Fringe Benefits

Date01 February 1973
Published date01 February 1973
Pages88-90
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb055234
AuthorJane Moonman
Subject MatterHR & organizational behaviour
new
personnel
practice Fringe Benefits
Jane Moonman
A recent survey [1] in depth of fringe benefits in 46 British
companies, a sample which included some of the biggest
employers in the country and covered almost three quarters
of a million people, showed beyond doubt that there is no
such thing as standard fringe benefits practice. The variety
of benefits available is wide, indeed, ranging from those
which may be taken for granted (paid holidays and
redundancy compensation) to those reserved for a few top
executives in certain companies (top hat pensions and
service agreements), but the variation in the package which
firms actually offer is even wider. In fact, the number and
extent of benefits which an employee can expect depends
entirely on the firm he works for, because in Britain, unlike
the countries of the EEC, relatively little of the conditions
of employment field is controlled by legislation.
In short, fringe benefits are potentially as important to an
employee as his salary, for the truth is that as successive
attempts are made to keep the earnings spiral in check,
benefits which may be translated into cash terms but which
are over and above salary, assume greater importance in the
total compensation package. This is a fact recognized not
only by those who pay heavily under PAYE but also by the
unions, many of which involve themselves today in negotia-
tions for better sick pay, good pension coverage, travel
allowances and assistance with house removal or transfer, as
well as the traditional wages and hours of work bargaining.
These are some of the matters which are aired by the
survey, but at least half the material is devoted to giving as
accurate a picture as possible of fringe benefits as they exist
today in the 46 representative companies. The main
conclusions are summarized in the following sections.
Paid Leave
The survey indicated a progressive trend in holidays with a
three week standard for all grades up to senior management
level, where it increased to four weeks. Over 66% of the
companies paid average earnings for holidays to hourly paid
employees and about half the companies allowed holidays
to be taken at any time in the calendar or holiday year
subject to management approval. The average cost of
holidays to the companies in the survey was 7.5% of
payroll.
In line with other surveys on the subject, this research
indicated that requests for special paid leave from monthly
paid employees were more likely to be met than similar
requests from other grades, especially for visits to the
doctor or dentist or for meetings of professional bodies. On
the whole, the companies had formal policies on leave for
domestic, medical, professional and educational reasons and
were very likely to grant paid leave in these instances
especially to monthly
staff.
They were less generous in the
narrower areas of maternity leave, special religious holidays
and political activities, where, if
leave
were granted at all, it
was likely to be unpaid though each case would probably
be treated on its merits.
Sick Pay
There was practically no discernible pattern in the matter
of sick pay. The amount a sick employee can expect to
receive, apart from his National Insurance Benefit, depends
entirely on his firm. There is no standard practice and he
may find he is entitled to six months full pay or to none at
all.
The survey showed that if he is on monthly or weekly
payroll he would be likely to get more sick pay than other
grades and that if he were hourly paid he would be entitled
to more, the longer he stays with his company. The
presence or absence of a sick pay scheme did not appear to
affect absence rates.
88

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT