1. Employee Benefits
Report 2014

2. Foreword
Attraction, Retention, Motivation: from listening to our clients these are the
three most common words used when discussing employees. And given that
the war for talent is back on, this comes as no surprise. Employers now need
to think outside of ‘basic salary’ when attracting, motivating and retaining staff.
To help provide clients with real data and insights, Sigmar commissioned a
survey in relation to employee benefits which can be a key tool in addressing
all three areas.
Partnering with Qualtrics, we surveyed 2,657 employees in Ireland in relation
to:
• Current benefits
• Attitude towards these benefits
• Benefits in highest demand
I would like to thank each participant for their time and effort.
For further information on this survey, please contact our Senior Relationship
Manager, Jennifer Ward on +353 1 4744660 or email jward@sigmar.ie.
Yours sincerely,
Frank Farrelly
Director
Sigmar Recruitment
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3. Methodology
Gender Age
Career Level Education
The survey data was gathered through an online questionnaire
completed by 2,657 employees. 90% of participants are
employed in the private sector ranging across indigenous
companies, multinational organisations and SMEs, whilst
10% of participants are employed in the public sector and
semi-state organisations.
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4. Introduction
It is an interesting time to examine the subject of employee benefits in Ireland. Figure 1. Significance of Benefits to Employees
The need to keep costs low in recent years resulted in many companies
reducing the number of employee benefits offered. However with the recent
economic recovery many companies now face talent shortages and a struggle
to attract, motivate and retain staff.
Benefit Significant
Private Health Insurance 84%
Pension 82%
Paid Sick Days 81%
Educational Support 79%
Flexi-Time 75%
Additional Vacation Days 74%
Life Insurance 69%
Long Term Disability 66%
Savings Scheme 63%
Subsidised Food 58%
Laptop 57%
Tax Saver Travel Scheme 55%
Travel Insurance 53%
Gym Membership 52%
Parking 51%
Mobile Phone 51%
Paid Parental Leave 50%
Employee Stock Options 48%
Bike To Work Scheme 42%
Child Care 40%
Company Car 37%
While employee benefits programmes are a significant investment for
employers they also provide an opportunity to establish a competitive
advantage for their brand as an employer. The challenge is to balance the
goal of controlling costs, while at the same time providing a benefits package
attractive enough to help attract and retain the highest calibre employees
over the long-term.
With a wide variety of benefits to offer, it can be challenging to determine
where budgets and efforts should be focused. Our 2014 Employee Benefits
Survey reveals 4 key themes:
1. Importance of Health & Wellbeing
2. Taking Care of the Future
3. Appetite for Educational Support
4. Addressing Employees’ Life Stages
Our research indicates that in Ireland, the most significant benefits to
employees are: Private Health Insurance (84%), Pension (82%), Paid Sick Days
(81%), Educational Support (79%) and Flexi-Time (75%).
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5. Non-essential benefits such as Stock Options or benefits that can only be
enjoyed by a segment of the employees such as Child Care and Paid Parental
Leave, feature near the bottom.
Interestingly Bike to Work and the Tax Saver Travel Scheme did not score highly
either - this shows that they have some distance to go in terms of universal
recognition.
It’s not surprising to see that benefits that are seen as essential top the list
such as Private Health Insurance and Pension.
While these benefits are of the most importance to Irish employees, Figure
2 suggests there is a gap between the benefits employees are in receipt of
and those that are of most significance. This suggests an opportunity for
companies to improve employee satisfaction and loyalty by providing the
right benefits.
Figure 2. Benefits Employees are in Receipt of
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6. Key Findings

7. 1. Importance of Health & Wellness
Private Health Insurance is the most significant benefit to employees with
84% of our sample considering it important.
Despite being one of the most common benefits employees are in receipt
of (58%), an additional 30% of our sample would like to see Private Health
Insurance introduced as a benefit in their workplace. This clearly confirms the
high value employees place on Private Health Insurance.
It is also interesting to note that the importance of Private Health Insurance
is constant across demographics with all age groups rating it as the most
important benefit (see Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Breakdown by Age Group – Significance of Benefits
Health & Wellness Benefits
Benefit 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Private Health Insurance 80% 83% 87% 88% 81% 84%
Paid Sick Days 76% 81% 85% 81% 67% 81%
Flexi-Time 74% 74% 78% 77% 61% 75%
Additional Vacation Days 74% 76% 75% 68% 56% 74%
Subsidised Food 66% 61% 56% 47% 38% 58%
Gym Membership 68% 54% 48% 42% 39% 52%

8. While both males and females value work-life balance, women in particular would
like to see Additional Vacation Days introduced in their workplaces; 41% of females
compared to 31% of males. Males would prefer Gym Membership over Additional
Vacation Days.
