Nearly one in four employers has reduced their benefit costs by introducing a flexible benefits scheme, according to a survey of UK employers conducted by Mercer.
A total of 55% of respondents believed that setting up a flexible benefits scheme would actually increase their costs. Yet 39% of those with flex schemes said their benefit costs were lower than they would have been without a flex scheme, while 45% said their costs had been unaffected.
However, only 11% of respondents said the most important reason for introducing flexible benefits was to reduce or control the company's contribution to benefit costs.
John Puddephatt, senior consultant at Mercer, commented: "From this research, and evidence from our own client work, we believe flex should be given higher priority as an option for managing company costs - given most companies are looking to make further cost reductions in the year ahead.
In the survey, a total of 33% of employers said that they aimed to reduce their current benefit spend in 2010, while 45% said they planned to reduce benefit cost increases over time.
