When you’re building your company’s benefits package, it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts. Invest in a couple of big-ticket items, or create a suite of smaller benefits? Benefit stacking, or putting together a range of lower-cost options, can actually help you make a bigger impact on your employees without needing to break the bank.
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Key takeaways
- If you have a limited budget, splurging on expensive single benefits may not have maximum impact.
- Building a stack of diverse but lower-cost benefits can help you make a difference across varied aspects of wellbeing.
- Benefits can interact and overlap, meaning that investment in one area, like financial wellbeing, can also impact further aspects of employee health in addition.
- Salary sacrifice benefits can help you unlock further budget.
- A provider like Maji can help you build your stack with less hassle.
Are big benefits always the best choice?
There are some ‘big benefits’ that you or your employees might find appealing. Let’s take health insurance as an example. This is much more common in larger companies where the wellbeing budget can stretch to as much as £1,000 per employee, per year (for a comprehensive policy).
Health insurance can be an attractive choice because it feels valuable to employees. After all, with it, they may be able to access faster treatment, tests and specialists not available on the NHS, or 24-hour helplines. These features could help keep your workforce healthier.
On the other hand, it’s worth bearing in mind that you may not see full return-on-investment when it comes to such costly options. Not all employees will use their health insurance, and some may not be eligible to benefit (for example, those with pre-existing conditions).
The other consideration is whether a comprehensive insurance plan is the best use of a limited budget. Especially for smaller companies with less money to splash, you might find that investing in a wider range of cheaper benefits could help you make a bigger impact.
So, whilst ‘big benefits’ can be a great investment for some companies, aiming for a more diverse ‘stack’ could make better use of your budget if you don’t have loads to spend.
Building a benefits stack
As with your software stack, your benefits stack can help you target different aspects of employee wellbeing.
Let’s stick with our health example. Whilst expensive health insurance could be one way to support employees’ physical wellbeing, it’s not the only solution. Other options could include:
- Free fruit in the office
- Access to a discounts platform that includes reduced-price gym membership
- Lunchtime walking club to promote healthy movement
- Cycle 2 Work scheme
- Virtual GP access
All of these options are lower-cost ways to support employee health. But you don’t need to stick to just one category! Remember that the different aspects of wellbeing can and do overlap. So, addressing mental or financial wellbeing, for example, can also support employees to build better physical health, too.
The role of financial wellbeing
Financial wellbeing can underpin lots of other areas of wellbeing. When employees feel more confident about money, have a plan for reaching their goals, and have less financial stress, this can also help them build mental and physical health at the same time.
For example, creating a monthly spending plan can help them make room for gym membership; putting money aside for retirement can reduce worries about the future; or working with a financial coach can give them support when dealing with life’s milestones.
Adding financial wellbeing support to your stack could look like:
- Providing educational materials to help employees build financial literacy
- Giving access to planning tools to make goals easier to reach
- Addressing the importance of pensions and saving for the future
- Offering 1:1 financial coaching with qualified, supportive professionals
You could also use a deals and discounts option to help employees lower the cost of living at the same time as improving other aspects of wellbeing, such as day trips with the family.
Benefits that increase your budget
There are some benefits you could even use to increase your wellbeing budget. Salary sacrifice benefits can reduce your employer National Insurance costs, potentially freeing up some money which you could reinvest into other options. This could be particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized companies.
Adding salary sacrifice options into your stack could also help you tackle some key problems for employees, such as addressing the cost of childcare by introducing a workplace nursery scheme.
Does benefit stacking need to be DIY?
Just because you’re building a diverse benefit stack, doesn’t mean you need to find everything yourself. Working with a provider like Maji can help you put together a package of several impactful benefits, focusing on financial wellbeing but also encompassing aspects of physical and mental health.
The advantage of working with a provider like Maji is that their team will support you in setting up a range of benefit options, such as salary sacrifice schemes (including pension and workplace nursery), deals and discounts, and 1:1 financial coaching. This can save you significant time and energy in researching and assessing each choice. But you’re also not locked into an expensive and unwieldy platform – if you want to add in further benefits from other providers, you’re free to do so.
To find out more about how Maji could support your company, schedule a demo.
Frequently asked questions
How can I improve my employee benefits package on a limited budget?
You can improve your employee benefits package by using a benefit stacking strategy — combining several lower-cost, high-impact benefits instead of investing in one expensive option. For example, mix wellbeing initiatives like virtual GP access, discounts platforms, and salary sacrifice schemes to support different areas of employee health and financial wellbeing without overspending.
What is benefit stacking and how does it help employers?
Benefit stacking is the practice of offering multiple smaller, lower-cost benefits that together create a bigger overall impact on employee wellbeing. It helps employers maximise their budget, reach a wider range of employee needs, and improve engagement and satisfaction across the workforce.
Can salary sacrifice schemes help improve employee benefits?
Yes. Salary sacrifice schemes allow employees to exchange part of their salary for non-cash benefits, like childcare or pension contributions, while reducing employer National Insurance costs. This can free up extra budget to reinvest in other wellbeing benefits, helping employers enhance their benefits package in a cost-neutral way.
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