Employee benefits trends: experiences are king

Post-pandemic, employees are demanding more from their employee benefits. In this article (one of seven in the series), we look at one way Covid-19 is influencing employee benefits trends.

Pre-pandemic, in 2019, 71% of staff thought their employers could do a lot more to improve their employee experience. During the pandemic actual ‘experiences’ were rather thin on the ground, but it didn’t stop the likes of horse therapies being run; as well as virtual coffee meet-ups, and online one-to-ones with colleagues some may never have met before.

Firms have also seen an explosion of support of advice and support given on groups through the likes of internal social media platforms (like Yammer or Facebook for Business), while as lockdowns are lifted opportunities to give staff rewarding experiences look likely to explode.

The global meal vouchers market has just been revealed as expected to grow 6% year-on-year between 2021-24 while last year the UK Gift Card and Voucher Association found 20.6% of employees received a gift card as an incentive through a work reward programme.

Experiential benefits don’t have to be limited to being about experiences with fellow employees. In line with greater demand for family health, corporates have upped their innovation around experiences for families.

At the peak of the pandemic Volvo launched its ‘Family Bond’ benefit: paid parental leave of 24 weeks (at 80%) to all new parents. Others have launched adoption support too.

We’ve just published our full report into how Covid-19 is changing employee benefits. Click the link for more details, or download it directly below.