12 Oct 2020
Key findings:
Legal & General’s latest SME research2 findings reveal a direct correlation between size of company and employee trust. At the same time, there seems an indirect correlation between wellbeing strategy and trust.
Employer understanding of what employees want seems key. However, Legal & General’s research found disconnects between employer and employee opinions about the relevance of benefits, as highlighted in the table below.
|
“Very relevant” |
||
|
Employers |
Employees |
|
|
Health benefits (PMI, Health Cash Plans, Health Screening) |
46% |
22% |
|
Protection benefits (Income Protection, Critical Illness, Life Insurance) |
43% |
22% |
|
Added value services (EAP, Virtual GP, Subsidised Gym Membership) |
46% |
30% |
|
Savings benefits (Pensions, Savings Scheme / Share Scheme) |
61% |
42% |
|
One-off perks / Other (Discount Vouchers, Gift Vouchers, Celebrations) |
40% |
23% |
When asked how relevant these benefit / service categories were to the health, wealth and happiness of individuals, male employees replied in a more positive way than their female counterparts across all categories. In fact, the top response for female employees on the relevance of health benefits was “Not very relevant” (39%) and the same for protection benefits with 45% responding in this way. This lower perceived relevance to women seems to be also born out in the usage statistics, as detailed below.
|
“Yes, I have used at least one of these benefits / services” |
||
|
Men |
Women |
|
|
Health benefits (PMI, Health Cash Plans, Health Screening) |
89% |
75% |
|
Protection benefits (Income Protection, Critical Illness, Life Insurance) |
78% |
71% |
|
Added value services (EAP, Virtual GP, Subsidised Gym Membership) |
76% |
55% |
|
Savings benefits (Pensions, Savings Scheme / Share Scheme) |
88% |
73% |
|
One-off perks / Other (Discount Vouchers, Gift Vouchers, Celebrations) |
80% |
65% |
Colin Fitzgerald, Distribution Director, group protection, at Legal & General: "Medium sized companies might have the tools in place – in terms of a wellbeing strategy – but it’s not necessarily translating into trust. So, either their benefit and wellbeing programmes are not considered relevant by all of their employees or they’re being poorly communicated. Either way, ‘talent risk’ is currently top of CEOs’ agendas3 with leaders recognising the need to keep their people safe, but also connected, engaged and productive. So, the business case to get on top of this is very clear.So is the people case: 7 in 10 employees said in a recent report that lockdown loneliness was having a negative effect on their wellbeing - for women and younger workers in particular - a quarter adding it was impacting their productivity.4
Our research found that women and younger workers reported the highest levels of trust in employers to look after their wellbeing. What’s key now is for employers to build on this trust by ensuring benefit and wellbeing programme design and communication is flexible enough to meet needs.
The pandemic has shone a light on wellbeing and trust like never before, with business recovery now dependent upon having in place a happy, healthy and motivated workforce in place. One-size-fits-all benefit and wellbeing programmes, supported by one-size-fits-all communication simply won’t help employers achieve this. It’s time for the insurance industry to collectively evolve, putting ‘prevention before insurance’ to support the ‘people before profits’ focus of our clients."
Established in 1836, Legal & General is one of the UK's leading financial services groups and a major global investor, with £1.2 trillion in total assets under management1 of which 40% is international. We have a unique and highly synergistic business model, which continues to drive strong returns. Legal & General provides powerful asset origination and management capabilities directly to clients, which also underpin our leading retirement and protection solutions. We are a leading international player in Pension Risk Transfer, in UK and US life insurance, and in UK workplace pensions and retirement income. Our purpose is to improve the lives of our customers and create value for our shareholders. Through inclusive capitalism, we are investing in long-term assets, such as real estate and infrastructure, that can help build a better society for the future.
1Data as at 31 December 2023.
Legal & General Insurance (LGI) has been offering life insurance cover since 1836 and is the UK’s number one individual life insurance provider. Our group protection business in the UK offers life insurance and income protection products to individuals through their employers and we offer term-life insurance in the US. We now have over 5.5 million UK life insurance customers, 1.8 million people in group protection schemes and approaching 1.3 million US term-life insurance policyholders. Here in LGI, we protect our customers and their loved ones throughout life and death.
*at 31 Jun 2021