How to Get Your Benefits Right to Retain Top Talent

In a highly competitive job market, the quality of employee benefits can often be the deciding factor between a company retaining its best employees and watching them leave for greener pastures. Recent data from Vestd's Employee Retention Report 2024 highlights the stark reality facing British employers: 3 in 10 employees leave their jobs every year, and that churn rate of 34% means the UK leads Europe in workforce turnover. 

Coupled with the financial and operational strain of replacing employees — costing anywhere from 80% to 200% of the exiting worker's salary, depending on their role — it's clear that businesses need to start offering benefits that truly resonate with employees. It needs to be something they really value. 

Why is employee churn so high in the UK?

There are a number of reasons why employee turnover in the UK is so high, including: 

• The Great Resignation: Following the pandemic, a wave of employees left their jobs to explore new paths, changing the job landscape.
• Job dissatisfaction: Low pay, poor working conditions, limited advancement opportunities, and difficult managers continue to drive employees to look elsewhere.
• Evolving work mindsets: Many employees now expect more flexibility, balance, and purpose in their roles, shifting their expectations of what work should be.
• Tight labour market: Pandemic-driven disruptions have contributed to a more competitive job market across Europe, intensifying the competition for skilled talent.
• Feedback gaps: Employees are less likely to stay in roles where feedback is absent or unhelpful, limiting growth and recognition.
• Inexperienced leadership: High turnover often correlates with leadership that lacks experience or effective management skills, impacting team stability.
• Limited training and development: Workers who lack access to training and career development opportunities tend to move on in search of growth.
• Rising cost of living: The escalating cost of living has pushed employees to seek higher wages or positions with better financial benefits.

The high turnover rate in the UK workforce reflects a fast-evolving job market since the pandemic, with increased mobility and changing expectations around workplace flexibility and wellbeing. UK employees, especially the emerging generation of workers, are increasingly looking for employers that prioritise their personal and professional needs. 

And while traditional employee benefits that focus solely on financial protection are still important, an employer in today’s market may fall short if they don’t also support mental and physical wellbeing. 

The true cost of employee turnover

High turnover isn’t just a statistics issue; it’s a costly, time-intensive process that places strain on resources and disrupts productivity. As we highlighted earlier, losing an employee can cost a company between half and 2x the employee’s annual salary, with more technical positions and C-Suite roles demanding even more.

Beyond direct financial costs, employee turnover has a cascading impact on multiple aspects of a business. Lost productivity and potential missed deadlines can create operational bottlenecks, impacting your project timelines and client satisfaction. High turnover also puts added pressure on your remaining team members, who often take on extra responsibilities to cover for their departed colleagues, leading to depleted morale and increased stress, potentially even leading to burnout. 

What’s more, an organisation with a reputation for high turnover risks damage to its employer brand, making it harder to attract top talent in the first place and increasing the likelihood of further turnover — a cycle that’s difficult and costly to break.

When you look at the true and total cost of turnover, it extends even beyond tangible expenses. Advertising costs for open positions, onboarding expenses, and lost productivity while roles remain unfilled all contribute to an organisation’s financial burden. 

However, it's estimated it's estimated that two-thirds of turnover costs are intangible, stemming from lost productivity, diminished team cohesion, and the knowledge gap left by departing employees. Recruiting and training new hires demands significant time and resources, and the loss of institutional knowledge can take months or even years to fully recover.

For companies to avoid these costs, providing attractive, meaningful employee benefits is one of the best things you can do.

Designing benefits that your employees actually value

Employee benefits aren’t just a good idea. Research backs up the powerful role employee wellness programmes play in boosting retention. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 37% of UK employers observed a rise in retention rates after implementing wellness initiatives. This trend aligns with findings from the 2023 Randstad Employer Brand Research Report, which revealed that work-life balance remains the top priority for UK job seekers, with 44% willing to leave their current jobs to achieve better balance. What these insights tell us is that there is a growing expectation among employees for workplaces that genuinely support their wellbeing.

In fact, research shows that 75% of UK employees would be more inclined to stay with their employer if a strong benefits package were in place. Yet, despite these clear signals, there has been a drop in the number of employees who feel their employers care about their wellbeing — from 47% in 2022 to 41% in 2023. 

Ever the optimists we are at YuLife, we believe this decline presents an opportunity for employers to differentiate themselves by investing in meaningful wellness programmes and benefits packages their team actually values, demonstrating their commitment to employee wellbeing and strengthening loyalty and satisfaction in the process.

YuLife's approach: gamified benefits that boost engagement

At YuLife, we’ve tailored our offerings to meet these evolving expectations, going beyond traditional packages with our core offerings of Group Health Insurance, Group Life Insurance, and Group Income Protection. What sets us apart is our unique approach to employee engagement through gamification, which has proven to be a game-changer.

With an employee app that transforms one’s health into a game, YuLife offers daily challenges and friendly competitions, encouraging your team to engage in healthy habits while earning YuCoin, our virtual currency that’s redeemable with top retailers and charities. 

Our unique gamified approach has yielded impressive results: the app boasts an 80% engagement rate, with 17.4% of users logging in up to five times a day.

Lauren Berkemeyer, YuLife's Chief Marketing Officer, explains the ethos behind our innovative approach: “At YuLife, we believe that employee benefits should be more than just a safety net — they should be an opportunity to elevate employees' everyday lives. Our platform not only provides financial protection but also serves as a daily touchpoint for engagement and wellbeing.”

The ripple effect of meaningful benefits on company culture

The consistent engagement our app fosters isn’t just about maintaining healthy routines; it’s about creating a connected and motivated workforce. By participating in our daily challenges and tracking their wellness progress, your employees are more likely to feel invested in their wellbeing and, by extension, in your workplace. For HR teams, this increased engagement translates into a stronger, more unified company culture, which has been shown to significantly reduce turnover rates.

By connecting Group Insurance benefits to daily interactions, YuLife enables a holistic approach that blends health, security and engagement into one cohesive package.

About YuLife

YuLife 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.