Fears that the proposed system of personal accounts will prompt employers to reduce pension contributions appear to be unfounded as just 1.2% say that they plan to do so.
A further 5.1% plan to reduce employee headcount, while†2.6% plan to implement a recruitment freeze. The Employee rewards watch 2007†survey from Thomsons Online Benefits also found that almost half of respondents that offer†benefits (45.3%), did not know how much these cost†as a percentage of payroll and just 3.9% thought that employees highly-valued their benefits package.
Since the same survey was conducted in 2004, there has been a 15.5% rise in companies offering a benefits package and the number of employers who are considering; are in the process; or have already implemented a flexible benefits scheme has gone up from 17.5% to 35.3%.