During a survey commissioned by Hawk Incentives - a leader in corporate benefit and reward solutions - together with Sapio Research, it was found that HR professionals in large UK organisations tend to overvalue the satisfaction felt by employees with regard to rewards and benefits received.

The survey was conducted on 103 HR professionals and 500 employees to compare perceptions between HR departments and the general workforce.

It was found that just over half of employees - 52% - stated that they are satisfied with the benefits offered by their company, but at the same time 77% of the average HR professional asserted that their workforce was noticeably happier with its benefits package. When asked to rank on a ‘happiness scale’ they maintained that the ranking was 7 or above on a scale from 1 to 10.

The extensive report - ‘Pulling the benefits lever, closing the gap between HR expectations and employee satisfaction’ - revealed the challenges that HR departments confront in making certain that the benefits and incentives that they offer are appropriate to a varied workforce.

Almost half of employees surveyed agreed with the statement that their organisation does not appreciate the real needs and wishes of its employees, whilst 62% of employees said their employers’ rewards and incentives schemes are not applicable to them. Fifty nine per cent of employees stated that their company did not regularly surprise them with new incentives and benefits programmes, as had been claimed.

When the influence of specific benefits on employee acquisition was researched, 69% of HR professionals said they still felt that classic benefits such as private healthcare would be an attraction to potential workers, but only 49% of employees stated that it would be a strong enough reason to influence their decision to work for a company. However, 52% of employees and 57% of HR leaders stated that prepaid shopping cards have a strong impact - which validates the finding that 77% of employees of all ages and grades wanted benefits that assist in cutting the cost of living.

Heather Rogers - Senior Sales and Marketing Director at Hawk Incentives - said:

“What this research shows is that HR leaders’ are now actively deploying their rewards and incentives programme to help them achieve their business goals. But simply offering a range of rewards is not enough – we know that the real results come from fine tuning your packages to reflect the current needs and wishes of your people, as they progress in their careers and personal lives.”