Ideal Business Consultants

Employee benefit costs are burdening many UK small businesses, it has been suggested.

More than a quarter of private sector small businesses are reducing employee benefits by cutting holiday entitlement. Research found that 27% of employers believe they are too generous with holidays.

Currently, all full-time workers have the statutory 28 days holiday including bank holidays. A study of 403 small and medium businesses found that the majority said they aim to cut around 4 days paid holiday in order to contain costs. But 36% said they are considering offering additional unpaid leave.

More than a third of employees said they would be willing to work longer hours if they received a pay rise.

However, the survey revealed that around 6 out of 10 employees are not expecting to receive an annual pay increase in the next 12 months. 28% said they last had any increase in their pay over 2 years ago.

A spokesperson for the researching company said:

“The ongoing UK economic recovery will rely heavily on SMEs and they need to contain costs. Employees are willing to be flexible to support their employer but will want something in return.”

Small businesses should recognise that employees are willing to make these commitments and take a wider look at employee benefits in order to gain the maximum value for their business and their workforce, as a strategic approach, employee benefits can add real value.

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