What Employees Want
There is widespread agreement from employers that in 2019, employees are looking for more than just a salary. Indeed, 87% of SMEs participating in our study believe this to be the case, just slightly less than the 93% of representatives of large businesses who are of the same opinion.
Traditional financial benefits are still king
The group of benefits that employees believe are most important for their employer to offer are traditional financial benefits. The single most popular benefit for workers in smaller businesses is financial bonuses and incentives, cited by 30% of respondents. This is followed by the provision of pension contributions over and above the minimum legal requirement, cited by one in four employees (27%). Other financial benefits offered are mid–table in their desirability for employees, including life and/or critical illness insurance, prioritised by 15% of respondents; free or subsidised travel (8%); and discounts on leisure and shopping (6%). “For all the increasing popularity of new, innovative types of benefit and ways of working, traditional financial bonuses and generous pension schemes still hold the most appeal for workers,” said Anthony Vollmer. “Businesses seeking to develop a benefits package should always design the ‘perks’ to be relevant to their people, but unsurprisingly, when people feel their standard of living is being squeezed then it is money in the bank that is most important to them, so a strong core of financial incentives is essential.” Flexibility and work–life balance The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices states that encouraging flexible work is good for everyone and has been shown to have a positive impact on productivity, worker retention and quality of work . It also demonstrates the increasing importance of flexibility that holds most appeal for SME employees, referencing a rise over recent years in the proportion of employees saying that flexible working was important to them when they decided to take their current job.
But while businesses are clear that employees expect more from them, they are much less clear about exactly what ‘more’ is – certainly when it comes to benefits. Indeed, one in three SMEs (30%) believe ‘soft’ benefits have no or only slight importance in recruiting and retaining staff – a greater degree of scepticism towards soft benefits than exists in larger businesses (22%). But as we have seen earlier in this report, there is often a gap between the perception of SMEs and the perception of their employees. So, what do employees in smaller businesses really want in terms of benefits?
Whitepaper – The Engaged Employer 19
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