Europeans are certainly a practical bunch, with nearly 50% of workers stating that they would sacrifice pay for a higher pension contribution by their employer, compared to only 13% who would give up some of their salary for an extra vacation days, according to Aon Hewitt. Surprisingly, the desire for greater pension contributions from employers is uniformly the benefit most requested across all surveyed countries. While pensions have become a hot-button issue across Europe over recent years, this finding demonstrates that European workers are beginning to take their long-term savings and future extremely seriously.
This research is part of Aon Hewitt’s European Employee Benefits Benchmark, a survey of more than 7,500 workers from across Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, ten of the leading economies in Europe. The Benchmark focuses on the views of workers across Europe on topics such as retirement, employee benefits and other pension-related issues.
Across Europe, financial security in the event of a serious injury or illness was also a popular ‘salary sacrifice’ option, as was assistance with saving for a major expenditure such as a home, car or school fees.
Perhaps indicating envy of their continental counterparts’ holiday allowance, more than one in five (21%) of British workers would be happy to sacrifice some of their salary for extra annual leave, nearly double the European average of 13%.
| Top 10 Benefits that Europeans would like if they were part of their pay packet, i.e. sacrificing some of the pay they would actually receive. | |
| Benefit | European Average |
| 1. A higher pension contribution from your employer | 49% |
| 2. Greater financial protection in the event of illness/injury | 35% |
| 3. A savings plan to help save for a specific goal (e.g. home deposit, car, school fees) | 26% |
| 4. Ability to take 3 – 6 months unpaid or part-paid leave | 26% |
| 5. An education course of worker’s choice | 23% |
| 6. Childcare | 18% |
| 7. Alternative healthcare treatments | 15% |
| 8. Purchase extra vacation days | 13% |
| 9. A home cleaning and ironing service | 10% |
| 10. Company mobile phone | 9% |
NB: Multiple answers were possible
Ian Hinton, the Global Benefits Practice Leader for Europe at Aon Hewitt commented: “Right across the world governments and businesses are struggling with how to prepare for issues surrounding retirement. At the same time the increase of the retirement age in many countries and the financial crisis impacting many pension funds has focused people’s minds on their own long-term financial security. It is an absolute turnaround that people are prepared to sacrifice their hard-earned money today for a more financially secure future tomorrow. Despite the protests in France, and Greece, the survey suggests that a growing number of employees do understand why changes are needed to secure their future financial situation. Tension arises, though, when people see the practical consequences of the measures necessary to implement and the impact they will have.
“The war for talent may not yet be in full swing again, but employers need to begin to re-stock their benefits armoury in preparation. Employees clearly value non-financial benefits, and implementing a flexible benefits strategy could not only help a firm’s staff attraction and retention programme but can actually be extremely cost effective too.”
Source : Aon Hewitt Press Release
