However, they claim these are seen as some of the highest valued employee benefits.

With the exception of pensions, over a third of employers never communicate with their staff about core financial employee benefits, and another quarter do so less than once a year.

Research carried out by Personnel Today magazine on behalf of Unum showed that management at all levels are more likely to tell staff about ‘soft perks’ more frequently – 62 per cent tell staff about benefits such as subsidised gym membership annually or multiple times a year, despite the fact these are seen as least valued by employees – less so than financial and health benefits.

This disconnect between the benefits that are valued, and those that are being proactively highlighted to staff, suggests a workforce unclear of their financial and health protection and a raft of employers not taking a considered approach to communicating about the benefits they offer.

New joiner packs, for example, were the most common way of communicating most benefits – yet this will only occur once in an employee’s time at their organisation.

Recent research carried out by Financial Director on behalf of Unum indicated that for the majority of businesses, there is still money – though not a great deal - in the benefits budget. Over 30 per cent confirmed some increase in money available.  

With pension auto-enrolment being introduced this Autumn and likely to change benefit spend, now is the time to consider a rebalance of benefits to ensure those provided are of value to employers and employees.