A total of 40 per cent of employees, or 11.7 million workers, say they would consider switching employers to get better employee benefit, according research from Unum.
The research, by Unum and the ONS Labour Market Survey, found that employee benefits are important to recruiting and retaining top talent, according to 78 per cent of SME decision-makers. However, only 37 per cent have reassessed their employee benefit offerings since the pandemic began.
Unum found that 32 per cent of small businesses said they have no plans to change their employee benefits in the future, potentially leaving them vulnerable to disengaged employees. Instead, 46 per cent of the 500 SME decision-makers polled by Unum said they would pay bonuses, 42 per cent would raise salaries or implement remote/hybrid working policies, and 34 per cent would retain employees. Only 16 per cent would consider workplace benefits.
However, 26 per cent of those polled indicated that they have introduced, or will soon introduce, new employee benefits, with 28 per cent confirming that they intend to survey employees to determine which benefits they value before making future changes.
These findings come as part of a larger study conducted by Unum that revealed the importance that employees place on high-quality wellness benefits and workplace support in the midst of ‘The Big Quit.’
With 40 per cent of employees indicating that employee benefits are a key influencing decision on whether they stay or quit – the message is that employers risk losing staff in the short term if they underestimate the value employees place on benefits.
Among SMEs that have re-evaluated their benefits offering since March 2020, 48 per cent were prompted to do so after listening to their employees’ changing needs, 21 per cent recognised they were struggling to attract new employees with their current benefits package, and 20 per cent knew their competition offered better packages.
Unum CEO Mark Till says: “As SMEs reassess their company offerings — including their employee benefits — to fit the changing needs of staff, they shouldn’t assume money means everything. Bonuses and pay rises are, of course, welcome in an environment of rising inflation, but both current employees and future recruits clearly place a value on their broader employee benefits packages that cannot be expressed in pounds and pence. Overlooking this has the real potential to put staffing levels at risk in an increasingly competitive external market.”