Three-quarters of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) currently not providing employee benefits are considering doing so in the medium term, according to MetLife. This is the equivalent of around 245,000 SMEs investing in benefits over the next three years, according to the firm’s latest employee benefit trends survey.
Around a fifth of SMEs have withdrawn at least one benefit in the past two years and a half never offered any benefits over the legal minimum (typically auto-enrolment in a pension scheme). Key reasons for introducing benefits are to boost productivity and improve employees’ health and wellness. Around 63% of organisations said that benefits would help with recruitment and 61% that introducing benefits would help with staff retention.
Tom Gaynor, employee benefits director at MetLife, said:
‘SMEs are under considerable financial pressure and it is understandable that many have either not taken the step of investing in benefits for the first time, or in fact stopped offering all but the compulsory auto-enrolled pension. However, this calls into question the effectiveness of the intermediary market as a valued source of strategic business advice to SMEs. Benefits should be seen as a performance driver worth investing in, not as a cost without payback.’
The survey also finds that the number of workers valuing employee benefits has increased from 40% two years ago to 55% in the latest survey. However, employers need to work harder to increase trust among employees, the survey suggests, adding that too often employees worry that HR and line managers can see who is using the services of employee assistance programmes (EAPs), for example. It warns that focusing too much on the counselling aspects of an EAP creates a perception among employees that these are the only feature of a programme, preventing engagement with the other elements. MetLife says that simple initiatives such as identifying ‘wellness champions’ within the business, and involving line managers in workplace health, can boost the take up of EAPs.
Jo Elphick, Head of Marketing, said:
‘EAPs are becoming a standard offering in UK companies but more can be done to maximise their value. We’ve seen that employees are really starting to value their benefits so we should seize the opportunity to review and enhance communications around this important benefit.’