As employers explore new ways of attracting and retaining their talent, how important are perks, which have the most impact, and who gets the most?
A survey of 2,011 UK employees, undertaken by Censuswide in July 2021 for perk specialist Cartwright & Butler, sought to rank the most giving industries in the UK which offer the biggest perks for employees.
Its research found that marketing provides the most valuable perks, at £1,179.56 per person, on average across the year closely followed by the financial services sector (£1,091.60 per employee), and construction (£967.39).
At the other end of the scale is the third sector, which spends an average of £332.62 per person per year, with many people volunteering for charities in their spare time.
The utilities and hospitality industries both make up the bottom three of the least giving sectors – although there are several other industries that also spend less than £500 worth of perks on each employee over the year – namely retail, education, and agriculture.
Gen Z employees (those aged between 16 and 24) receive the highest value of perks on average across all industries, at around £900.08 each year. Across a range of industries, flexible working hours was by far the most popular, with 28% of brands offering this. Other popular perks of the job include employee discounts, and free food and drink, with 24% and 20% of businesses offering these, respectively.
A spokesperson for Cartwright & Butler commented: “Everything from birthday days off to free gym membership – and even something as simple as flexible working hours – are all taken into account when a candidate is deciding whether to accept a job offer. If you want to boost current workers’ morale and make them feel appreciated, then show them you care, by offering them perks that they can enjoy both in and out of work.”
Commenting on perks for marketing, particularly in recruitment where talent is in higher demand as the industry competes for attention post-pandemic, Glenn Southam, Founder of TwoEnds and The Lonely Marketers, said: “For many businesses throughout 2020, and into early 2021, day-to-day business in terms of working with customers and clients just simply stopped. This created an opportunity for marketers to come to the fore and prove their worth and impact in the workplace. In the Lonely Marketers community, made up of 150+ marketers working in recruitment, we saw countless examples of creativity to build brand awareness and add value in the most challenging of times.
“This has paid dividends as we enter a highly competitive job market with marketing being seen as integral to company growth beyond the ‘making things look nice’ stereotype. As a result, more and more marketers are now being afforded the perks, rewards and financial remuneration that were in many cases only reserved for the sales teams.”
Photo courtesy of Canva.com
