This year’s tracker reveals that ‘holiday trading,’ whereby employees either buy or sell their allotted holiday allowance, has become an evermore popular option (take up increased by 21%).  The proportion of staff selling holiday has nearly doubled from 20% selling off their holiday allowance in 2008 to 35% in 2009, suggesting that employees are seeking more ways to boost their salary in the recession.

Despite the increase in holiday selling, there were still significantly more people buying holiday than selling it, illustrating that for the majority of people, leisure time is highly valued. 

Aligning with 2008 findings, the 09 Tracker finds that pensions remain the most popular benefit, with 78% of flex scheme members selecting the benefit, followed by private medical insurance (PMI) at 45% and then holiday trading at 21%.

Key findings

• Charitable giving has continued with the increasing popularity of environmentally-based charities such as the Woodland Trust building on the success of more traditional charity-giving such as through the Charity Account operated by the Charities Aid Foundation.
• There has been a growth in the voluntary insurance benefits including Personal Accident, Critical Illness and Travel Insurances during the year and less people have been changing their level of PHI cover.
• Despite increasing travel costs the government’s cycle to work scheme remains well down the list at a steady 1% take-up.
• The recession has seen a reduction in the take-up of initiatives such as wellness/learning accounts which have now fallen out of the “Top 15” benefits since 2008. E.g: take-up of Health Screenings on an un-funded basis has also fallen to a low of 0.5%. 
• Take up in the tax free Mobile Phones benefit has plummeted to 0.02% and resulted in a major provider pulling out of the market place in 2008.

Commenting on these findings, Gareth Ashley-Jones, Head of Flexible Benefits, Aon Consulting said:

“Although more people are selling holiday in a bid to boost their income, buying additional holiday is still more popular demonstrating that “leisure time “ is priceless to some extent

“Growth in voluntary insurance benefits and less people changing their level of PHI cover could be due to the financial value provided to employees by way of group policies as well as due to the ease with which cover can be taken out through flexible benefits.

“Despite the recession and increasing cost of travel, take up in the government’s cycle to work scheme falls at the bottom of the list in popularity, this is thought to be due to continued lack of storage and showering/changing facilities in the workplace deterring employees.

“The other “big loser” is the tax free Mobile Phones benefit. It is thought that significant decline in take up of this has been hit by employee’s perception of this being a ‘luxury item’ during the recession and by the pace of price and technology changes in the High Street which is consistently driving down costs and improving value.

“It is very noticeable that the balance that companies face between containing costs through robust benefits management and providing subsidised employee benefits to help aid recruitment and retention is entering a new phase. Cost control is paramount and this has resulted in companies scaling back provision of softer benefits and employees are now really valuing benefits that can save them money by utilising group rates or minimising National insurance Contributions”
Ends

For more information please contact:

Leo Wood / Josephine Corbett
0207 269 7137 /  7250
Leo.wood@fd.com  / Josephine.corbett@fd.com

David Skapinker
david.skapinker@aon.co.uk
http://aon.mediaroom.com

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. Through its more than 37,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008 and 2009 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's largest insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on brokerage revenues in 2007 and 2008, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 and 2008 by the readers of Business Insurance. For more information on Aon, log onto http://www.aon.com/.

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