Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of HR professionals said their organisations delivered an “excellent” employee experience compared with only 20 per cent of employees who said the same, according to a survey by Benefex.
The situation has got worse since 2023 when employers slightly underrated their performance (34 per cent said they provided an excellent experience, compared with 38 per cent of employees). This comes at a time when 81 per cent of employees said that their experience at work was more important than a year ago.
Disconnect
“[These results] suggest that there is a disconnect between the initiatives employers are undertaking to enhance employee experience (through benefits and wellbeing, for instance) and what their people are actually looking for at this moment in time,” the report said.
While salary (78 per cent) and benefits (59 per cent) remain the two key factors when choosing and employer, employees also said that wellbeing (55 per cent), flexible working (53 per cent), high ethical standards (51 per cent) and employee recognition (50 per cent) were also important.
“Expectations around benefits are rising at a rapid rate,” the report said, “More than 90 per cent of employees state that it’s important that their benefits protect them if they get sick, help them to achieve work- life balance and support their financial, physical and emotional wellbeing.”
Learning and socialising
The most engaged employees are those who rated learning and socialising with work colleagues as almost twice as important to their job performance than less engaged staff, according to a study by Gensler. In addition, the most engaged individuals spend less time working alone (34 per cent) than those least engaged (44 per cent).Strong teams tended to work in the office more. “The office is an important environment for the strongest teams to work together,” the report said. “The top reasons they give for coming in are for in-person team meetings, to focus on their work, to sit with their team, and to socialise with their colleagues.”
