The Aon Benefits and Trends Survey 2019 published in January 2019 says that 97% of UK employers agree that employees’ expectations of their experience in the workplace are changing, and that employees’ top priorities now include flexible working hours, agile working, mental health, diversity and inclusion, and parental leave.

The survey asks questions of over 200 UK employers of all sizes who work across a broad range of sectors. 75% of them have operations overseas.

A number of new questions to support employer benefit strategies and provide industry analysis were introduced this year and included questions about changing workforce demographics.

The survey revealed:

• 97% of companies agree that employee expectations of the workplace seem to be changing rapidly.
• 98% of respondents said employees now expect more flexible working hours
• 89% said they expect agile/home working to be available.
• 79% cited better awareness of mental health issues
• 65% indicated that they saw better approaches to diversity and inclusion
• 63% saw improved maternity/paternity/parental leave policies
• 54% noted improved access to financial education

Interestingly, 60% of employers say that their businesses are either already changing or are expected to change in the next five years, meaning they are now competing for talent within different market sectors.

This can mean that the demographics of the organization change – yet half of the respondents said that their current benefits do not meet the needs of all generations, while 89% believed they will need to change their benefits offering to meet the needs of future generations.