The study analysed more than twenty financial wellbeing benefits advertised across thirty UK sectors, highlighting which industries go beyond salaries to support staff. Benefits were grouped into seven categories: financial compensation and pay enhancements, insurance and protection, lifestyle support, health and wellbeing, family and parental benefits, retirement and savings, and work from home flexibility.
Social care ranked fourth overall, placing in the top ten for four of the seven benefits categories. The sector performed strongest in financial compensation and pay enhancements, although only twenty five percent of job ads currently include these benefits.
The sector’s weakest area is retirement and long-term savings, with just 0.19 percent of job ads offering these benefits. Across all industries, fewer than ten percent of job adverts include benefits from even the most common category, showing there is still significant room for improvement.
The research comes amid wider concerns over financial stress in the workplace, with one in three employees reporting that money worries affect their performance, and only half of employers having a financial wellbeing strategy in place.
By contrast, the education sector offered the fewest financial wellbeing benefits, with recruitment, administration, and PA roles also ranking among the least generous.
Commenting on the findings, Abhishek Agrawal from Access PayWise+ said:
“Social care companies offering strong financial wellbeing packages are likely to see higher workforce productivity and loyalty, while also attracting prospective talent. Financial compensation and pay enhancements are the most common form of support, but uptake remains low at twenty five percent in job ads, showing there is room for improvement across every category.
“Simple, low-cost measures such as cycle-to-work schemes, life assurance, or earned wage access can help staff manage everyday costs. Our previous research shows eighty percent of employees using earned wage access feel more loyal to their employer, yet it is still rarely offered. Expanding this into a broader financial wellbeing strategy will deliver the best long-term results.”
