Employee Benefits Holding Steady

The 2018 CIPD Reward Management report, based on a survey of and insights from HR professionals, found that the vast majority of employers plan to maintain or increase their spend on employee benefits over the next two years...

However, one in six organisations does not communicate with employees about the benefits available to them and one in five report that benefits are not easily accessible. What’s more, only a quarter of respondents say they evaluate their return on investment in benefits.

Key Findings In Numbers

• 8 in 10 employers intend to spend the same amount on staff benefits over the next two years as they currently do, while nearly 1 in 5 plan to increase their investment
• 3 in 4 employers don’t review the impact staff benefits have on individuals or the business
• 42% of organisations offer employees some degree of choice over the benefits they receive
• 1 in 5 employers expect to invest in a formal work-life balance policy within the next year
• 1 in 6 employers don’t communicate about benefits with staff

Professional development (including secondments, mentoring programmes and business apprenticeships) is the area of benefits most likely to attract additional spending in the next two years. This is followed by health and well-being benefits (such as employee assistance programmes) and financial benefits (such as pension schemes or debt advice). 

The main internal drivers of benefit provision are to attract, recruit and retain employees, while the most common external influences include legal and employment obligations. 

Few employers plan to introduce new benefits next year, but where changes are planned, the provision of employee diversity networks to promote workplace inclusion is the most popular. 

You can download the full report here.