Unlike core benefits such as medical care or pensions, fringe benefits are often the most visible to employees.
For a long time, fringe benefits were exactly that: an add-on. A company car, meal vouchers, perhaps a bonus scheme. Useful, appreciated, but ultimately secondary to salary. However, the latest findings from the GrECo Health & Benefits Study suggest that this perception is shifting.
Across Central and Eastern Europe, fringe benefits are becoming a more deliberate part of how employers shape their overall value proposition, particularly when it comes to employee engagement and short-term satisfaction.
Unlike core benefits such as medical care or pensions, fringe benefits are often the most visible to employees. They are also the most flexible. This combination makes them a powerful, but sometimes underestimated, part of the benefits mix.
Our Study pinpoints four core findings about fringe benefits in CEE:
- Fringe benefits can play a strong role in the day-to-day employee experience. Their impact depends heavily on how well they reflect actual workforce expectations. In some areas, especially flexibility and lifestyle-related benefits, what was once considered competitive is increasingly seen as standard.
- Fringe benefits are particularly sensitive to local context. From tax treatment and infrastructure to cultural preferences around flexibility or work–life balance it is clear that what works well in one market may have a limited impact in another.
- Fringe benefits are often seen as quick wins. They are relatively easy to implement and highly visible to employees. However, the emerging picture is more nuanced. Used in isolation, fringe benefits may drive engagement in the short term, but when used as part of a broader, well-structured benefits strategy, they can reinforce a much more coherent employee value proposition.
- Fringe benefits remain an important lever for engagement, but they are no longer operating in a vacuum. Their effectiveness increasingly depends on how well they complement core benefits, reflect local realities, and align with workforce expectations.
About the Study
The survey targeted HR professionals and decision-makers in companies that offer at least one insurance benefit, such as group life insurance, private medical care, or pension schemes. Interviews were conducted either via telephone or in person, using a quota sampling method to ensure balanced representation across company sizes and industries. The questionnaire was carefully structured into four key areas: medical care, risk benefits, pensions and wellbeing.
Read the preview of the report.
Ewelina Jaworska-Bień
Head of People Solutions
T +48 504 178 064
