Legal sector workers want benefits to help with essential costs

This year’s increased cost of living has caused many employees to turn to their workplace benefits packages for support with rising bills. Our research has found that seven in ten (71%) employees say that high living costs means benefits are the most important factor when deciding where to work – this has led to the same proportion calling for more financial support from their employer.

Surprisingly, we have found that the legal sector is most likely to turn to rewards packages to support them with essential costs – three quarters (75%) of legal sector employees want support with energy bills or discount vouchers for food shopping as part of their workplace benefits, higher than the UK average of 68%.

The high cost of living has impacted legal sector employees this year, as reflected in the benefits they are prioritising. Long waiting lists and uncertainty surrounding the future of the NHS means it comes as no surprise that Private Medical Insurance (PMI) is favoured by legal sector workers, with 40% naming this as one of their highest priority benefits. This is followed by increased pension contributions (33%), employer contributions to home energy costs (25%), childcare support (25%), wellbeing allowances (25%), and discounts at high street shops (22%).

The value in offering the right support to employees is clear – that six in ten (58%) legal sector workers say that benefits are the most important thing they look for when deciding where to work and 61% employees at law firms admit they would switch roles for a better benefits package. Recruitment has been a challenge for many legal firms this year with a quarter (23%) who are struggling to hire the right talent.

This year, many businesses have been faced with greater financial challenges. The recent spike in employer National Insurance Contributions has hit businesses across all sectors. Our research shows that a quarter (23%) of law firms admit they can’t afford to increase salaries in line with inflation putting them at risk of losing key talent and impacting their competitiveness.

However, investment in employee benefits allows businesses to reward talent in a more cost-effective way than raising salaries. There is also strong employee demand for greater investment in benefits – three quarters (76%) of employees in the legal sector want their employer to step up spending on rewards packages.

Of course, it’s not simply a case of increasing spending. Organisations need to fully understand the needs of their employers – given almost six in ten (56%) employees in the legal sector say they don’t use the majority of their benefits and half (52%) believe what is on offer is inadequate, clearly there is room for improvement.

HR leaders in the legal sector need to communicate with employees and respond with the right benefits. This can partially be resolved by innovative benefits technology which allows businesses to offer personalised benefits packages that work for the individual needs of employees improving value for money and helping to retain key talent.

These findings from Zest have been conducted by independent research agency Opinium which surveyed 2,000 UK employees weighted to be nationally representative and 872 HR decision makers (minimum 50 respondents per industry) between 1^st – 12^th February 2025.