Employer free confidential support (work benefits)

[usefulhelpisit]

So these employers benefits with almost all companies using them now

I have never used my benefits at work but I want to change that now and start

But how god are they? For instance., I am reading my current employers benefits paperwork and
It offers

Confidential emotional support (how confidential is it?)

Work-life solutions
Legal guidance
Online support
Financial resources (how far does this go? Help employees financially or purely advisory)

Also is it worth signing up for the extras and then be taxed on the P11D form? 🤷🏽‍♀️

Why not ask your work? Surely they are the best ones to advise?

Yes sure but perhaps I wasn't clear in my post

I just want to hear of other people's opinion

People you have used the benefit or have an opinion about it etc

Three places I have worked have had them and they’ve been really good. Obviously depends on the package and provider.

I’ve recommended a team member to use one when their partner was being made redundant- they got various bits of advice I recall on rights, benefits, budgeting etc.

Emotional support should be confidential - certainly when one of my team used it (they told me they were doing it) I got nothing and wouldn’t have known they were using the line. Some can also be linked to private medical if that’s offered and extend to a number of counselling sessions, CBT, etc

I’m a huge fan of them and wish every work place had them (side note they are also a good contributor to anti-fraud strategies - you want you employees getting advice and support if times are tough rather than stealing from the company/customers). Never worked anywhere that you had to opt-in and pay for it though it was always just part of the core employee benefits everyone got.

Thanks for your opinion and what your experience

This company offers it free to employees but employees can pay extra to include DH and children.

Bupa medical
Dental cover
Gym discount (top gyms including David lloyds)
Travel insurance

I am only working part time with this firm and if I took and cover partner and my kids as a family for for everything offered , I will only probably end up getting net pay of £500 🤣
More or less sort defeats the purpose of doing the part time job for the extra income but then, the family is covered 🤷🏽‍♀️

Perhaps I cover myself and kids alone.

Only you can decide if it’s worth the benefits you pay for. You should look into the tax status though. Often the one you can opt into like private medical etc are salary sacrifice so they come off your salary before tax and therefore reduce the amount of tax you pay.

Oversimplifying the maths but if your gross salary is 1000 you pay tax at 20% so pay 200 tax and have take home pay of 800.

If you take 100 a month of salary sacrifice benefits you only pay tax on 900 salary. So tax is 180. Your take home pay is therefore 900-180 = 720. But you’ve got 100 of benefits as well so it’s equivalent 820. If you would pay for something like dental insurance out of your take home pay then it’s more efficient to do it through salary sacrifice.

But check the terms carefully. Everywhere I’ve worked has an annual opt in/opt out window and you can’t change during the year.

Is the EAP ("confidential emotional support") provided by Health Assured?

If so, I'd read this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxee3glz2pyo

Oh and this one:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68537252

My partner got us both life insurance through work, very reasonable also he had medical and dentist. I chose not to add it for me, but I did get a full health check which founder breast lumps and massive fibroids that the NHS had missed. Now in waiting list for treatment so that £100 a month for medical insurance looks like a bargain now.

If an employer offered private medical insurance I'd bite their hand off. It's like any insurance, you can resent the cost and aren't grateful for it until you need it. I had it in a previous job and got an MRI & extensive physio after an accident. NHS sent me home in a sling after only an x-ray (it was fractured - only showed up in the MRI) and it would have been months before I got any sort of physio - by which time I would have permanently lost mobility in that limb. As someone else said it will probably be salary sacrifice which also helps, so do ask.

For dental it depends on the cover - see what it pays out for an what it doesn't. With the state of NHS dentistry at the moment, if you get cover for expensive treatment like crowns, bridges or root canal fillings or if the kids need braces or knock out a tooth for example, that's a massive benefit.

Re the travel insurance that might not be great cover and might be cheaper to find your own. Gym discounts are worth it if you want to use them.

The EAP service is usually free to all staff so not sure what you'd be paying for unless its extra private medical cover for mental health conditions or psychiatry referrals.

EAP is confidential in terms of the employer not knowing you are accessing it. Don't be put off about the post re Health Assured - that's really not common. In all my years in HR all I've ever seen is statistical reports on usage from the provider. The only time I've known a name is if a staff member needed/wanted more counselling sessions that EAP provide and they gave consent for me to know as I had to approve further costs out of the staff welfare budget.

I've used counselling through my employee benefits scheme, which was confidential. My employer wasn't even made aware I'd accessed it.
I also tried the legal advice once. Unfortunately, the English firm couldn't tell me about Scottish law relating to the matter, so that was a waste of time. I fed that back to my employer. They didn't change provider though.

@owladventure

I am not surprised at all by that report even though it might not be the secret norm for employers & the confidential providers

In fact in my previous job, I could have contacted them for support but because I was extremely skeptical re how confidential it was, I didn't use the service even though I had never seen or heard about any interference by employers. I guess i just don't trust the system 🙄.

Oh yes, it's worth it for private health cover & I am definitely going for that at least for me & the kids. Oh and the dental too.

My friend who work for a local council is just telling me they do not have this type of package
Only free eye test
Contribution towards VDU glasses
Payment of a professional subscription
Free car parking while at work
Free tea and coffee
Occupational health appointments
Counselling service through EAP
Flexible working

And I am now thinking wow the package from private companies are better than government local or central

Right?