From the blog: One of the first questions I ask when I start a new job is: “What are the employee benefits?”
I remember once being directed to an alphabetical list of benefits on the intranet, to be greeted with information on the benevolent fund and death in service. I had to scroll down a long way before I finally got to ‘P’ for pension.
A list of benefits is just that – a list. They make no sense jumbled up without explanation. Employee benefits are expensive and, if not valued or used, could be a waste of money.
I remember once being directed to an alphabetical list of benefits on the intranet, to be greeted with information on the benevolent fund and death in service. I had to scroll down a long way before I finally got to ‘P’ for pension.
I had to scroll down a long way before I finally got to ‘P’ for pension
A list of benefits is just that – a list. They make no sense jumbled up without explanation. Employee benefits are expensive and, if not valued or used, could be a waste of money.
I think of benefits in five pillars: health, money, work-life balance, working environment and learning and development.
A good benefits strategy is not ‘one size fits all’ either – everyone has different priorities. If each person can find the right combination within the pillars for them, then it can help their wellbeing inside and outside work, and this can only help increase performance in their role.
Money worries are one of the biggest causes of stress, and so benefits that can help employees manage their finances well are among those that can have the biggest impact.
Pension benefit is one of the most valuable – and expensive – benefits an employer can offer, so it is particularly important to ensure employees value it.
However, pensions are often viewed as too complicated and full of jargon. For those just starting out in their careers, the idea of retiring can seem much too distant to think about, especially with the more immediate financial challenges of the increasing cost of living, housing and repayment of student loans.
There is also a lot of confusing information out there. The obligation of auto-enrolment comes with a duty of care for employers to help explain how pensions work. Explaining the jargon can have a big effect.
At the end of the day, the overall concept is straightforward: the employee saves, the government gives tax relief on those savings (free money) and the employer contributes (more free money).
The money is invested and hopefully grows, so the employee has a pot of money with which to fund retirement.
One of the best comments I’ve heard about pension savings is that many of us save for our holidays, so why on earth wouldn’t we save for what could be the longest ‘holiday’ of our lives? That sort of analogy makes total sense – it’s our role to make sure employees understand this, too.
Rosemary Lemon is group head of reward at recruitment company Hays
