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Employee benefits: why it pays to invest in your people

Written by HealthHero | Feb 14, 2022

Salary is no longer the sole driver for employees – the accompanying package of employee benefits is increasingly important. Data shows the majority of millennials believe company values and culture are the most important facets of transparency, at 37%. This was followed by employee salaries and company revenue (26%) and company strategy and process (25%).

A MetLife survey revealed that 75% of employers rate productivity as the main reason to offer employee benefits. However, choosing the benefits that employees value can be challenging. A recent report show that 41% of employers are investing in expensive benefits that employees either don’t want or don’t need and therefore won’t use.

So what can you offer your employees? 

Top employee benefits: rated

According to a survey from OnePoll.com, the following employee benefits were rated the highest:

  1. Flexible working
  2. More significant pension contributions
  3. Extra holiday allowance
  4. Private healthcare

The study also highlighted that half of employees would leave their current job if they could get another role with more benefits.

Other perks were highlighted such as

  • Dental care
  • Free breakfast
  • Access to mental healthcare
  • Retail and restaurant discounts
  • Free on-site gym
  • Childcare vouchers, etc. 

In a different survey conducted by The Knowledge Academy, it was found that 42.7% of UK employees would like to have private medical insurance as part of their benefits package.

Focusing on health benefits for employees

Health and wellness appear to be the main priority for employees when it comes to employee benefits. Since the pandemic reports of burnout have more than doubled since the relaxing of lockdown restrictions earlier this year, research has found. Analysis of employee reviews by Glassdoor found that mentions of burnout increased 128% since May 2021. 

Presenteeism and leavism are costly for employers. 17.9 million working days were estimated to be lost in 2019/20 due to work-related stress and mental health issues. We recently asked our LinkedIn followers if they’d suffered from burnout and over 90% told us they had. It’s no wonder then, that flexible working, more holidays and private healthcare feature so highly in employee’s needs from a company. 

P.S. If you’re concerned about burnout in your workforce, this webinar will help you build a plan for spotting the signs, equip you with tools for managing the impact and provide advice and guidance for preventing it from happening in the future.

Choosing the right employee benefits

At HealthHero, we believe that healthcare should be a prominent feature in an employee’s benefits package. We know GP access is a problem for many people in the UK, and much like the revelation of online banking, we think there is a more convenient way to access healthcare services. A remote GP service fits perfectly. Fast and convenient access to practising GPs has the dual benefit of providing tangible support to employees’ everyday lives as well as mitigating risks of absenteeism by providing early intervention.

Since 1998 we have been providing remote private GP consultations so you and your employees can speak to an NHS practising GP over the phone or via video consultation from the comfort of home – any time of the day or night.

Where necessary, staff can have private prescriptions issued and delivered to their home or workplace. All of this means that employees don’t need to take time off work to wait for a GP appointment.

The right employee benefits, including an integrated remote GP service like HealthHero, can help to:

  • Increase productivity and engagement.
    Healthy organisations are 25 days a year more productive (per employee) than unhealthy organisations (Britain’s Healthiest Workplace 2017).
  • Decrease absenteeism rates.
    With a service like ours, people can speak to a doctor from the comfort of their home or work, without having to wait for an appointment with the NHS.
  • Increase loyalty and job performance.
    71% of employees who feel satisfied with their benefits also feel loyal towards their employers (Fit Small Business).
  • Grow talent attraction and retention.
    54% of Millennials say employee benefits is a key factor in deciding where they want   to work (Fit Small Business).
  • Encourage happier and satisfied employees.
    Happy people are 12% more productive, according to a research conducted by the University of Warwick

Speak to us today to know more about how our service can help your workforce.