What Do Employees Actually Want From Their Benefits Package?

Employees discussing workplace benefits and sharing feedback during a meeting.

At a Glance

An effective employee benefits package should reflect employees’ needs rather than simply offer more workplace perks. Healthcare, financial protection, flexible working and work-life balance benefits may appeal to different workforce groups. Employers can use employee surveys, benefits usage data and staff feedback to identify priorities, balance costs and develop benefits packages that support employee satisfaction and retention.

How Do You Create A Good Benefits Package?

Businesses often invest in employee benefits with good intentions. They work with health insurance brokers to introduce multiple schemes and initiatives and offer additional leave and incentives to attract talent, retain it and engage existing employees. But investing in a generous benefits package can be unfruitful if it falls short of employees’ expectations.

So, what makes an employee benefits package truly valuable? What do your employees really want from their package?

Your employees have different priorities. Workplace discounts or social events that younger employees value more may not appeal to employees dealing with an ongoing health concern. Understanding these differences is key to building a meaningful, useful employee benefits package.

This article explores why listening to employees matters before creating a benefits package.

Start By First Understanding Your Workforce

Many companies view employee benefits as a tool to attract new talent and retain existing staff. But the value of a benefits package depends on whether employees find them truly relevant and useful.

Findings in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) Reward survey 2026 reported that 22% of UK organisations had no defined objectives for their employees’ benefits package. Among organisations that review their benefits against objectives, only 33% said their benefits fully met those objectives.

The survey results raise an important question. Are businesses offering benefits because employees need them or because they have become standard workplace perks?

For instance, your business may include discounted gym memberships in its benefits package, but your employees may prefer subsidised healthcare or flexible working arrangements. Neither benefit is better than the other. What matters is if it addresses your employees’ needs. This is why employers must understand their workforce before investing in new initiatives and making better use of their benefits budget.

What Do Employees Actually Want From Their Benefits Package

There is no single right answer, but you can explore these three areas when creating or reviewing an employee benefits package.

Healthcare and Well-being Support

Including healthcare benefits can help employees who want options beyond NHS services. Employers can offer private medical insurance, which often covers private consultations and diagnostic investigations. They can consider adding benefits such as dental insurance and health cash plans.

Before creating a package, find out which services your employees are more likely to use, what each scheme covers and whether the benefits are easy to access.

Financial Protection and Security

Your employees may value incentives and benefits that safeguard their household finances against unexpected situations. Some examples include:

Group life insurance: This offers a lump-sum benefit to eligible beneficiaries if the insured employee dies while covered.
Group income protection: This scheme can provide replacement income following an eligible prolonged absence from work due to illness or injury.
Group critical illness cover: This cover may offer a lump sum following the diagnosis of a specific serious condition, subject to policy definitions and terms.
Workplace pension contributions: While employers generally provide workplace pensions and make minimum contributions, additional contributions can form part of an enhanced employee benefits package.

Flexibility and Work-Life Balance

You can also look beyond insurance products when reviewing an employee benefits package. Some employees value greater flexibility around caring responsibilities, which may matter more than another financial perk.

You may also want to consider including flexible working hours, additional annual leave, enhanced parental benefits and professional development opportunities in the package.

How to Find Out Which Benefits Matter to Your Employees?

Here are some practical ways to listen to your employees and gather useful feedback.

Anonymous surveys: Ask employees which benefits they value, which they don’t use, and what additional benefits they’d like to consider.
Benefits usage data: Where available, review aggregated or anonymised information from providers to understand overall benefit uptake and which services employees use.
Employee discussions: Give staff opportunities to share suggestions through meetings or representative groups.

Remember that you must collect and handle employee feedback data confidentially and process it lawfully, in accordance with data protection requirements. You must explain how the information will be used and what will happen next after data is collected.

How Do Employers Balance Employee Needs with Benefits Costs?

Listening to your employees doesn’t mean you need to grant them every benefit they request. As an employer, consider your workforce size, budget, administrative resources and long-term affordability before deciding what you can offer. The challenge is identifying which benefits matter most within those limitations.

If your business finds that employees value financial security more than workplace perks, you can explore group life insurance or income protection schemes to address this need.

For guidance, contact Heath Crawford, an insurance broker, to help your business explore employee insurance options, compare policy features, and understand costs, exclusions, and eligibility requirements.

Build a Benefits Package That Your Employees Will Value

A long list of perks or the highest overall costs don’t make an employee benefits package the best one. The true value of an employee benefits package comes from how well it responds to your employees’ needs and supports them.

It doesn’t have to meet every personal need. Employees find workplace benefits more meaningful when they know that their employers hear their concerns and consider their circumstances. So instead of asking, “What more can we offer our employees?” ask, “What support would make a genuine difference to them?”

A Good Benefits Package Starts with Listening to Employees