Latest research from Ciphr puts company sick pay at the top of employees’ benefits priorities. But the bigger lesson for employers may be that the benefits people value most are not always the ones they use most, talk about most or notice most.
A good benefits package is not necessarily the one with the longest list of options.
Sometimes the employee benefits people value most are the ones sitting quietly in the background, giving them reassurance that support will be there if they need it.
That is one of the messages to emerge from The benefits employees really want, new research from the Ciphr Group, which includes FlexGenius.
Among the 2,000 UK employees surveyed, 68% said paid sick leave, or company sick pay, was important to them. It ranked ahead of inflation-matching pay rises, flexible working, pension contribution matching and extra holiday. Sick pay also came top when Ciphr asked a similar question four years ago.
So why does such a familiar benefit continue to matter so much?
Sick pay offers something employees can feel: security
For someone who becomes unwell, there can be two worries at once: when will I feel better, and what will happen to my income while I am off?
Statutory Sick Pay became more accessible in April 2026, with entitlement starting from the first full day of sickness and the previous lower earnings threshold removed. But relying on statutory provision can still mean a significant fall in income.
Enhanced company provision is far from universal too. Ciphr’s research found that 56% of employers surveyed offer paid sick leave to all staff.
That helps explain why company sick pay carries so much weight.
It is not simply about receiving money while you are off sick. It is about knowing your income will not suddenly drop at the same time as you are dealing with a health problem.
For someone with rent or a mortgage to pay, nursery fees due or the usual household bills landing, that reassurance can make a real difference.
It can matter to the employer too. Someone who feels they cannot afford to stay at home may work when they are not really well enough to do so. That can affect their recovery, their wellbeing and how productive they are while they are working.
Sick pay therefore reaches well beyond absence management. It is part of the wider picture around financial wellbeing and employee experience.
A benefit does not need to be used often to be valuable
This is perhaps the more useful lesson for HR and reward teams.
Benefits data can tell you a lot. It can show which schemes employees are joining, which pages they are visiting and where engagement is strongest.
But usage is only one measure of value.
Think about an employee who has not taken a day off sick for several years. If you looked only at usage, company sick pay might appear to mean very little to them.
Ask how they would feel about losing it and you may hear something very different.
The same can apply to life assurance and other forms of protection. Employees may hope they never need to use them, while still placing significant value on knowing that cover is there.
That distinction matters when you are deciding where to spend a limited benefits budget.
Use renewal as a chance to ask better questions
Benefits renewal can easily start with what was offered last year.
That is understandable. HR teams are busy, and if a package appears to be working, renewing it can feel like the sensible option.
But workforces change. Employees move through different life stages, household pressures shift and the things people value can change with them.
Ciphr’s research reflects that. Priorities vary across age groups and life stages, with pension contribution matching becoming comparatively more important among employees over 45, while flexibility and upskilling carry greater weight for some younger employees.
So rather than asking “What did people use last year?”, it is worth asking:
“What matters to our employees now, and why?”
Bring employee listening into your benefits strategy
You do not need to wait for an annual engagement survey to find out.
With a modern flexible benefits platform like FlexGenius, HR and reward teams can use pulse surveys and check-ins to ask employees what they value, what they would be most reluctant to lose and where they feel something is missing.
That feedback can then be considered alongside benefits uptake and engagement data, giving you a much fuller picture.
FlexGenius also brings employee communications into the same platform. That means insight can feed directly into how benefits are explained and promoted, with messages targeted to different groups where appropriate.
That matters because value is not only about what you offer. Employees also need to understand what is available to them and how it could help.
Bringing benefits, employee feedback, communications and engagement insight together can make renewal conversations much more useful. Instead of simply rolling forward last year’s package, HR teams have better evidence for deciding what to keep, what to rethink and where investment could have greater impact.
Find out what your employees would put first
Company sick pay topping Ciphr’s ranking does not mean every workforce would give the same answer.
That is really the point.
Would your employees put sick pay first? Would parents, younger employees and those approaching retirement answer differently? Are there benefits they value highly even though they rarely use them? And are there others you continue to fund because they have simply always been there?
Ciphr’s full report looks more closely at what UK employees value, where employer provision does not always match employee priorities and how those priorities vary across the workforce.
Download The benefits employees really want
