Employee Benefits poll: More than one-third (39%) of organisations said that private medical and dental insurance is the most popular form of employee financial support that they offer, according to a survey of Employee Benefits readers.
One in 10 (11%) respondents answered that holiday purchase or sell back options was their most popular form of employee financial support, while 9% said this was death-in-service benefits.
Just 7% said the most popular form of financial support was discount schemes, hardship loans and pensions advice, and 4% said season ticket loans. Meanwhile, 2% revealed that mortgage advice, bikes-for-work schemes, critical illness cover and group income protection was the most favoured, and 9% said that another form of financial support was most popular.
Last month, Employee Benefits reported that supporting employees with cost-of-living issues was rated as eighth on employers’ corporate agendas, while financial wellbeing followed in twelfth place, according to research by Close Brothers’ Workplace Financial Wellbeing Services.
The firm’s Spotlight on UK financial wellbeing report revealed that 74% of employer respondents provide a pension and 57% offer death-in-service benefits, both of which feature on employees’ list of most-wanted benefits. Holiday purchase or sell back options feature in employees’ list of top 10 most-wanted benefits, however, this only just makes it into employers’ top 20 benefits, with just 26% offering it.
Jeanette Makings, head of workplace financial wellbeing at Close Brothers Asset Management, said: “It is increasingly clear that workplace benefits and financial wellbeing programmes have failed to keep pace with shifts at a moment when employees are more engaged than they have ever been with their finances. With the significant influence financial wellbeing has on mental wellbeing, there are huge benefits for employers that are alive to and agile in making changes to their workplace benefits and wellbeing programmes to better align them with employees’ needs.”