As more businesses attempt to transition back to having workers in the office, employers are coming up with some creative ways to incentivise employees to work from home less. To gain a better understanding, business services provider Moneypenny recently analysed 1000 job listings and surveyed 1000 office workers to gauge the most desired benefits.
The most popular offering is a pension but the research shows some other interesting perks on the table, too. With working from home second on the list, it’s clear that some businesses are comfortable moving forward with the work model used throughout the pandemic. But this, of course, contrasts with the inclusion of benefits hoped to lure people back into the office – the gym, company events and cycling to work, for example.
- Pension: 41%
- Working from home 22%
- Gym: 12%
- Flexible working: 11%
- Sick pay: 11%
- Company events: 11%
- Casual dress: 10%
- Bonus scheme: 8%
- Wellness programmes: 8%
- Bike to work scheme: 7%
Wondering about some of the quirkier benefits on offer? Take your pick from a free breakfast (0.6%), yoga sessions (0.4%), childcare vouchers (0.3%) and ski trips (0.1%).
Looking at this from the employee point of view, there is clearly still a huge demand for working from home but pension and sick pay. Both pension and sick pay are featured as the top perks wished for by office workers at 42 and 41 per cent.
Benefits desired by employees that didn’t make the top ten include; on-site cafes (7%), team nights out (4%) and yoga sessions (3%).
It’s interesting to Ceri Henfrey, Chief Operating Officer at Moneypenny who said: “After spending months cooped up indoors, having a healthy work-life balance is more important than ever.
“We believe that one of the ways to help keep your staff happy is to provide them competitive and useful benefits that will enhance their experience working for you.
“We’re not surprised to see flexible working, wellbeing programs and more ‘fun focused’ perks being featured across the listings we analysed, however, it would be amazing to see more companies following suit in the future!”
Next, let’s take a look at the benefits desired by employees, with results taken from the survey:
- Pension- 42%
- Sick pay- 41%
- Flexible work hours- 40%
- Ability to work from home- 30%
- On-site parking- 23%
- Death in service insurance- 21%
- Training- 20%
- Bonus scheme- 19%
- Free eye tests- 18%
- Time in lieu- 18%
