In times of austerity, recruiting and retaining through competitive salary packages alone is more difficult. Mercer’s new 2011 European Survey on Employee Choice in Benefits shows that employers across Europe have been giving employees more choice in the benefits they receive in order to remain competitive in the talent market and meet challenges such as budget constraints and diverse workplace needs. Benefit choice ranges from a menu of voluntary (employee-paid) benefits to comprehensive flexible benefit programs.

“The clear message from this survey is that the availability of employee choice has not been scaled back due to economic constraints,” says Kim Honess, Head of Flexible Benefits for Mercer in the UK. “If anything, employers in Europe are looking to improve their current choice offerings or to move quickly to implement a choice program as a result of the challenges they currently face.”

Survey results suggest that some of the barriers to employee choice are falling. Relatively few employers say that benefit cost has risen as a result of implementing a comprehensive flexible benefits program, and as employee choice programs become more common, the market has responded with new administrative solutions.

Learn more about expanding benefits choice in Europe.

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