
Are workplaces offering people the right cost of living support? HR leader vs employees opinions revealed
Are you offering your people the right benefits and support during the cost of living crisis? We asked HR leaders and employees to see what they think.
Yugi the Giraffe - 25 January 2023
The cost of living crisis continues. But as the impact of rising costs creates pressures for your teams, how can you be sure you’re providing the best support possible?
A new survey commissioned by YuLife, in partnership with YouGov and HR Ninjas – the UK’s largest free HR community – showed a disconnect between HR leaders and employees on two specific points: how easy it is for employees to find assistance, and how comfortable they are doing so.
Over half (54%) of HR professionals said they believe employees proactively request additional financial wellbeing support – and 46% said they believe this rarely or never happens. But is that really the case?
The survey suggests not. Research found that just 24% of UK working adults would be comfortable telling an employer they feel financial stress. And 66% feel uncomfortable discussing this issue.
Communication issues
Furthermore, the two surveys suggest that some HR professionals may be overestimating how well existing financial wellness policies are being communicated to staff.
In the HR Ninjas survey, 48% of HR professionals said their workplace has policies or initiatives in place to improve employee’s financial wellbeing. Yet in the YouGov survey, only 42% of UK working adults were aware they existed. (The remainder broke down into 41% saying such policies and initiatives didn't exist, and an additional 16% saying they didn't know if they did or not.)
Furthermore, even where employees are aware that support exists, employees claim it's often not properly explained.
In the YouGov survey, 20% of UK working adults said their workplace does not clearly explain the financial support it offers to help with financial wellbeing. When added to the 41% whose workplace offers no financial support, that means that 61% of staff either receive no financial support – or their workplace doesn’t adequately explain what it offers.
Most strikingly, only 5% of UK working adults in the YouGov survey agreed that their workplace has a comprehensive set of financial wellbeing policies. Only 25% said their workplace provides salary bonuses and group health insurance, and 25% said they receive enhanced pension provision and life insurance.
Taking responsibility
That's not to imply that HR professionals are dismissive of the need for supporting employees. In fact, other results from the surveys suggest the exact opposite.
For example, in the YouGov survey, just 43% of UK adults felt that it's a workplace’s responsibility to improve their sense of financial wellbeing beyond paying a salary. And while this jumped to 59% for 18-24 year olds and to 63% for 25-34 year olds, among the over-55s, almost as many disagreed as those that agreed (29% versus 30%).
In contrast, an overwhelming 91% of HR professionals agreed that it's their responsibility to improve employees' financial wellbeing beyond paying salaries. Only 5% disagreed with this statement.
So what kind of support are employees actually seeking in 2023?
Importance of insurance
From a range of options, a plurality of UK workers in the YouGov survey chose group income protection (i.e. sick pay) or group critical illness cover as their favoured policy a workplace can offer to enhance their financial wellbeing.
A total of 37% said that this was the case (up from 30% in a similar survey conducted in Q1). And that's not surprising, considering that over one-quarter (27%) of people in the Q4 survey said they were more worried about paying for insurance. Only 4% said they were less worried about the situation since the cost of living crisis began.
That, as you might expect, reflects a background of general economic uncertainty. In the YouGov HR leaders’ survey, 79% said they'd become more worried about the cost of living, and 61% of UK adults agreed that financial stress impacts their mental health (only 15% said it had no impact at all).
And there's not a lot of optimism when it comes to the future, either. Almost half (47%) of UK adults expect their sense of financial wellbeing to get worse over the coming six months. Only 3% expected it to get a lot better. And among 25- to 34-year-olds, 72% said they were more worried about their financial health today than they were a year ago.
A way forward
Behind these statistics, a clear picture emerges. Employees are increasingly in need of financial wellness help from employers, and help with income and illness insurance is a top priority. HR professionals are keen to put policies and initiatives in place, but staff aren't always aware of them and there’s cultural stigma around asking for help in the first place.
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Yugi the Giraffe
Yugi is our YuLife mascot. Like all giraffes they've got a big heart – in fact the biggest heart of all land animals.