UK not focusing on older employee benefits

Under three-quarters of companies are not making provisions for supporting an ageing workforce.

This research was conducted by Towergate Health & Protection, which found that 70 per cent of companies are not making arrangements for older employees.

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Baby Boomers (51-74) are one of the largest working demographic, with Towergate warning this demographic has specific needs.

Brett Hill, distribution director at Towergate Health & Protection said:

For employee benefits to really make an impact it’s important that they’re tailored to the needs of a workforce.

Despite where they may be in life, this demographic still have financial obligations such as funding eldercare, helping children get on the property ladder and supporting grandchildren.

Stress and anxiety can play a part in this demographic as well as they may have to support both younger and older relatives.

Mr Hill added:

With an ageing workforce it’s particularly important that the specific needs of Baby Boomers are taken into account. This generation isn’t always the most vocal about what support they need, but – like all generations – the better they’re looked after, the more engaged and productive they are.

For employers to really get value from their benefits it’s important that what they offer is relevant to their particular workforce.

Earlier this month (December), Towergate research showed that only 10 per cent of HR feel their employees value their employee assistance program (EAP) and even less (5 per cent) use it.

The vast majority of HR (90 per cent) feel it is their responsibility to communicate benefits to their employees, whereas only 18 per cent use internal marketing or communications departments.

Towergate believes in order for “health and wellbeing benefits to be valued and utilised, they need to be understood, and this means having a clear communications plan.”

The business explained that employees are less likely to be aware of benefits if they are not regularly communicated or explained to staff.

To gather these results, Towergate spoke to 39 employee benefits and HR managers who represent between 17,000 and 20,000 employees.

Darius McQuaid

Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.

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