Data can tell us what other employers are doing. It cannot tell us whether a specific benefit is creating value for a particular workforce.
At what point does a benefit stop being a differentiator and become an expectation? This was one of the most prominent questions coming out of GrECo’s Employee Benefits Benchmark. According to the study, 82% of employers in Poland offer group life insurance and 50% provide private medical care to their employees, illustrating just how common these benefits have become.
There was a time when offering private medical care or group life insurance helped employers stand out. These benefits signaled that a company cared about employee wellbeing and was willing to invest in long-term security. But today, the situation looks very different. Today’s employees now expect them to be part of a standard benefits package, much as they would expect annual leave or occupational medicine to be included. Their absence is often noticed more than their presence.
Have benefits lost their value?
This does not mean that benefits have lost their value. It simply means conversations about benefits are evolving.
A benefits programme may look impressive on paper yet have little impact on employee experience if it has not evolved alongside the workforce. A medical plan with limited accessibility, a wellbeing programme that employees do not understand, or a life insurance scheme that has remained unchanged for years may no longer deliver the value it once did. To remain attractive, employers must ensure benefits remain relevant, meaningful and aligned with employee needs.
The right benefits question to ask
At the same time, employees’ expectations continue to evolve. Different generations, different life stages and different working models create very different priorities. What is highly valued by one group of employees may be largely irrelevant to another.
This is why organisations are increasingly moving away from asking: “Which benefits should we add?” and starting to ask: “Which benefits do employees truly value, use and remember?”
The answer is not always found in benchmarking figures alone. Data can tell us what other employers are doing. It cannot tell us whether a specific benefit is creating value for a particular workforce. This creates an important opportunity for employers to look beyond simply adding more benefits. Organisations will achieve better outcomes by reviewing existing programmes, understanding utilisation, collecting employee feedback and ensuring that benefits support both business objectives and employee needs.
You can read our full Health & Benefits study here or speak to our Polish Health & Benefits experts to discuss how to evolve your existing benefits package in Poland.
Ewelina Jaworska-Bień
Head of People Solutions
T +48 504 178 064
