Why is there a gap between what employers offer and what staff want?
Walk into most businesses and ask the HR lead or founder what benefits their team values most. They will give you a confident answer. Ask the employees the same question and the answers are usually different - sometimes strikingly so.
This is not negligence. It is the natural result of designing benefits without direct employee input. Founders base decisions on what they personally value, what peers offer, or what they read in HR media. The result is spend that does not land. This is one of the reasons benefits packages often go unused.
56% of employees say their benefits don’t meet their personal needs.
Employees are 3x more likely to stay with employers who actively seek their benefits preferences.
73% of HR leaders say benefits budgets are wasted on low-uptake benefits.
What do employees actually value most?
Consistent themes emerge across UK employee benefits research: flexibility over when and where they work, financial wellbeing support (not just salary), mental health provision, and development opportunities. But these aggregate findings mask significant variation by age, life stage, seniority, and personal circumstance.
A 24-year-old without dependants and a 42-year-old with a mortgage, children, and an ageing parent have very different benefit priorities. Treating them identically means at least one of them - possibly both - feels underserved.
Benefits needs shift as employees move through different life stages. Early career employees often prioritise learning budgets, flexibility, and gym or wellbeing perks. Mid-career employees with families tend to value private medical, income protection, and enhanced parental leave. Senior employees and those approaching retirement prioritise pension and financial planning access.
Fewer than 1 in 3 UK employers run structured benefits surveys. Those who do report stronger engagement scores, lower turnover intent, and more efficient benefits spend.
How do you find out what your team values?
You do not need a lengthy, complex survey. Short, well-structured questions with clear response options deliver better data than exhaustive questionnaires with low completion rates. Ask employees to rank benefits by personal importance. Include a question about which current benefits they actively use. Ask what would most improve their working life. Segment responses by tenure, department, and life stage where possible. And close the loop - share what you heard and what you are going to do about it. Our employee survey templates are a good place to start.
What should you do with the data?
Surveying employees creates an implicit commitment. If you ask what they want and then make no visible changes, trust erodes faster than if you had never asked. Even acknowledging constraints - “we heard you, here is what we can do now, and here is what we are working toward” - preserves confidence.
Benefits surveys also create a defensible foundation for budget decisions. When you can show that 67% of your team ranked mental health support in their top three priorities, the conversation with finance becomes straightforward. If you do not have a dedicated HR team, our guide on building a benefits strategy without HR covers how to turn that data into action.