The Art of the Possible: How to Make the Most of Your Employee Benefits Budget

In today’s economic climate, HR leaders are under more pressure than ever to do more with less. But making your employee benefits budget go further isn’t just about cost-cutting — it’s about spending smarter. The key? Rethinking what’s possible with your existing spend and designing benefits that actually work for your people.

Here’s how leading companies are stretching their employee benefits budget while delivering high-impact employee experiences.

Stop equating impact with cost

One of the biggest misconceptions in benefits design is that higher spend automatically means better strategy. But great benefits aren’t defined by price tags. They’re defined by relevance, accessibility, and alignment with what your people actually need.

Too often, businesses pour money into legacy schemes or overlapping policies with low visibility and poor utilisation. Instead, a smart approach focuses on realigning spend to improve impact.

Start by asking:

• Are we funding the right benefits?
• Are there areas where we’re duplicating or under-communicating?

Why prevention is more important than intervention

Prevention is better than cure — and cheaper, too.

Many employers still spend disproportionately on reactive benefits (like medical insurance) over proactive ones (like wellness, mental health and preventative care).

That’s a missed opportunity. Proactive benefits reduce downstream costs — from insurance premiums to sick days. And many of them come baked into existing products, such as virtual GP access or gym discounts. These extras are often buried in fine print. If they’re not visible to employees, they’re not really benefits.

Find your hidden wins

There’s often untapped value sitting in your current scheme. From EAPs to death-in-service benefits, many include ancillary offerings that never get used simply because they aren’t visible.

Audit what you’re already paying for and ask:

1. What features are underutilised?
2. Could they replace something else you’re funding separately?
3. Are you paying twice for the same thing in different places?

Bringing these hidden benefits to the surface can increase perceived value and boost engagement—without increasing spend.

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^{Make the most of salary sacrifice and tax savings}

If you’re in the UK, you have access to powerful tools that can generate budget through tax efficiencies. Benefits like workplace nursery, cycle-to-work, EV leasing, and annual leave purchase can be offered through salary sacrifice, reducing employer NIC contributions.

Those savings can be reinvested elsewhere. For example, one employer used their savings from annual leave trading to fund fertility support and wellbeing allowances — all without adding to their overall benefits budget.

Reallocate, don’t just add

You don’t need to spend more to do better. Many businesses can reallocate 20-30% of their current benefits budget by identifying low-impact coverage and redesigning based on what employees actually value.

Consider:

• Reducing default life assurance from 4x to 2x salary
• Re-evaluating income protection design

Designing with flexibility opens up space to offer more relevant and personalised benefits without increasing cost.

Personalisation doesn’t have to be expensive

Modern employees expect choice. And personalisation is no longer a luxury — it’s table stakes.

Flexible benefits platforms like Ben let employers offer a wide range of voluntary benefits, allowances and salary sacrifice options with minimal admin. You can even offer flexibility within existing benefits by allowing employees to adjust their coverage levels or add dependents at their own cost.

Communicate like it matters (because it does)

A benefit employees don’t know about isn’t really a benefit. Awareness drives engagement, and engagement drives value.

Yet many benefits teams launch new schemes with a single email and hope for the best. Instead:

• Tie communications into key life and work moments
• Use storytelling and employee use cases to bring benefits to life

If you’re not investing in communication, you’re leaving ROI on the table.

Redefine success

Utilisation alone is not the measure of success. Some benefits, like fertility support, menopause care or neurodivergent coaching, will only ever impact a small portion of your workforce. But when they do, they change lives.

When your finance team asks, “Why are we paying for this?” be ready with the answer: because retention, wellbeing, and employee trust aren’t built on averages. They’re built on moments that matter.

Getting more from your employee benefits budget isn’t about trimming. It’s about redesigning with purpose. When you:

1. Audit what you already offer
2. Streamline spend
3. Use salary sacrifice
4. Personalise the experience

...you’ll be amazed at what’s possible.

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