What are the most popular non-salary benefits for employees?
In a world where pay is a major driving factor in employment, a new report has found that employees still put a high level of importance on non-salary benefits when considering a future employer.
The report was produced by the Employee Benefits Isle of Man, in collaboration with YouGov, which surveyed full-time employees in the United Kingdom, as well as a sample of expat full-time employees from Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, and South Africa.
The report found that 90% of South African expat full-time workers consider non-salary-related benefits as very or fairly important when considering a future employer. This is also the case for respondents from other markets:
- UK (74%)
- Hong Kong (81%)
- Singapore (80%)
- UAE (81%)
But would better non-salary-related benefits make employees leave their current organisation? The report found a divided response among respondents.
Employees who would be very or fairly likely to switch employers for better non-salary benefits package came from South Africa (78%) and the UAE (72%). UK workers were less likely to move, with only 40%, according to the report.
"Non-salary benefits is a very strong factor when considering the next move but, for now at least, is less of a motivator in actually making that jump," the report read.
Most popular non-salary benefits
Despite not being a strong factor for resignation, however, the report said employees are still expecting their employer to "invest holistically in their wellbeing in a manner and at a time to suit them."
According to the report, the most popular non-salary benefits for employees include:
Contributory pension/savings: This is most popular for UK (66%) and Hong Kong (57%) employees, with UAE expats least likely (36%) to consider the benefit important.
Healthcare or private medical plan: This is important for South African (64%) and Singaporean (61%) employees and is the least popular for UK staff (37%).
Death-in-service cover: This is second-lowest requirement among non-salary-related benefits across all markets surveyed, according to the report.
Critical illness cover: This is popular for South African (54%), Hong Kong (51%), and Singaporean (50%) expats, but least important for UK employees (30%).
Flexible or remote working: Employees from Singapore (65%) and UK (59%) rated the benefit as important, while only 36% from UAE said the same.
Flexible annual and family leave: All employees considered this benefit important. It was least popular in the UAE, but 50% of employees there still ranked it important.
Physical and mental health support: This is most popular in South Africa (63%) and least popular in the UK (34%).
Professional development and study support: This is mostly popular in Singapore and South Africa with 52% each and is least popular in the UAE (38%).
The employee sharing scheme option was the least important of all non-salary related benefits across all markets, with no more than 42% of employees from each jurisdiction rating it as important, according to the report.
"The low showing here may be a function of it being the least widely available or understood benefit option or could point towards a sentiment of employment short-termism amongst employees," the report read.