We can also see the growing interest in health and wellbeing benefits with 32%
of our sample selecting Gym Membership as an additional benefit they would
like to see introduced. Particularly within the younger working population; Gym
Membership was the most requested benefit in the 18-24 and 25-34 age brackets
(54% and 35% respectively).
Figure 5: Breakdown by Age Group – Additional Benefits Employees would like
to see introduced in their Workplaces
Health & Wellness Benefits
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Additional Vacation Days 40% 34% 37% 35% 30% 35%
Gym Membership 54% 35% 23% 24% 28% 32%
Flexi-Time 30% 32% 32% 32% 26% 32%
Private Health Insurance 33% 32% 28% 26% 28% 30%
Subsidised Food 30% 24% 18% 18% 12% 22%
Paid Sick Days 29% 19% 19% 16% 7% 19%
For employers, focusing on health and wellbeing makes sense as there is a
direct connection between healthy workers and higher productivity, higher job
satisfaction and lower absenteeism.
Private Health Insurance is not the only health and wellbeing benefit that
employees value. Four of the top five benefits that employees would like to see
introduced in their organisations are related to this area (see Figure 4). This is
not surprising considering the changing working environment with 24/7 access
to email, increased travel requirements and over-time. As a result of this more
demanding society employees are asking for more flexible hours and time off: 35%
of those surveyed would like to see Additional Vacation Days offered and 32%
would like to see Flexi-Time introduced to their organisations. Additional Vacation
Days in particular is the number one most requested benefit by those aged 35+.
Figure 4: Additional Benefits Employees would like to see introduced in their
Workplaces
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9. 2. Taking Care of the Future
Demographics and life stage play a role in the type of benefits an employee is
in receipt of. As we can see from Figures 6 and 7, the uptake of and interest
in pension and retirement benefits increases within each age group, peaking
amongst the 45-54 years age group.
Pension is rated as the 2nd most important benefit by our sample group.
While over 80% rated it as significant, only 57% of participants are currently
in receipt of a pension. Over the past decade, the media has highlighted
trends related to long-term care such as increased longevity, post retirement
lifestyles and increasing health and nursing care costs. This not only means
that we will need a pension for a longer time but it will cost more to provide for.
As employees realise that they cannot just rely on the State for a comfortable
retirement, they are increasingly taking personal responsibility for their own
pensions.
Younger workers also see the importance of having a Pension (69% of 18-24
year olds rate pension as a significant benefit), yet only 35% of 18-24 year olds
are in receipt of a Pension. As this age group is furthest from retirement this
is not surprising, as retirement is essentially off their radar.
Figure 6: Breakdown by Age Group - Benefits in Receipt of
Retirement & Savings Benefits
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Pension 35% 53% 63% 69% 59% 56%
Life Insurance 23% 35% 45% 48% 48% 38%
Long Term Disability 9% 17% 24% 30% 31% 20%
Saving Schemes 15% 14% 14% 14% 16% 14%
€
Figure 7: Breakdown by Age Group – Significance of Benefits
Retirement & Savings Benefits
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Pension 69% 81% 85% 88% 78% 82%
Life Insurance 66% 66% 72% 77% 76% 69%
Long Term Disability 51% 62% 72% 68% 65% 66%
Savings Scheme 64% 64% 62% 62% 52% 63%
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10. 3. Appetite for Educational Support
An interesting result from our survey is the significance participants place on
Educational Support. 79% of our participants rated Educational Support as a
significant benefit making it the 4th most important benefit to our sample.
Career development is a highly attractive or even a basic requirement for
many employees when considering a job opportunity. The idea of a ‘job for
life’ has been replaced with ‘employable for life’ where continuous learning
is a key tool.
Educational Support is most significant to the younger generation as both the
18-24 year old and 25-34 year old age groups place Educational Support within
the top 5 benefits they would like to see introduced in their workplaces.
Despite the significance placed on this as a benefit by employees, very few are
currently in receipt of Educational Support. Amongst the younger generation
who value this benefit more – only 25% of 18-24 year olds are currently in
receipt of Educational Support. 35-44 year olds have the highest uptake of
Educational Support with 42% in receipt of it as a benefit.
The importance of Educational Support is consistent across all age groups
with a slight drop off in the 55+ age group.
Many employers avoid offering Educational Support as a benefit due to its
cost, both in terms of time and money and the fear that an employee may
leave upon completeing a qualification. However, these benefits can be
offered in such a way that it aides retention. For example an employee would
agree to repay the cost of the education if they left within an agreed time
period.
