The employee benefits you provide can play a big part in the success of your business, but how do you know what benefits employees want?Research shows that employees favour benefits that help them with the major challenges in their lives, such as mental and physical health issues or problems managing money.And offering a good selection of employee perks and benefits will not only help to create a happier, healthier workforce, but employees who feel satisfied with their benefits package are less likely to move elsewhere.According to the CIPD Good Work Index 2023, 34% of people who said they were considering leaving their job were doing so because they wanted better pay and benefits.What benefits do employees want?Whether you’re a small business or large corporate, here is our top 5 list of the best employee benefits desired most by your team.1. Flexible workingPriorities have shifted since the pandemic, and for many working parents, finding an employer who embraces flexible working is of critical importance.Caring for loved ones can often get in the way of working life, and part of creating a more positive workplace that supports work-life balance is allowing employees to fully manage these responsibilities without repercussions.A flexible working policy can help you to attract more top talent: 88% of workers would consider a lower salary if the job offered flexible hours. And according to a global survey by Cisco Systems, 77% of employees said flexibility at work improves their mental health.2. Employee Life InsuranceTraditionally, the best employee benefits have focused on helping people at the end of life or in times of crisis, such as being unable to work due to illness or injury.Life Insurance provides money to an employee’s family in the event of their death. Also known as ‘death in service’, employers can choose whether to pay out a fixed lump sum or a multiple of the employee’s salary. The influence that financial wellbeing can have on people's health and happiness is often underestimated. A CIPD report found that 28% of employees surveyed said money worries had impacted their work performance.Offering Group Life Insurance is an excellent way of letting your people know you care about their financial situation and will be there for their loved ones should the worst happen. 3. Digital healthcareThe NHS is under increasing pressure, and for many people it’s a struggle to get an appointment at a time that suits. Offering digital healthcare can eliminate this stress and provide colleagues with a safe and cost-effective way of gaining access to vital health services.A Group Health Insurance policy will typically offer comprehensive coverage, which may include doctor visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs and preventive care. It’s fast becoming one of the top perks for employees—26% of workers said they would be more likely to stay with an employer that offered digital health solutions.“When my son was sick, the YuLife 24-hour GP service made me feel at ease,” recalls Ash McDowell, Financial Director at Culture Shift. “The fact that yes, my son is sick but I’m going to get it sorted, made all the difference.”4. Group Income ProtectionA survey of 1,000 workers by Ciphr, an HR and payroll software provider, found that paid sick leave is the employee benefit that people value the most (67%), while 40% cited mental health and wellbeing support. Group Income Protection provides financial assistance if an employee is unable to work due to ill health or injury. The amount paid is based on a percentage of an employee’s salary and cover may also include support to help employees return to work. Poor mental health is one of the most common causes of workplace absenteeism—in fact, Deloitte analysis found that absenteeism due to poor mental health is costing UK businesses up to £45 billion a year.Group income protection makes no distinction between physical or mental illness—in 2020, mental health was the second most common reason for a claim. Read our life insurance vs income protection blog for an explanation of the key differences between these two benefits.5. Employee assistance programs (EAPs)Workers especially value employee benefits packages that assist them in the present day, such as support with work, relationship or financial issues, life coaching or help with bereavement. YuLife’s EAP, YuMatter, offers a range of excellent employee benefits, including 24/7 access to mental health experts, clinical counselling, bereavement counselling, and more. And that can really make a difference when employees’ lives become challenging. YuLife also partners with other companies to provide its members with free additional support, including Moneyhub, a financial management app, and Hertility, an award-winning service that offers at-home hormone and fertility testing.How do you choose employee benefits that employees will use?Engagement is low to non-existent with some providers and employees may not even know that benefits