Three-quarters of IT companies reviewed benefits in 2004

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Three-quarters of IT companies review benefits in 2004

Around three-quarters of IT companies had reviewed their employee benefits strategy within the last 12 months, according to a survey run jointly by Intellect, a trade association for the IT industry, and thomsons online benefits, an employee benefits consultancy.

Almost half of respondents (48%) who had reviewed their benefits strategy did so because of employee retention issues, while a third (37%) said they believed they could leverage better value for their spend.

As many as 77% of companies intend to pay a staff bonus in 2004. Of those companies paying a bonus, nearly three-quarters (72%) will pay one for company performance closely followed by individual performance (61%).

Key survey results

The 26-page survey report looks at the type and levels of benefits offered throughout the IT sector including share schemes, overtime and company cars. Among the key survey results:

Type of benefits The most commonly offered core benefits were life cover (60%), private medical insurance (44%), pensions (43%) and permanent health insurance (39%). The most commonly offered flexible benefits were pensions (19%), additional holiday entitlement (16%) and private medical insurance (13%).

Benefits strategy Just 8% of respondents had a flexible benefits scheme in place and another 9% were currently considering implementing flex. 77% had a standard benefits scheme in place. 5% have no benefits in place.

Share scheme Just under half of all respondents (48%) do not have a share scheme in place and have no plans to introduce one. 18% of respondents operate a company share option plan, 13% use enterprise management incentives, 7% offer an all-employee share incentive plan and 1.4% operate a save-as-you-earn scheme.

A final word

"The survey findings aptly demonstrate that in the current low inflation environment, employers must focus on the role that non-salary related benefits employee benefits can play in attracting, retaining and motivating their people." -- Chris Bruce, marketing director, thomsons online benefits.

Want to know more?

Title: Employee Benefits Benchmarking Survey 2004, Intellect in association with thomson online benefits.

Survey sample: The research is based on a sample of approximately 100 companies. It covers companies throughout the sector including IT services and software, telecommunications, and electronics.

Availability: For further details about this survey contact Jill Sutherland, tel: 020 7395 6735, email: jill.sutherland@intellectuk.org or Caroline Shenton, tel: 020 7808 7588, email: cs@t-bx.com

Intellect is the trade association for the UK IT, telecommunications and electronics industries in the UK. It represents a membership of over 1,000 companies, spanning blue-chip multinationals to early stage technology companies. To find out more visit www.intellectuk.org

thomsons online benefits was founded in 2000 to "revolutionise the way that benefits are administered and communicated". To find out more visit www.thomsonsonlinebenefits.com