What are your employee benefits actually doing for your business?
It’s a simple question, but one worth asking. According to the CIPD’s Reward Survey, 22% of UK employers have no set objectives for the employee benefits they offer. Even among those that do, only 31% link their benefits to productivity or business performance.
For a growing business, that’s worth thinking about. Benefits are an investment, and like any investment, there should be a reason behind it. The strongest packages aren’t necessarily the ones with the most benefits. They’re the ones built around what the business and its people actually need.
So, why do benefits matter as your business grows? Here are five reasons worth considering.
1. They can help you compete for good people
Growing businesses don’t always have the deepest pockets, yet they’re often competing for exactly the same people as much larger organisations, and finding those people isn’t necessarily easy!
CIPD research found that 64% of businesses that had tried to recruit experienced difficulties attracting candidates, while 69% reported increased competition for well-qualified talent.
A good benefits package can form an important part of your overall offer. Salary will always matter, but candidates look at the bigger picture too. Health and wellbeing support, financial benefits, recognition, protection and practical everyday savings can all add value beyond someone’s basic pay.
Benefits can also say something about the kind of employer you are and how you intend to look after your people as the business grows.
“For growing businesses, I think the important question is less ‘What benefits should we offer?’ and more ‘What are we trying to achieve for our people and the business?’ Once you start there, you can build something much more meaningful.” Wojciech Dochan, Managing Director, Bravo Benefits
2. They give good people another reason to stay
Recruitment is only half the challenge. Once you’ve found good people, you want to keep them.
Nearly half of employers surveyed by the CIPD said retaining talent had become more difficult, and when someone experienced leaves, you don’t just lose a person. There’s the time and cost of recruiting a replacement, the knowledge that walks out the door and the pressure placed on the rest of the team while somebody new gets up to speed.
Benefits alone won’t fix a retention problem. Pay, culture, management and career opportunities all matter too, but relevant benefits can add to the overall employee experience and give people another reason to feel that staying is worthwhile.
The important word here is relevant. The benefit that matters to one workforce may mean very little to another. Understanding what your employees actually need is far more valuable than simply copying what another employer offers.
3. They can support a healthier, more productive workforce
This is becoming harder for employers to ignore.
The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work report found that employees were absent for an average of 9.4 days per year – the highest level recorded in more than 15 years. Before the pandemic, that figure was 5.8 days.
For a growing business, absence can be particularly difficult. When teams are smaller, the impact of just one or two people being away can quickly be felt elsewhere.
The right benefits can give employees practical routes to support before a problem becomes harder to manage. Depending on your workforce, that might include an Employee Assistance Programme, virtual GP services, counselling, health cash plans or financial wellbeing support.
These benefits aren’t there to solve every problem an employee faces; rather, they’re there to make useful support easier to reach when someone needs it. In turn, this can help you build a healthier, more resilient workforce as you grow.
4. They can create stability while everything else is changing
Growth sounds exciting, but living through it can sometimes feel rather different.
Teams expand, new managers arrive, and roles change. The processes that worked perfectly well for 20 employees may start creaking when there are 50, 100 or 200.
A clear benefits strategy can provide some consistency through that change. It gives employees something tangible that demonstrates how the organisation supports its people and can help create a more consistent employee experience as new people join.
But there’s an important catch. Employees need to know what’s available.
“We often talk to employers who already have some really valuable benefits in place. The issue isn’t necessarily that they need more. Sometimes it’s about making what they already have easier to understand and use.” Adele Oakden, Head of Health and Wellbeing and Head of Client Success, Bravo Benefits.
If people don’t know a benefit exists, don’t understand how it could help them or can’t easily access it, you’re unlikely to get the full value from your investment.
5. The right benefits can grow with your business
A good employee benefits package for a small or growing business doesn’t have to be a big benefits package.
In fact, trying to offer everything can quickly become expensive, complicated and difficult to manage.
The better starting point is your business and your people. Where are you struggling to recruit? Why are people leaving? Is absence becoming an issue? What are employees asking for? Which of your existing benefits are being used and which aren’t?
Understanding why benefits matter to your business makes it much easier to decide which ones are actually worth investing in.
For one business, everyday financial support and employee discounts might be particularly valuable. For another, healthcare and wellbeing could be the priority. Elsewhere, protection benefits or reward and recognition may have a bigger role to play. There isn’t one perfect employee benefits package. There’s a package that’s right for your business now, and that can evolve as your business does.
When should you get strategic advice?
There often comes a point in a growing business when benefits become more complicated.
You have several providers, different renewal dates, more employee questions and more administration. Perhaps you’re spending more, but you’re not entirely sure whether employees value what you’re paying for.
That’s when taking a more strategic look at benefits can help. An employee benefits consultancy can help you review what you already have, identify gaps or duplication, understand what employees value and shape a package around your business objectives and budget.
It doesn’t necessarily mean adding more. Sometimes the answer is simplifying what you already have, communicating it better or making it easier for employees to access.
Make your benefits work as hard as your business does
The business case for benefits isn’t about having the longest list of perks. It’s about choosing benefits that support your people and your business as both grow.
Regularly reviewing what you offer can help make sure your investment continues to deliver value and reflects what your employees actually need.
Talk to our consultants about how employee benefits can support your business as it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are employee benefits important for a growing business?
Employee benefits can support recruitment, retention, employee wellbeing, productivity and workforce stability. They can also strengthen your overall employment proposition when you’re competing with larger organisations for talent.
Can employee benefits help with staff retention?
Benefits are only one part of retention alongside pay, management, culture and career development. However, relevant benefits can increase the overall value employees receive from their employer and contribute to a stronger employee experience.
Do small businesses need lots of employee benefits?
No. A smaller package of well-chosen benefits can be more effective than a long list of benefits employees don’t value or use. Start with your workforce, business objectives and budget, then prioritise accordingly.
What benefits should a growing business consider?
It depends on your workforce. Options could include health and wellbeing support, financial wellbeing benefits, employee discounts, reward and recognition, protection benefits and benefits technology.
How do you know if employee benefits are delivering value?
Start with the objectives behind them. Look at employee take-up and feedback alongside wider measures such as recruitment, retention, absence and engagement. This can help you understand whether your package is still relevant and where changes may be needed.
When should a growing business review its employee benefits?
Growth itself can be a good trigger. It may also be time for a review if recruitment or retention is becoming more difficult, absence is increasing, administration is taking more time, or employees aren’t engaging with the benefits you currently offer.
