One-in-three employees expect their benefits package to be cut during 2008 although the majority of employers (95%) have no plans to do this.

In fact, almost half (45%) of employers plan to enhance their benefits this year, according to Trends in employee benefits 2008 by Hymans Robertson.

Employees’ biggest misconception is that their company pension will be reduced, cited as a concern for one-in-ten of the 1,100 respondents. However, only 1% of 300 HR personnel surveyed believe this will happen.

Almost half of employer respondents (49%), meanwhile, believe that employee benefits packages will have a key impact on staff engagement in 2008 compared to a mere 9% who believe benefits have no impact on engagement.

More than half of the employees (58%) surveyed, however, think their benefits package is average, while just one-in-10 employees believe their benefits to be above average. Almost a third of staff (30%) said benefits had been unimportant in attracting them to their current job.