The flexibility and range of products will increase, offering greater choice to employers, says Tony Gilbert
The average age of the UK worker is rising and this impacts on employee benefits packages. An ageing population will not change the range of benefits employers offer their employees, but it will change the popularity of certain benefits and the approach employers take towards their provision.
A steadily ageing population is just part of a trend towards greater diversity in the workplace. Assuming such a thing ever existed, there is certainly no longer a typical employee and this is of relevance when it comes to employee benefits.
An employee's age, sex, marital status and health, their current and expected length of service, the hours they work, and whether they have dependent children or care for elderly or disabled relatives ' plus many other factors ' contribute to their view of what employee benefits matter to them. One size does not fit all.
Most employers provide employee benefits to attract and retain staff. They can also help to engender a positive and supportive working culture within an organisation. The challenge for employers is to ensure the benefits they provide really do attract and motivate as they wish. As an ageing population tightens the labour market, few employers can afford not to provide benefits packages attractive to older workers, younger workers and indeed, everyone who considers themselves aged in between. This points towards greater flexibility in the design of employee benefit packages and greater choice for employees.
There are employee benefits which are of greater interest to older workers, for example private health and long-term sickness benefits. These are particularly valuable to older workers, because to buy such cover on an individual basis can be expensive. While an ageing workforce could make providing such cover expensive for employers, this could in part be mitigated by asking employees to contribute to the cost. Again, flexibility is key.
Clearly older workers take a keener interest in their retirement provision than those who cannot contemplate ever reaching 40, let alone retire. Flexibility may also become more important, especially in allowing employees to ease into retirement over a number of years.
Greater flexibility in the provision of employee benefits whether or not through a fully-fledged flexible programme is the way many employers will respond to an increasingly ageing workforce.
