EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH: Recruiting (stated by 84% of respondents) and retaining (stated by 83%) employees are the top two reasons that employers offer benefits to staff, according to exclusive research by Employee Benefits.

The Benefits research 2013, which surveyed 561 HR and benefits professionals, found that employers are also focusing on supporting employees’ health and wellbeing, with 81% of respondents saying this is why they offer benefits.

Since the inaugural Benefits research was published in 2004, the top reasons why employers offer benefits have consistently been the perks’ use as effective recruitment and retention tools.

In 2004, 66% of respondents said benefits were an effective recruitment tool and 64% of respondents said they were an effective retention tool.

Four years later, in 2008, benefits’ function in retaining staff was cited by 48% of respondents, while more diverse reasons, such as matching benefits to employee needs (42%), providing for the workforce’s health and wellbeing (41%) and financial wellbeing (37%) began to climb the leader board.

In 2011, the use of benefits as recruitment (60%) and retention (53%) tools still topped the list, but employers’ responses were spread more evenly between other motives, such as good value for money (50%) and promoting employees’ work-life balance (40%).

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Sample: All respondents responsible for compensation and benefits in their organisation (2013: 304; 2011: 242; 2009: 639)