Just under a quarter (23%) of respondents believe their organisation offers an above average benefits package for employees, according to research by ORC International.
Its ORC Employee benefits monitor survey also found that 63% feel they offer benefits that are in line with their peers, while 9% feel they offer below average benefits to staff.
The research, which surveyed 275 organisation with between 50 and 10,000 employees, found that just over half of respondents (54%) offer their benefits on a fully funded basis, 37% offer flexible benefits and 27% a voluntary benefits arrangement.
Around a third of respondents (35%) use pension advisers for advice and support around benefits, while 31% use their benefits providers for this purpose and 16% an employee benefits consultancy.
Of those that seek external support, 48% selected their adviser or consultant because they used them for existing services, while 28% did so based on their relevant professional expertise. A further 26% selected their adviser or consultant based on peer recommendation and just 5% did so on the basis of costs or fees.
When it comes to costs, 39% of respondents monitor the cost of their prgansiation’s benefits as a percentage of salary or payroll, while fewer track these costs on a per head basis.
However, cost is also a key reason for not providing benefits to all employees, either because the business cannot afford it or because the employer cannot see a value to the business in doing so.
