How to Make Your Employee Benefits Package Attractive (And Why You Will Want To)

Deciding to invest in company health insurance in the UK can be a difficult decision. It can be tricky to know when it’s financially the right road to go down. And in the UK, you know that your employees are safely looked after by the NHS - so why would you need to invest in health insurance?

In this article, we’re going to explore the types of benefits available, why offering your employees an attractive benefits package has multiple advantages and how it can have unexpected advantages for your business and its future too. 

Key Elements

NOTE: It is important to point out that products and benefits types vary depending on your insurance provider. The below information is intended as a very general and broad guide of what the market offers. Not all packages will include all of these options - one or several is more common.

Private Medical Insurance (PMI)/Health Insurance

This benefit would give the employee cost assistance when it came to private medical treatment. This allows your employees to be seen quickly by specialists, at a time and location of their choosing. 

Critical Illness Insurance

Critical Illness Insurance means that, in the event of an employee being diagnosed with one of several specific illnesses listed within a policy, the individual can receive a tax-free lump sum. 

Group Income Protection (GIP)

GIP is used if an employee can no longer work due to injury or long term illness. Income protection will pay a percentage of their salary as a regular monthly income. Sick Pay Insurance is a variation of this cover that can be used as a short-term income protection plan. 

Life Insurance aka Death in Service

In the event of an employee dying, this product pays a tax-free lump sum to their family and dependents. The amount of benefit the dependents receive is usually calculated as a multiple of the employee’s salary.

Dental and Optical Insurance

These plans are very popular and go towards paying the cost of routine dental and optical treatment. 

Health Cash Plan

A cash plan is a lower cost healthcare plan option. It is designed to cover the everyday healthcare costs that you pay directly to the provider of your choice. 

Health Screening

A health screening approach allows employees to have health checks and medical examinations that form part of a pre-emptive approach to company healthcare. 

Additional Benefits

As well as the above, there are other benefits like workplace pensions, workplace ISAs, share schemes, car allowances, childcare vouchers, gym memberships and employee discount portals.

Why Benefits are Important

Your benefits package is not just a “gift” to employees.

It is also a strategic asset you use to attract the talent you need to keep your business growing.

From an employer's point of view, these benefits might seem like an additional cost that is only beneficial to the recipient. When you look a little deeper, you can see that this simply isn’t true. 

When a company offers competitive employee benefits, you can:

• Recruit and retain the best employees
• Boost employee retention rates
• Boost company morale
• Improve company culture
• Have a more engaged and productive workforce

It has been shown that nearly 80% of employees would prefer new or additional benefits over a pay rise. 

Whilst on the face of it, a percentage pay increase might seem attractive, many workers are aware that pay rises of 10% or less (which most are) reflect a very small pay-packet increase due to the proportional tax increases. 

Benefits offer a very real-world financial application. They can help ease the financial strain in very simple and usable ways, like not having to worry about the cost of a filling at the dentist. 

The decision to invest in employee benefits will also positively impact your relationship with your workforce. Benefits have been linked to increased loyalty, focus, productivity, attendance and employee retention. The benefits will also help to attract the best possible candidates for roles within your company. 

At the end of the day, investing in your employees shows them that you care about their welfare, which is something you can’t put a price on. 

Solving the Puzzle

Knowing where to begin when considering employee benefits can be difficult. A specialist can help you to understand the level of benefits that best suit your company. 

Assembling your employee benefits is like assembling a large jigsaw puzzle. Misplace one piece, and you cannot complete the picture. We wholeheartedly recommend seeking advice from a professional, whether that is us or not!