Britain's workforce lacks employee benefit support

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Britain's workforce lacks employee benefit support

Employees are still left in the dark about what benefits their workplace can provide, research has claimed.

According to research by Canada Life Group Insurance, 48 per cent of Britain's workforce are unaware of what benefits their own workplace offers.

This was up from 37 per cent in 2015, while some 13 per cent say this definitely is not provided.

However, research also shows that failing to support those on long-term sickness absence could delay or prevent a return to work.

The study found that 20 per cent of staff who are stressed and anxious about having to take off extended periods of sickness-related absence would like to speak with a designated member of staff about their options.

Businesses need to ensure they have a clear strategy to improve wellbeing and prevent staff burnout. Paul Avis

Paul Avis, marketing director for Canada Life Group Insurance, said: "It has been suggested that improving employee engagement and health and wellbeing may have a direct positive impact on productivity.

"Employee Assistance Programmes are a valuable tool in supporting both work and life balance and are included within group income protection policies (covering both insured and non-insured employees).

"With employee health heading up the corporate agenda – and of growing concern to government, who currently face an annual bill for state disability benefits of £36bn – businesses need to ensure they have a clear strategy to improve wellbeing and prevent staff burnout.”

This comes as additional research from Canada Life Group Insurance found that 20 per cent of employees had used annual leave while off sick, while only 12 per cent thought that employee health and wellbeing was a top priority in their organisation.

A third of employees (33 per cent) believed cost efficiency is prioritised above staff health, while more than one in five (21 per cent) said the same of employee output in relation to business profits.

According to Mr Avis, employers must ensure their organisation has a positive stance to taking time off and reassuring employees they are free to take their full entitlement is key.

Mr Avis added: "Failure to do so could result in higher staff turnover and leave businesses at a significant disadvantage in the battle to recruit and retain top talent." 

Earlier this month, Katharine Moxham, spokesman for Group Risk Development (Grid), told FTAdviser the majority of employers believed group risk protection was too expensive, and would cost a significant percentage of their payroll.

In a study of 501 UK firms, with between five and 1,000 employees, Grid discovered that 70 per cent of employers thought group life assurance would cost too much to roll out to all of their staff.

Some 8 per cent of employers even thought it would set them back more than 10 per cent of their payroll. 

However, the actual average cost is just 0.5 per cent of payroll, according to Ms Moxham. 

The story was the same for group income protection (Gip), where typical costs are less than 1 per cent of payroll, but 60 per cent of employers thought the bill would be far higher.