Top Marks to the 59% of HRs Who State They Fully Understand the Employee Benefits They Offer

Good news that 59% of HR professionals have told the employee benefits experts at Everywhen that they believe they personally have a full understanding of the employee benefits on offer through their organisation. However, a deeper dive may be required into the nuances of health and wellbeing support, as explained by Debra Clark, head of wellbeing at Everywhen:

“I am pleasantly surprised that so many HR professionals say they have a full understanding of the employee benefits they provide. This is great as, more often than not, it falls to HR to pass on the information to employees. Although with the support available within employee benefits ever widening, we would suggest that even the most clued-up HR professional may wish to consult employee benefits experts to gain a deeper understanding of what is now, and soon to become, on offer.”

The research shows that nearly a third (30%) of HR professionals rate their understanding of the employee benefits they offer to the workforce as ‘good’. However, this leaves 11% of HR professionals who have a limited understanding of their offering, and this group are still likely to deal with employee benefits requirements, and be responsible for signposting employees to support.

Everywhen points out that employee benefits can be complex, especially as they now cover such a broad range of support, such as physical health screening, support for chronic health conditions, mental health and counselling, and pensions and life insurance. It is also an ever-changing landscape with new employee benefits being added, and existing offerings being updated and enhanced all the time. 

Much depends on what HR professionals class as a full understanding of the employee benefits on offer. For example, they may know the multiples of salary paid out with group life cover for different levels of staff and that a nomination-of-wishes form must be completed, but do they know that this benefit may also provide access to an Employee Assistance Programme at no extra cost and a funeral concierge service? This is support that could be invaluable to an employee at the time. 

In larger companies, the HR function is more likely to have confidence in their knowledge of the employee benefits on offer. Where employee numbers are 250+, nearly two thirds (65%) of HR professionals said they fully understand the employee benefits on offer from their organisation – compared to 56% of HRs with fewer than 250 employees. This is perhaps because larger companies are more likely to make use of specialist advisers. SMEs too are encouraged to make use of employee benefits experts who provide guidance for companies of all sizes.

Debra Clark concludes:

“It is great that so many HR professionals feel they have a good understanding of the employee benefits on offer at their organisation, but it is important that this knowledge is not just focussed on a few areas of support, or even just on those currently being offered. Support for employees is growing and changing all the time, with more options becoming available, but also with many options becoming more personalised. So it is important to take specialist advice to fully understand all the areas of available support.”