Employers have been up spending on benefits in spite of auto-enrolment costs, Group Risk Development (GRiD) has reported.
One in five employers have increased spend on employee benefit packages, according to GRiD research, and 36% expected to meet additional auto-enrolment cost without cutting other benefits.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said: "While employers have approached auto-enrolment with varying degrees of confidence, a month on from its initial introduction it's great to see that they are starting to recognise its value and considering further investment in their benefits package accordingly."
GRiD's research suggests employers are "broadly upbeat" with one third of employers expecting auto-enrolment to have a positive impact on business.
More than half of employers said they would be open to offering protection benefits, including life insurance, income protection or critical illness, alongside auto-enrolment.
GRiD said the findings were encouraging given that employers were set to play a pivotal role in the distribution of protection.
Moxham said she was "particularly heartened" that employers were acknowledging the importance of group protection.
She said: "Businesses are coming to recognise that they are the ones to facilitate greater personal financial responsibility. The introduction of auto-enrolment is putting the onus on employers to help their employees plan effectively for their retirement but this is only part of the picture.
"They could potentially play a major role in ensuring their workforce and their families are adequately protected from the financial devastation that death or disability can bring and our survey shows that employers are ready to act on this lead."
