UK Workers Value Health Insurance as Most Important Employee Benefit

A new report has found that the majority of UK workers rate health insurance as the most valuable employee benefit. The Aviva Health of the Workplace report, carried out by market research firm Pollab, revealed that 31 per cent of UK employees believe private medical insurance to be the most important employee benefit.

Despite being shown to value medical insurance, the report also revealed an unwillingness on behalf of employees to reveal any health problems to their employers. Just four per cent of staff indicated that they would approach their bosses if they had a health problem, while one in five workers indicated they would avoid alerting their employers to any health problems for fear of jeopardising their career prospects. However, such views are not shared by employers, it would seem, with 42 per cent of employers claiming to operate an open door policy.

Access to private health care was by no means the only valued employee benefit, however, with 29 per cent of respondents citing life insurance as the most important benefit, and a further 18 per cent listing employee assistance programmes as their preferred perk.