Survey of attitudes to flexible benefits

FLEXIBLE BENEFITS

Survey of attitudes to flexible benefits

Almost a quarter of organisations surveyed by Employee Benefits magazine now offer a formalised flexible benefits plan and another third are considering bringing in flex.

The 451-employer survey revealed that most respondents believe that flexible benefits are a good way to promote the perception and value of benefits. But flex doesn't always live up to expectations. The majority of these respondents did not actually manage to reduce or contain costs, reinforce organisational culture or improve retention or motivation.

"Much more worrying is the fact that nearly half of our respondents still aren't quantifying the actual impact of flex," said Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits.

Measuring workers' attitude

Employers have become better at measuring staff attitudes to flex over the years. This is borne out by the fact that the vast majority (63%) of employers with formal flexible benefits schemes have taken the time to find out how staff view the scheme. Among this group:

• 74% survey staff after enrolment
• 35% use focus groups
• 25% survey during enrolment.

Other key survey findings

As many as 45% of respondents with flex schemes have revamped their plan since its launch. Trading leave, dental insurance and private medical insurance have "become the stalwarts of flex", offered by 80% of the sample. The majority of respondents that offer a flex plan do most, if not all, of their schemes' administration in house. Just over two-thirds (68%) of respondents that offer a formalised flex plan used consultants to design the scheme. Outsourcing the IT required to operate a flexible benefits plan online was a popular option, stated by 32% of the sample.

 

Want to know more?

Title: Flexible Benefits Supplement, April 2005, Employee Benefits.

Survey sample: The research is based on a survey carried out in February 2005 among registered users to www.employeebenefits.co.uk. In total 451 organisations responded to the survey. As many as 80% of respondents were from the private sector, 15% from the public sector and 4% were categorised as voluntary/charity.

Availability: Employee Benefits magazine is published monthly. You can subscribe online to the magazine at http://sales.centaur.co.uk or tel: 020 7292 3719.

The flex research is available on the Employee Benefits web site at www.employeebenefits.co.uk. Once you have registered (it's free to do so), click on "Research" and download the PDF, dated April 2005.

Posted 10 October 2005