By contrast, among firms of over 1,000 staff, half (51%) review the benefits they offer staff each year. This compares to 41% of employers with less than 100 staff, who review benefits less than once every two years, or never.
The findings suggest many small firms are struggling to review their employee benefits policies.
Reviewing employee benefits regularly is important, because offering the right employee benefits package plays an important role in attracting and retaining staff. The research found that while nearly four-fifths of small firms say they offer only the bare minimum of employee benefits or just enough to attract and retain valued staff, over half of employers with more than 250 staff say they offer 'above average' employee benefits to attract staff. This suggests that small firms are disadvantaged by not regularly reviewing their employee offer.
Diane Buckley, MD of Legal & General Group Income Protection, said: "These figures show that employers should ensure good quality support is available in the workplace to help employees. It is concerning that nearly two-fifths of small firms aren't reviewing their employee benefits regularly, as employee benefits are critical to attract and retain staff. Legal & General has developed an effective group income protection package that offers support to small firms with as few as 50 employees."
The research was conducted by Reed Business Insight. It was conducted via a survey of 400 businesses, split into five groups of 80 by size. The five groups were businesses with between 10 and 99 employees, 100 and 249 employees, 250 and 499 employees, 500 and 999 employees, and with 1,000 employees or more. Some 240 of the 400 were in services, while 160 were in general industry.
