Benifex has reported a sharp disconnect between employer confidence and employee sentiment in the UK, where organisations are increasing benefits investment but many workers say their experience at work has barely improved.
Its latest research, based on surveys of 7,000 employees and 600 HR leaders across seven countries, found that only 60% of UK employees rate their overall employee experience as good or excellent. That placed the UK second lowest in the group, ahead of Singapore on 56%, and behind Canada on 69%, Sweden on 66%, and Germany on 63%.
Employer sentiment was markedly higher. Benifex said 95% of UK HR leaders rated the employee experience positively, and 84% believed employees would say the same. Yet when workers were asked directly, only 60% agreed. The gap widened further around benefits, where two-thirds of HR leaders said they had expanded their offering in the past year, but fewer than one in three employees said they had noticed any addition or improvement.
Almost half of employees said their benefits package had stayed broadly the same, while 11% believed it had been reduced and another 11% were unsure. Benifex said the issue is not simply the size of the investment, but whether employees can find, understand, and use what is already being offered. Nearly half of UK respondents said it is difficult to access and understand the full value of their rewards and benefits.
Gethin Nadin, chief innovation officer at Benifex, said: “Employers are investing in benefits and wellbeing with genuine intent – and the evidence is clear that when that investment works, it has a real impact on how people feel, perform and whether they stay. But investment that employees can’t find, access or connect to their own lives may as well not exist. It doesn’t matter how generous the offering is if it isn’t reaching people.”
