Employee benefit take-up is left to the employees to initiate themselves in over a third of businesses, or 38 per cent.
This is according to research from Grid, which found that 49 per cent of businesses said that they didn’t want to pressurise employees to take up benefits, 31 per cent said they would prefer lower take-up as that helps manage costs, and 17 per cent said they don’t have the resources to encourage take-up of benefits continually.
Around 36 per cent of employees said they are left to initiate take-up themselves. Only 29 per cent said their employers actively encourage them to use benefits and 31 per cent were not sure or didn’t know, suggesting a lack of clear communication.
Meanwhile, just 18 per cent of employees whose company offers benefits are fully aware of everything available to them, including company pension, private healthcare, employee assistance programmes, cash plans, life assurance, long-term sick pay and critical illness cover. Around 34 per cent said they were aware of only some benefits, while 10 per cent were unaware of any.
Around 18 per cent of employees said that they understand all of the employee benefits available to them; 38 per cent said they understand most of them, but 40 per cent only understand ‘some’ of them.
Additionally, 31 per cent assume that choosing not to communicate their employee benefits programmes will reduce take-up and cut costs.
According to Grid, some of these benefits, which include group risk, come at no additional cost to either the employee or the employer. It argues that without this support, health conditions are more likely to escalate, and that can be where costs spiral, with employees needing more intensive support, taking longer absences, and potentially leading to higher claims.
Grid spokesperson Katharine Moxham says: “It is surprisingly common for employee benefits uptake to be left to employees. Worryingly, the research shows this approach limits awareness and engagement, leaving employees unsure of the value or relevance of what is on offer. If employers don’t want their staff to overlook the benefits they offer them, we would encourage them to proactively champion their employee benefits programmes.
“When responsibility for benefits uptake sits with employees, both awareness and understanding will suffer. Few staff are likely to use benefits they don’t know about or do not fully understand, creating wider knock-on effects: benefits are not simply a goodwill gesture, they support retention, productivity and form a key part of overall remuneration. If utilisation is not actively promoted, and employees don’t recognise their value, both employees and employers lose out.”