Employees are looking for more tailored benefits packages that will reward their loyalty to an organisation, as attitudes to careers and workplace benefits evolve.

The nature of work has changed considerably over the last few decades and it is now normal for employees to change job – even career – regularly as part of their personal and professional development. The increasingly sophisticated technologies at use have also encouraged decentralised working and made our lifestyles more flexible.

However, not all employee benefits packages have kept pace with this change, and new research published by Get Living suggests nearly three-quarters of employees want more tailored benefits.

There has been a shift away from more traditional desirable benefits – such as health/dental insurance or a company car – with 17% of respondents wanting access to mental health care and 8% wanting an office pet.

Changing priorities

One of the more interesting findings was how employee priorities depend on their age, where younger employees wanted different benefits from older ones.

For example, 33% of respondents aged 18-24 saying the best bonus they could have would be unlimited holiday, suggest a desire for a better work-life balance and a different working environment. However, just 17% of the over-55 thought unlimited holiday would be best.

Meanwhile, half of respondents aged 45-54 said flexible working would be the best benefit, whilst those over 55 wanted enhanced pension contributions. With a recent report from Carers UK showing 1 in 7 workers juggling work with caring and up to 600 workers a day giving up work to care for sick, elderly or disabled relatives, there is a significant potential for losing valuable members of staff.

The suggestion is that the perfect employer would offer a suite of benefits, which would allow employees to choose the thing they value most. With the preference for more holiday, greater flexibility or enhanced pension contributions depending on age, a one-size-fits-all benefits package may not be the most attractive.

If you would like to discuss how you can offer more options to your employees, please get in touch.