UK lagging behind US in provision of family friendly benefits
The US is trouncing the UK in catering for the career mother , according to a new survey by Hay Management Consultants. As many as 78% of companies in the US currently offer workplace childcare facilities or contributions to the cost of childcare. Over in the UK such perks are still at the margins of mainstream benefits practice: just 16% of industrial and service organisations responding to the Hay survey provide these benefits.
Iola Goulton, a consultant at Hay commented: It appears there has been little attempt to adapt employee benefits to the increasing number of women who are choosing to put their careers first. This is symptomatic of a common problem with the UK’ s current approach to employee benefits.
Assistance with childcare facilities is not their only omission. In the US, an increasing number of companies are also offering convenience benefits — everything from workplace dry cleaning and washing services to take-home prepared foods. The key is to offer career mothers ways of addressing the work/life balance without damaging their productivity and promotional prospects, says Goulton.
First undertaken in 1974, Hay’ s survey provides a fascinating historical insight into benefit provision. For instance, the average employer contribution to pension schemes was 11.3% of pay in 1975, and rose to a peak of 12.9% in 1980. Today, it stands at 8.8%. In 1975, just over two-fifths of organisations (43%) pitched the maximum holiday entitlement at five weeks or more, which compares with a figure of 98% in Hay's latest survey.
The changes [in overall benefit provision] have been as a result of both legislation and other trends such as delayering and the increased awareness amongst both employers and employees concerning the cost, availability and suitability of the benefit package, the survey says.
Respondents to the Hay survey are asked to identify the issues that shape the management of their employee benefits. By far the most significant influence, cited by 68% of industrial, service and finance respondents, is an analysis of the competitiveness of the total remuneration package — cash as well as non-cash.
One of the many strengths of Hay's research in the area is the wealth of information it provides about the extent of additional benefits:
as many as 96% of industrial and service organisations responding to its 1999 survey provided gifts and awards
first-class rail travel is offered by 86%
employees in 79% of these businesses are entitled to subscriptions to professional associations
just 7% of industrial and service employers grant employees assistance towards the cost of educating children.
As well as providing a snapshot of current practices in the provision of these benefits, the long-running Hay survey also tracks trends since 1990. A number of these benefits have become only marginally more widespread over this nine-year period among industrial and service employers — pre-retirement counselling is now used by 83% of respondents, compared with 80% in 1990, while financial counselling has increased from 52% to 64% — but others feature much more prominently.
Take outplacement counselling: the proportion of organisations providing this benefit has leapt from 36% in 1990 to 77%, while 53% of Hay participants now offer personal/stress counselling, up from 18% in 1991. Nine years ago, only 2% of respondents provided child care facilities. Today, 16% do so.
Survey details
Title: Hay survey of employee benefits.
Base date: questionnaire mailed out January 1999, with report published September 1999.
Survey sample: 177 participants in a representative sample both by size and location , employing 1.4 million employees.
Business sectors: 137 participants in the industrial and service sector, 40 in finance.
Availability: Hay Management Consultants, tel: 0171 881 7200.
Want to know more? If you want to browse the Hay Group’ s web site . . . www.haygroup.com