Do employees highly value employee benefits, or are employers putting more emphasis on them than necessary? Cover Magazine recently featured a survey that asked 500 HR leaders and 1,210 employees their honest thoughts on benefits in the workplace — here’s what they found:66% of employers say their employees appreciate benefits "very much" Meanwhile, only 21% of the employees said they "very much" appreciate their benefitsSo which is it — are benefits a highly-valued aspect of a workplace for candidates? Or should you scale back on your benefit investments? After all — the numbers don’t lie. Clearly, there’s a lack of interest on the employees' part in this survey. But instead of writing off employee benefits altogether, it’s important to understand why there’s a disinterest. Why are employers thinking one way about employee benefits, while employees feel another way? First, let’s clearly define what exactly employee benefits are:What are employee benefits? Employee benefits are additional services, resources and compensation that you offer your team that is outside of their base salary expectations. This is the gravy, or the extra cherry on top that makes people more likely to work for your company — and remain working for your company. Benefits make employees appreciated, supported, and like they’re emotionally being compensated for their work as well as monetarily. Benefits can vary from Group Insurance packages, EAPs, learning budgets, wellness funds, in-office gyms, gym memberships — anything that provides value not in their contracted salary. Why are employees unhappy with their benefits? Employee benefits are actually very important in attraction and retention strategies for workplaces of all kinds — the lack of interest around benefits simply comes when the benefits are either too difficult to access and understand, or the benefits simply aren’t hitting the employees’ pain points.When it comes to health and wellbeing benefits, research indicates nearly two-thirds (63%) of startup employees indicate benefits were imperative in their choice between workplaces — with just 2% saying they weren’t important to them at all. In one of our latest case studies with Nice-Pak, Victoria Alexander, Senior HR Advisor & Wellness Specialist admitted to having experienced this demand for benefits, particularly wellbeing benefits, first-hand in their search for top talent.In our own research at YuLife, we’ve found proof that quality, accessible benefits are in high demand for employees: 87% of employees are more likely to stay with an employer if that employer demonstrates a commitment to their wellbeing (YouGov-YuLife Survey, March 2021).A quarter of workers feel that their workplace does not clearly explain the financial support it can offer them.It’s clear that employees care about and highly appreciate workplace benefits! But the problem lies not so much in the offering of benefits, but that there’s lack of 3 vital elements:CommunicationComposition ApplicationWithout these things elements being in line for a benefits package, engagement goes down, awareness is practically nonexistent and people aren’t actually benefitting from their benefits — which is counterproductive, to say the least. 1. CommunicationThe first reason employees likely don’t appreciate their benefits “very much” is because there’s a lack of clear, top-down communication.HR Magazine reports that on average, just 20% of health and wellbeing offerings are actually used by employees. And it’s likely because of a lack of understanding. As Gartner reports, 96% of employers offered mental wellbeing programmes to their teams — but only 42% of employees were actually aware of them.This is why it’s vital to get creative with your communications. Find ways of conveying the message about your benefits across all mediums possible — team messaging platforms, posters, emails, company-wide meetings, lunch & learns etc. To take it to the next level, find ways of rewarding employees for participation at least to get them educated and start using their benefits to see how impactful they can be (but more on that later). 2. CompositionA key element to boosting engagement and satisfaction around employee benefits is truly understanding what your employees need and want. What does your benefits package include? Who is it tailored to? Is it tailored individually, or is it a one-size-fits-all model? There’s no shortage of workplaces offering employees benefits that aren’t of interest to their target demographic. In fact, HR Magazine reported in March that a survey from benefits provider, Boostworks, found that 54% of employees were excluded from the discussion around benefits offerings that would lead to improving their overall satisfaction at work. What’s more, nearly half of HR respondents (48%) in a Nous survey indicated that employee benefits have a low uptake simply because employees “don’t seem interested” in them. So what do your employees care about? This will vary significantly based on the demographics of your team, but as an example: Fast company indicated a majority 64% of female employees would like benefits geared towards menopause but only 14% of them claimed they felt their employer understands. Additionally, HBR found employees prefer workplace benefits in the form of wellbeing initiatives and offerings over other types of material benefits like working from home or office gyms. A further 83% of employees say their wellness is as important as salary — and 85% claimed they’d be more likely to stay in their role if their employer put a larger focus on it. Research from Morgan Stanley showed as of 2024, 88% of HR leaders claim employees have asked for specific benefits that their company doesn’t offer — which is a 10% increase from 2021. So based on the data: What types of wellbeing benefits are you offering that are truly making a difference in your employees’ lives? Think beyond in-office gyms or tailored one-size-fits-all approaches. Wellbeing means different things to different people. And when it doubt: ask them! 3. Application Last but not least, the application of your benefits in the workplace is one of the most important pieces to a successful programme. The platform the benefits are on, the layout of information surrounding benefits, the way you roll out the benefits programme — and, overall, the feeling they get when they engage with it.If any of these are neglected, especially If there are too many steps to accessing a small benefit or simple information on the benefit, people won’t want to do it. HR Magazine also noted in the Nous survey that HR directors claimed their benefits weren’t very accessible to their employees. 18% said the benefits were simply too difficult for their employees to access, while 32% agreed accessing certain employee benefits was simply “too much effort” for their people. So what can you do differently? We can follow James Clear’s principles on making benefits a productive habit stick (as his book Atomic Habits has had a profound impact on how we’ve built YuLife): Make it obviousMake it attractive Make it satisfying Apps are an incredible way to make benefits accessible and easy to understand. Especially if it’s on the home screen, it’ll be quite obvious and hassle-free to engage with it. At YuLife, we’ve designed an app based on these 3 principles that create record engagement with benefits. We’ve created an animation-rich insurance app with a unique identity to make it obviousWe’ve made the app colourful and gamified to make it attractiveAnd we’ve made it satisfying by rewarding participation in the app/wellbeing benefits by giving out in-app currency that’s redeemable for real-life rewards.So if you’re not sure where to start with your benefits, ask yourself: in what way can the application of your benefits align more with human behaviour and game mechanics? At YuLife, we’ve had clients investing in our wellbeing programmes who, at one time, had extremely low engagement and satisfaction with their benefits — and ended up boosting their wellbeing score by 10% since joining YuLife. Meanwhile, other organisations have seen anywhere from a 93%+ download rate since introducing the new benefit. Think simplicity and think small. Because, over time, those small impacts of benefits usage compound to create a lasting effect on your employee’s health and happiness within the business and with their benefits offering. In conclusion…With the recent economic crises, companies have been cutting back significantly. Discussions have emerged within the HR space about the importance of budgeting for benefits. Should we continue to invest in employee perks?More than 1 in 4 companies (27%) are cutting back on employee benefits due to the recession — meanwhile, 95% of employees and 98% of HR leaders think their employers should be focusing on offering the best benefits available in their industry. Before you underestimate the value of benefits, first consider what value you are really giving your employees. About YuLifeYuLife is working to reimagine the insurance industry by protecting lives, rewarding living and inspiring life. We’re on a mission to transform traditional insurance into a life-enhancing experience each employee will value and use daily. How does it work?Our award-winning app uses behavioural science and game mechanics to reward your people for living well while offering protection in case of crisis. And with our top-rated employee assistance programme, your team gets access to mental, financial and social support, virtual GPs, nutritionists, life coaches and more to help them live their best lives.Because we believe that your employees should benefit from their insurance from day one — and that wellbeing should be accessible every day, for everyone.Request a demo for your team today.