Only four in 10 (39%) employers said they believe their staff have a full understanding of their employee benefits, according to new research from Towergate Employee Benefits.
It surveyed 500 UK HR decision makers and found that 38% of employer respondents said they now find it more difficult to communicate the support they offer because many employees work from home, either some or all of the time.
Almost two-thirds (62%) said they now communicate health and wellbeing support more regularly. Despite this, 43% stated that they find it difficult to target specific messages to specific groups of the workforce.
Just over half (55%) said they now concentrate more on digital health and wellbeing communications, by means of apps and digital platforms.
The reasons why employers are utilising digital benefits platforms include being easier for employees to see all their benefits in one place (34%), helping them to communicate their employee benefits 33%, and being easier for staff to make use of their benefits (32%). Other reasons include helping employees make personal choices about which benefits to choose (31%) and enabling benefits to be accessed by staff at any time (32%).
Debra Clark, head of wellbeing at Towergate Employee Benefits, said: “It’s positive to see that employers are clearly aware that communication of employee benefits is important, however in many cases, the current processes are not sufficient. What needs to happen now is for employers to fully understand the options open to them and to harness the tools to improve benefits communication.
“Employee understanding of benefits needs to be a core priority and this will only come with careful communication. If employees do not know about, and understand the benefits on offer, then they will not make use of them, and the employers will not receive the value for the business.”
