possible into private pension schemes.
But what’s notable about this list is how the pandemic has influenced employee preferences. In the aftermath of the pandemic, flexible working is commonplace across organisations. Many employers have used their benefits package to step up support for remote working by adding extra mental health provisions, home office equipment, or even money for co-working spaces.
Mental health support, which has been rising up the corporate agenda as the impact of work on mental health issues caused by work has become increasingly clear, ranks particularly high on our list. With the pandemic having a negative effect on most people’s mental health, it’s clear that employees genuinely value any efforts made by employers to proactively support workforce wellbeing.
Simply put, the research suggests you're missing a trick if you don’t offer benefits such as mental health support or flexible working.
The top five benefits employees wish they were offered
Employee wishlists should generally be taken with a pinch of salt. After all, who wouldn’t want more holiday, a shorter working week, or greater incentives for performing well at work?
The challenge for employers, however, is that employees no longer see these benefits as nice-to-haves or perks. Flexible working is becoming a prerequisite for millions of desk-based workers. Extra holiday days, unlimited paid leave and paid ‘workcations’ are all increasingly common. Even a four-day work week, until recently seen as fanciful, is now being rapidly adopted across various industries. In such a competitive market, can you really afford to fall behind on benefits that are increasingly being viewed as standard, or non-negotiable?
It’s also worth bearing in mind that employee preferences will continue to evolve as more households are affected by the cost-of-living crisis. Given the rate at which prices are rising, benefits that help ease the burden on households could also rank high on the wishlist over the next few months.
Reorganising your workforce around a shorter working week or creating a new bonus/incentive scheme might not be affordable for you right now. And it’s certainly not something that can be done overnight.
Luckily, plenty of other benefits are much easier to roll out, without costing too much or adding to your admin. Here are some quick wins that are sure to go down well with your team:
Of course, you don’t need to give all of these benefits to everyone. That would make things pretty expensive, and it isn’t really necessary. Different employees value different things. It’s all about their life circumstances and individual preferences. For example, health & wellbeing benefits appeal more to fully office-based workers than hybrid workers. 18-24-year-olds are more likely to be interested in entertainment benefits than older age groups.
The trick is to make all of the benefits options available and allow people to pick the ones that make most sense for them.
To extend the range of benefits options you provide, you’re better off moving over to a solution that allows the use of a self-managed flexible benefits allowance such as the Boundless Borderless Benefits platform. Don’t worry – it’s not complicated. In fact, it’s a much easier way to administer benefits, one that also lets people tailor their benefits packages to suit their specific needs. Your employees log into the platform, select the benefits they want from a list of pre-vetted suppliers, and can change or modify their package whenever they like. All you need to do is agree on each person’s benefits allowance. The added value of choosing the Boundless platform for benefits is that our it sits on top of our employment solution, meaning the benefit allowance can easily be integrated in the monthly payroll.
Our research shows that people don’t want benefits to be mandated from on high. They want the flexibility to pick and choose the options that are most relevant to their lives. And as of today, only around half of organisations offer flexible plans, with just 10% giving employees an allowance to allocate as they please. That number is understandable because managing this kind of flexibility, especially across borders, is absolute administrative hell.
It’s time for everyone to get smarter about benefits – what you offer, how you deliver it, and how you manage it. Flexible, self-managed benefit packages are the future of benefits provision, and it’s worth making the switch sooner rather than later, because if you don’t offer people more flexibility, there’s every chance one of your rivals might seize the initiative and take your valuable member of staff.
To learn more about how Boundless can help you deliver and manage winning benefits packages seamlessly across borders, alongside employing people in those countries, visit https://stagingwebsite.boundlesshq.com/borderless-benefits/ and chat with an expert today.
All evidence suggests that the remote work revolution is here to stay. The vast majority of employees now expect the chance to work remotely to some capacity and if they don’t get what they want, they’re prepared to turn in their resignation and move to a more accommodating employer.
Your employee benefits tell a story about what kind of business you are and how you value your people. If you get your benefits package wrong, you could miss out on the best hires or lose existing team members to the competition.
When we talk about benefits, it's important to make a distinction between those which are simply a top-up of statutory benefits and perks that have a monetary value. Perks, also known as benefits in kind, represent extra taxable income and often require additional taxation.
A benefit in kind is any non-cash benefit of monetary value that an employer provides to employees. Unlike statutory benefits, which are mandated by the government, benefits in kind are something that a company offers at its own will.
Getting benefits right is a big deal, particularly given that the international jobs market is more competitive than ever. If you’re struggling to attract overseas candidates, here are five steps to make your benefits package market-leading in every location.
An extensive guide on how benefits in kind tax works around the world, when employees are exempted from it, how companies can offset it, and how to file benefit in kind taxes accurately for your employees.