4. Employees want flexible as well as financial benefits There is widespread agreement from employers that in 2019, employees are looking for more than just a salary, with 87% of SMEs participating in our study believing this to be the case. But one in three SMEs (30%) believe ‘soft’ benefits have no or only slight importance in recruiting and retaining staff. However, some of these benefits are, according to our study, of real appeal to employees. • The benefits that employees believe are most important for their employer to offer are traditional financial benefits. The single most important 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%). • Beyond the top financial rewards, it is flexibility that holds most appeal for SME employees, with four of the top eight most attractive benefits offering some form of flexibility or improvement to work–life balance. Flexible working or remote working is viewed as the third most important benefit overall, cited by one in four SME employees (26%). The option of working a four–day week is important to 24% of respondents, and performance–based leave is prioritised by one in ten (10%). • While attitudes to most financial benefits are fairly uniform across ages and genders, there is greater disparity in the attitude of different age groups to some flexible benefits. This is most striking when it comes to flexible and / or remote working, which is much more popular for younger age bands.
• Women place significantly more importance than men on benefits that allow flexibility – particularly flexible and/or remote working, which is cited by 35% of female employees compared to just 26% of male employees. • Female employees and younger age groups place much more importance on family–related benefits such as childcare vouchers, parental leave beyond the minimum requirement, or the provision of childcare in the workplace, than their male counterparts. • Benefits providing some form of social interaction, including the organisation of team social events or the provision of social space within the work environment, are also more important to the younger age groups. • Other types of benefit cited by employees include professional development and training, Employee Assistance Programmes, and community leave.
The top 10 most important benefits For SME Employees
Benefit
%
Financial bonuses / incentives
30%
Pension contributions over the minimum legal requirement
27%
Flexible and/or remote working
26%
Four–day working week
24%
Professional development and training
20%
Life insurance and/or critical illness insurance
15%
Performance–based leave
10%
Holiday buy, sell and trade schemes
9%
Free or subsidised travel (e.g. Cycle to Work scheme, company car etc)
8%
Team social events / functions
7%
Whitepaper – The Engaged Employer 09
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