We’re a nation on the search for more personalised workplace benefits, with 11.3 million Brits not satisfied with their current work perks. This new research comes from Get Living, who offer homes for rent in big city neighbourhoods and works with businesses to help find quality homes for their staff through its Preferential Partnerships programme.
The study revealed that almost half (48%) of Brits would leave their current job for one with better perks and that 7% of the working population is willing to take a pay cut for a better benefits package.
Almost a third (32%) of those wishing for more enticing extras are even actively looking for a new job which offers them a better package. Employees cite hours spent at work, increased retirement age and the always-on nature of work for feeling their companies should offer more for their service.
Flexible working hours and holiday allowance were found to be universally important across age groups, with the younger generations increasingly expecting more from their employers to help with specific issues they face. One in ten employees who started work this decade want employers to offer help with housing, reflecting some of the challenges millennials and Gen Z face in this area.
Supporting the connection between home and work lives, Get Living works with top employers – including Deloitte, Linklaters, Golin and Hays – who recognise the benefits of the Preferential Partnership in terms of employee attraction, retention and day-to-day productivity.
Steven Osei who heads up Preferential Partnerships at Get Living, comments: “It’s no surprise that employees’ attitudes to workplace benefits have changed over the last five decades since the world we live in is almost unrecognisable now. Employees are moving jobs more often, increasingly working from home and expecting to be compensated for their dedication. To keep up with the competition, employers need to reflect workers more flexible lifestyles.”
While employees in the 1960s were content with free tea and coffee, today’s workers are demanding flexible hours, free eye tests and additional holidays as standard. Almost one in five (17%) of this group also want their employers to offer access to mental health care and 8% even mention having an office pet.
Yet the increased desires aren’t all the same, leading to almost three quarters (73%) calling for a more tailored benefits package. And it appears this is reflective of what we’re actually after, with benefits desires changing by age:
Employees who have been working the longest are most satisfied with their current benefits package (over a quarter being very satisfied), with those starting work in the 1980s the least happy with their current perks (16% being unsatisfied). However, younger workers are most likely to stay in their jobs because the extras are too good to give up (25%).
Helping with work/life balance was the most common reason named for benefits being important to employees. Only 60 per cent of those surveyed were happy with their work/life balance, with almost a third (31%) citing issues with their home and commute as the cause of their unhappiness.
Steven continues: “If a company wants to attract the top talent then they need to offer the best benefits, especially in London where the cost of living is leading to a brain drain. Since launching the Preferential Partnerships programme with Deloitte in 2014, we’re now working with 20 top employers to create solutions for the challenges that their employees face when it comes to finding a place to live.”
On top of its market-leading longer tenancies offering, Get Living gives Preferential Partnerships residents two weeks’ rent free and upgrades them to superfast fibre optic broadband to enhance their home-working experience.
“In this hyper-connected world an employer’s duty of care no longer ends at the office door,” says Steven. “Wellbeing starts at home and we can support this by offering a simple move in process and quality, well-managed homes. We know from speaking to our partners that this takes a weight off staff who are relocating or moving to a new city when starting a new job. We hope the success of this scheme will encourage more companies to take a vested interest in their employees’ living situations.”
Rosemary Lemon, Group Head of Reward at Hays, comments: “Working and living environments have changed over the years and employees are being impacted by big social issues. People are living longer and therefore may no longer have only one career path so flexible working and flexible benefits must play a key role. Hays is very pleased to have partnered with Get Living as one way to help our employees with accommodation in London”.
We also recently teamed up with Chobham Academy in East Village London to produce a video and find out what the next generation of workers expect from their future employers.
