More than a third of European workers would willingly sacrifice some of their pay for greater financial protection in the event of illness or injury, research suggests.
Alternative healthcare treatments would also be welcomed by 15% of those who responded to the Aon survey.
The employee benefits consultancy conducted a survey more than 7,500 workers from the UK and nine of Europe's other leading economies.
Pensions topped the list of salary sacrifice options for European employees with nearly 50% stating that they would sacrifice pay for a higher pension contribution by their employer.
However increased financial protection was the second most desired option being chosen by 35% of respondents, while alternative healthcare arrangements was seventh most popular.
The preference for financial security was not anticipated to be so unanimous, as the report noted: "Surprisingly, the desire for greater pension contributions from employers is uniformly the benefit most requested across all surveyed countries.
"This finding demonstrates that European workers are beginning to take their long-term savings and future extremely seriously.
"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," it added.
Ian Hinton, global benefits practice leader for Europe at Aon Hewitt believes increasing the retirement ages 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," he said.
"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."
Hinton further suggested that employers should regard their employee benefit arrangements as an important tool to help a firm's staff attraction and retention programme and prove cost effective.
The survey also revealed that 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%.
