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UK office workers say annual leave is more important than any other non-salary-related employee benefits, according to a recent survey of 5,000 employees carried out for Michael Page’s Talent Trends series.
Asked to name their five favourite non-salary benefits, three-fifths (59%) of respondents cited “amount of annual leave”, while just over half (55%) chose flexible working.
Other popular choices were healthcare, development opportunities, and a fun working environment, each of which was named by approximately one-third of those surveyed.
*N.B. “discounted or free food” was cited by 803 respondents, vs. 784 for “transport schemes”
Watch our video walkthrough on the most popular non-salary benefits:
You’ve seen the top-level results of our non-salary benefits research. But inevitably, diving into the data reveals some fascinating micro-trends that can help hiring managers attract the best talent.
Here are three key learnings from our survey data:
Broadly speaking, annual leave was highly valued across all demographics we surveyed.
However, one outlying result is among employees who work solely remotely, of whom just 40% included annual leave in their top five non-salary employee benefits — compared to 64% of solely office-based employees, and 62% of hybrid workers.
To be clear, annual leave is still important to solely remote employees. Indeed, it received the second highest score among this demographic, only behind flexible working (48%). But with no requirement to commute, it seems fully remote workers value time off less highly than their office-based peers.
Interestingly, solely remote employees (22%) are more likely to prioritise transport schemes — like a company car or train season ticket — than hybrid (16%) and office-based (13%) workers, likely because they wouldn’t have to use them to commute to the office. And they also find gym memberships more appealing than the average employee (21% vs. 12%).
One more finding on remote workers: 14% cited the ability to have pets in the workplace as one of their top five non-salary benefits, compared to just 7% of all employees. They might be a distraction in video meetings and demand attention at the worst possible moments, but it seems remote employees can’t get enough of their furry co-workers.
Flexible working is often painted as an employee benefit that’s geared toward younger workers. Seemingly every news article about flexible working is accompanied by a stock image of a gen Z or a millennial-aged person in a coffee shop with a laptop.
Our survey reveals that this view of flexible working doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Just under half of 18 to 24-year-olds (48%) and 25 to 34-year-olds (49%) included flexible working among their top five non-salary benefits, compared to:
Perhaps it’s simply the case that the youngest demographics no longer view flexible working as a perk; they simply expect it.
However, our research also discovered that the proportion of 18 to 24-year-olds who have a net positive opinion of flexible working stands at 80% — lower than any age group other than employees aged 55+ (77% net positive).
This isn’t to say that younger workers are getting tired of flexible working. Rather, it’s highly desirable to employees of all age groups.
It would be easy to assume that personal development is more of a priority for junior employees than their more senior peers.
In reality, this seems not to be the case. While employees at almost all seniority levels named development as one of their top five non-salary benefits, it appears to be a higher priority at senior levels.
More than two-fifths (44%) of employees who identify as “senior managers or directors below board level” included development opportunities among their top five non-salary benefits, compared to one-third (32%) of all employees.
Perhaps this is because senior managers are more likely to understand the key skills they require to secure further career advancement. Perhaps it is because more attractive training and development opportunities are open to employees at this pay grade than at lower seniority levels. Or perhaps it is simply down to the fact that senior managers are more likely to be offered training and development, and therefore have a better understanding of its value.
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