A recent UK survey has revealed that 84% of Gen Z employees (under 25s) feel ignored by company benefit schemes. With 9 in 10 young graduates stating that employee benefits play a key role in attracting them to a company, employers are being urged to reassess their job perks in order to appeal to young talent.
The study, conducted by the brand, Wet Ones as part of its 2021 Employee Benefits, Health and Wellbeing Survey, asked employees at 133 workplaces across the UK how their health and wellbeing needs and habits have changed and whether updated benefits packages from their employers would help to support their wellbeing.
It found that benefits packages are predominantly designed for employees aged between 45 and 54, with more than one in three in this age bracket happy that their employee benefit scheme fits their lifestyle. The ‘wants’ of Gen Z employees, who feel least served by benefits packages, are found to be developing with shifting societal priorities faster than other age groups:
- 30% of under-25s in the UK want to see travel vaccinations included in their benefits packages, helping them to embrace their pent-up wanderlust as overseas travel returns
- 25% wanted additional ‘health days’ holiday packages to support mental health
- 21% asked for greater flexibility on working hours, hoping that Covid-enforced changes would lead to a working hours revolution
Many employee benefits schemes remain unchanged after the global shift in working practices to home working and, currently, towards a more flexible hybrid system. This has led to many company perks being unused and failing to encourage employee health, wellbeing, and productivity – over four in every five UK employees state that their company’s employee benefits scheme no longer fits their lifestyle.
When UK employees were asked what they now prioritised from their companies’ benefits packages, the findings were:
- 70% call for greater flexibility on working hours from their employer
- 61% of employees ask for private healthcare, dental and allowance for health maintenance (like glasses, correct desk equipment, physio etc)
- 53% would like their employer to support them with additional ‘health day’ allowance for personal wellbeing
The study also uncovered significant variation between different sized companies in how active employees have been since shifting to home working.
Large companies (1,000+ employees) have been found to be slower in promoting life balance and physical activity since working from home. Employees from large companies were nearly five times less likely to be physically active when working from home compared to employees from SMEs.
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