exist. Consider how fully your staff will engage with the benefits you offer and to try to find employee perks that are built around gamification. “YuLife has had a massive impact on our engagement levels,” says Ciji Duncan, Chief People Officer at xDesign. “The gamification of the app has really helped people get involved, compete against each other, and go outdoors and get walking. I think it has had an impact on our culture and community."Here are four popular employee benefits offered by YuLife that have been proven to have had a positive impact on employees’ everyday lives.1. Rewarding fitness and exerciseResearch has shown that micro-habits are a sustainable way of implementing a fitness and exercise regime. The YuLife employee app incentivises micro-habits by rewarding members with YuCoin when they do simple, everyday activities, such as a 10-minute walk or a five-minute breathing exercise."It's definitely made me increase the steps that I'm doing," says Olivia Collins, Marketing and Communications Executive at Cloud International. “If I’m working from home, it motivates me to go out for five to ten minutes before work, after work, or at lunchtime. I always want to get those coins!”2. Promoting better mental healthIn an increasingly uncertain world, more people are drawn to companies that actively fight burnout and champion employee wellbeing.Providing subscriptions to digital mindfulness apps, such as Calm and Headspace, is a great way to facilitate a mindful workplace and the YuLife app encourages members to earn YuCoin through meditation. “YuLife’s helped me massively,” says Tom Silk, Communication Manager at Vanti. “Now, I start my day with meditation – that’s not something I ever did before.” 3. Earning vouchers and discountsWhile the main aim of YuCoin is to motivate people to develop healthy habits, employees also see it as a major benefit in its own right, particularly as there are so many ways to spend it. YuCoin can be exchanged for groceries, vouchers or discounts from leading brands. “I’m a shopaholic,” says Alisha Cohen, People Director at Vanti. “So I’ll tell myself: ‘I need to go for a 30-minute walk because that’s going to increase my YuCoin, which means I can get my Amazon or ASOS voucher.” 4. Donating to charityYuCoin can also be used for planting trees, cleaning the ocean or donating to charity. YuLife works with a number of global partners to ensure donated YuCoin has the maximum impact, through schemes such as a major Mangrove planting project in Madagascar. Franziska Schubert, Market Manager, SAP at Cloud International, has donated her YuCoin to tree-planting schemes and to help Ukraine. “You often feel quite small and that you can’t do a lot," she says. “So being able to make a contribution as part of a wider effort is a good feeling.”How do I know I’ve chosen the best employee benefits?Ultimately, you can only tell if you've chosen the best employee benefits for your team by tracking and understanding how they are interacting with them. YuLife provides HR departments with access to key data around how employees are engaging with their benefits: YuLife HR Portal: an online dashboard that lets you easily and instantly access the key stats and data you need to monitor your employees’ engagement with benefits. YuLife management information pack: generated quarterly to provide valuable insights into how employees are using the YuLife app. This data is company-wide and does not invade the privacy of individual employees. It does, though, allow you to monitor wellbeing trends. For example, if the data shows a trend for late-night meditation, this may indicate that your employees are working longer hours than they should. Similarly, if walking tasks are minimal during the daytime, that may lead you to encourage your staff to take more desk breaks.What are the cost considerations for employee benefits? Delivered in the right way, great employee benefits can actually have a positive influence on your bottom line. Here's how this principle plays out in practice:Case study: Cloud InternationalCloud International is an IT recruitment consultancy that specialises in Identity and SAP recruitment. The company had previously organised its employee benefits through Perkbox and Vivup, but had tracked engagement with both platforms and found it to be non-existent. So whether or not these were the best employee perks was irrelevant: staff just weren't valuing them, or even aware of them. Cloud International was drawn to YuLife due to its focus on both wellness and employee participation—and sure enough, soon after signing up the company found that staff engagement with its benefits began to soar. A huge 97% of employees downloaded the YuLife app, and 66% were using it on at least a monthly basis. Offering the best employee benefits, in a way that staff respond to and engage with, has been crucial in helping Cloud International recruit the best talent and steal a march on its competitors. Download the full case study to find out more.