'Lacking direction' | Employers admit they have no clear objectives for their staff benefits

Roughly one in five UK employers (22%) have no set objectives for the employee benefits packages they offer, limiting their ability to assess whether they support key outcomes such as performance, engagement and retention at work.

The CIPD’s Reward survey: Focus on employee benefits 2026 report, supported by Everywhen, finds that while the majority of employers (77%) do link their benefits to at least one objective - with these most commonly aimed at retaining employees (44%) and supporting engagement (37%) - one in five (22%) employers are offering benefits without a defined objective, which will make it difficult for them to measure their impact.

Even among those with objectives, fewer than a third (31%) link their benefits to productivity or business performance. The findings suggest that employers could be missing an opportunity to use benefits to drive performance at a time when improving UK productivity remains a national priority.

Benefits can drive performance through, for example, supporting employees’ financial wellbeing, as previous CIPD research* shows that money worries can negatively affect employees’ ability to perform at work. Meanwhile, health benefits could support employees to remain in work while managing any health conditions they have, avoiding unnecessary time off or long-term absences, which have an impact on individuals and employer wage bills.