In today’s business environment where the competition for high quality employees
is paramount, Educational Support can be a very effective tool for employee
attraction and retention. Educational Support provides the dual advantage of an
employee who feels their employer cares about their professional development,
and the organisation gains a richer, better prepared workforce.
Figure 8: Breakdown by Age Group – Significance of Benefits
Educational Support
Benefit 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Educational Support 80% 80% 79% 76% 55% 79%
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11. 4. Addressing Employee’s Life Stages
When we analysed our sample results, there were only slight variances
between genders but there were significant differences between age
groups. This reflects that different age groups have different priorities, which
employers should take into account when designing benefits packages.
Our survey has already shown that the younger generation are more concerned
with Health and Wellbeing related benefits where Pension and Retirement
benefits become of more significance to the older age groups. There is also a
segment of the group where Parental Benefits become of significance.
With the high price of child care costs in Ireland, Child Care benefits and Paid
Parental Leave are an important attraction and motivational driver to offer
working parents. As we can see in Figure 9 the interest in Parental Benefits
spikes within the 25-34 year old and 35-44 year old age groups.
Figure 9: Breakdown by Age Group – Significance of Benefits
Parental Benefits
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18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Paid Parental Leave 40% 54% 57% 29% 21% 50%
Child Care 29% 41% 51% 25% 15% 40%

12. Yet very few of our sample group are currently in receipt of Parental Benefits.
Figure 10: Breakdown by Age Group – Benefits in Receipt of
Parental Benefits
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Paid Parental Leave 6% 18% 19% 9% 7% 16%
Child Care 3% 7% 6% 3% 0% 6%
And when asked what benefits they would like to see introduced to their
workplace 32% of 35-44 year olds selected Child Care making it the 2nd most
sought after benefit within that age group.
Figure 11: Breakdown by Age Group – Benefits Participants Would Like To
See Introduced
Parental Benefits
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total
Paid Parental Leave 13% 20% 22% 7% 9% 18%
Child Care 12% 24% 32% 9% 5% 23%
This all clearly highlights the changing needs of employees as they progress
through different life stages, whether that is changing family circumstances
or employment status. Organisations are competing to attract, motivate and
retain the best talent and a blanket benefits programme is unlikely to be the
most effective method of meeting the diverse needs of employees.
The introduction of flexible benefits can offer the distinct advantage of
engaging wih multiple generations across your workforce. Flexible benefits
also heighten employees’ awareness of the benefits they are in receipt of as
it places more control in their hands regarding the make-up of their benefits.
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13. Points to Ponder
The most significant benefits to employees were Private Health Insurance, Pension,
Paid Sick Days, Educational Support and Flexi-time.
It is encouraging that our sample view Private Health Insurance and Pension as
significant and indeed across ages and genders this carries through. The fact that
it is also seen as important by those who don’t have it means it is close to a ‘must
have’ for any employer reviewing their benefits package. However considering the
increasing cost of providing these benefits, we predict more employers may look to
employees sharing the cost as a means to balance the books.
The recognition of Sick Pay as a benefit was a surprise to us. There is an opportunity
here in that if it is framed correctly, it can be a relatively inexpensive benefit to
provide.
The growing interest in balanced, healthy lifestyles sees Additional Vacation Days
and Flexi-time feature highly as benefits employees would like to see introduced to
their workplaces. Both of these benefits can be particularly cost-effective benefits
to provide. Additional Vacation Days in particular can be an effective reward tool.
An interesting result from our survey is the significance participants place on
Educational Support. As mentioned these benefits can be offered in such a way
that it aides retention. For example an employee would agree to repay the cost of
the education if they left within a designated time period.
The fact that the Bike to Work and Tax Saver Travel Scheme did not score highly
shows they have some distance to go in terms of universal recognition. This could
be an example of how important it is to effectively communicate your benefits
packages so your employees understand the savings associated with these
schemes. The same can be said for Employee Stock Options.
Finally, benefits will continue to be a critical tool for attracting and retaining talent.
Companies can create a competitive advantage for their employer brand by offering
a flexible benefits programme to employees. Our survey has shown that there is
not a major difference between the genders - life stages have more of an impact on
employees attitudes towards the benefits they’re in receipt of. Employees favour
benefits that are relevant to their particular stage of personal and professional life.
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14. www.sigmarrecruitment.com
Dublin
13 Hume Street,
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 4744600
Email: info@sigmar.ie
Cork
33 Southbank,
Crosses Green, Cork
Tel: +353 21 431 5770
Email: cork@sigmar.ie
Galway
Dockgate, Dock Road,
Galway
Tel: +353 91 563 868
Email: galway@sigmar.ie
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