Research from employee benefits technology provider, Zest, has found that 97 per cent of financial services firms surveyed say company perks are now one of the first things they’re asked about by new candidates.
With energy, water, council tax, broadband, mobile and TV prices rising in ‘Awful April’ this year, many are looking to their employer for additional support – two thirds (64 per cent) of financial services employees want more financial support in their benefits package.
Despite this, three in ten (31 per cent) do not feel as though their employer listens to their needs and responds through the benefits they offer. Six in 10 (62 per cent) employees admit they don’t use most of the benefits currently available to them and 36 per cent feel as though their benefits are irrelevant to them.
Findings come from the launch of Zest’s latest report – Are financial services firms losing talent through poor reward packages? – and highlight a clear disconnect between what employees working in financial services want, and what their employers are offering. Nearly all (99 per cent) employers agree that they’d see better engagement with their benefits packages if they were more personalised.
Given four in ten (37 per cent) financial services firms say they are struggling to keep up with competitors who are raising salaries – and over half (54 per cent) of employees say that they’d leave their current job if another company offered them better perks – employee benefits provide a cost-effective opportunity to attract and retain talent in a way that differs from salary.
“April has proved to be a financially challenging month for both businesses and workers alike,” says Matt Russell, CEO of Zest. “Providing the right support through a great benefits package can ease this load, offering improved value for money for businesses and helping employees to manage the increase in household bills and ongoing high cost of living.
“However, if both parties are to reap these rewards, financial services firms must work to create more personalised, targeted benefits packages that their employees will truly value. With over half of workers in the sector claiming they’d jump ship for better perks, getting this right has never been more critical.”
Zest is an employee benefits technology company with over 500 customers, including Hargreaves Lansdown, Taylor Wimpey and Yahoo, serving over 300,000 employees. Its multi award-winning platform offers a fresh approach to truly flexible employee benefits.
