It’s the festive season! Treat your employees to game changing workplace benefits for the year ahead

In 2024, life is all about balance and employees want more equilibrium in their lives, between work and home. With the cost of living ever going up, companies are feeling the pressure too. So how can we support employees in finding balance, with benefits that help them achieve their goals at work and in life, that doesn’t cost businesses a fortune?

Current situation for Australian households

The real cost of the rising cost of living is $10,700¹. Australian households have an average of $10,700 less per year for what is considered discretionary spending–things like eating out, holidays, gym memberships, furniture and electronics. This is even more difficult for those with mortgages who have had an average of $21,300² slashed from annual discretionary spending since 2020.

Unsurprisingly, household financial stress levels are at an eight-year running high and not having enough money for discretionary spending is the second key driver of household financial stress with saving for retirement being the first².

Bridging the benefits expectation gap

So why is it important to show value to employees to ensure a healthy staff turnover and add to your employee value proposition. Well, 72% of employees rank remuneration and benefits as a top driver for retention. But it’s not enough for business just to have benefits or perks it’s also vital to communicate that they are available. 49% believe their employers aren’t doing enough to communicate or explain the benefits on offer.³ It’s this lack of communication, awareness and clarity around what is accessible to them which is driving employee dissatisfaction.

The interesting fact is peace of mind and access to unused benefits can still drive retention. It is reported that 78% of employees are likely to stay at their organisation if offered benefits that align with their values, even if they don’t ever use them.

When it comes to what type of benefits employees are looking for, they seek benefits that will go beyond the day-to-day. 51% want financial education benefits, yet only 29% of employers offer it. This is a similar for private health, at 50% and 28% respectively.³

Benefits for real life, at every life stage.

Pronto Software partnered with Flare to be our Solution partner because we understand that life goes beyond the workplace and a business’s benefits should reflect that.

Flare is a free advanced benefits platform for teams of all sizes which could help boost your business’s employee value proposition and your employees on average save $12,000 a year. It’s one solution for leasing, everyday savings, premium perks and bigger expenses like utilities, health insurance and more, so you can effortlessly manage your entire benefits offering, all in one place.

Flare offers meaningful savings across the household categories that matter most for whatever life stage your employees are at. Save with 500 retailers across 9,000 locations from a weekly grocery shop to saving thousands on a next car. You can even customise and add in your own specialised perks for your employees.

If you would like to learn more about how Flare can help your business, book a demo today or attend our upcoming webinar ‘How to better engage your employees in 2025’.

Sources:

1. Polis Partners, The Household Report, April 2024
2. NAB Australian Wellbeing Survey, Q2, 2024
3. Deloitte, Employee Insights Report, 2024