Financial Planning

Employee Benefits

The pay you already have and probably are not using: pension matching, insurance, share schemes and the benefits people forget they hold.

update Last updated 1 August 2026 list_alt 4 sections

Benefits vary enormously between employers. Ask your HR team for the current benefits statement — most people have not read theirs, and most are surprised by what is in it.

Section 01

Start with the pension match

If your employer matches pension contributions and you are not contributing enough to get the full match, you are declining part of your salary. Nothing else in personal finance offers a comparable, immediate return.

  1. 1Find out the maximum your employer will match, and the contribution required to get it.
  2. 2Raise your contribution to at least that level, unless you are servicing debt above about 15%.
  3. 3Check what happens when you get a pay rise — some schemes hold the percentage, some hold the amount.
  4. 4Check the default fund. Defaults are chosen to be uncontroversial, not optimal for your age.
  5. 5Consolidate old pots from previous employers, but check for guarantees you would give up first.
warning

Check before consolidating

Some older pensions carry guaranteed rates or protected benefits worth far more than lower fees. Transferring those away is irreversible. Take advice on any pot with a guarantee attached.

Section 02

Cover you may already have

People routinely buy insurance they already hold through work, and equally often assume cover exists when it does not. Both are fixed by reading the benefits statement once.

BenefitWhat to check
Death in serviceThe multiple of salary, and whether you have nominated a beneficiary. An out-of-date nomination is common and consequential.
Income protectionThe deferral period before it pays, the percentage of salary, and how long it continues.
Critical illnessWhich conditions are covered, and whether cover continues if you leave.
Private medicalWhether family are included, and the excess.
Travel coverWhether it extends to personal travel or only business trips.
Employee assistanceCounselling, legal and financial helplines. Widely provided and rarely used.
verified

The nomination form

Death-in-service benefit usually passes under a nomination, not your will. If yours names an ex-partner or nobody at all, that is a ten-minute fix with very large consequences.

Section 03

Share schemes and concentration

Employer share schemes are frequently good value and carry one specific risk that is easy to miss.

Discounted purchase schemes
Buying at a discount is a return on day one. Usually worth taking where you can afford the contribution.
Matching schemes
Free shares for shares held. Check the holding period before the match vests.
Options and awards
Understand the vesting schedule and what happens if you leave. Unvested awards are not yours yet.
Concentration risk
Your salary already depends on this employer. Holding a large share position means one company failing takes both your income and your savings.
warning

Take the discount, then diversify

A common and sensible approach is to participate fully, then sell down periodically into a diversified portfolio. Keeping every share you ever received is how people end up with most of their net worth in one company.

Section 04

The benefits people forget

  • Salary sacrifice arrangements for pensions, cycles, cars or childcare, where they exist and are tax-advantaged.
  • Professional subscriptions and training budgets that go unclaimed every year.
  • Discount and cashback platforms provided by the employer.
  • Additional leave that can be purchased, or unused leave that can be carried.
  • Matched charitable giving, which doubles the impact of what you already give.
  • Financial education or advice allowances, increasingly common and almost never used.
Tax-efficient savingWhere the pension sits in the wider order.arrow_forwardThe planning orderWhat to do before and after the match.arrow_forwardInvestment accountsWhere to diversify share proceeds.arrow_forward
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This document was last updated on 1 August 2026. We publish the current version here at all times; superseded versions are available on request.

If anything on this page is unclear, write to us and we will explain it.