How important are employee benefits during these difficult times?

I have been trying to better understand employees rationale. There was a recent study by Unum polling 100 or so HR professionals and around 1,000 employees, now according to the research organisations who allow employees to sell their benefits are seeing many more employees utilising this option.

Does this make sense or is it a lack of education? Take a group income protection scheme, the cash in leui of opting out of this benefit nowhere near matches the true value of the product, should they try to source the same policy as an individual in the personal market the cash in leiu would cover only a proportion of the total premiums. How short term a view are we taking?

Is it the responsibility of the employee to understand what they are giving up or the employer? It could be quite a sticky situation should the employee run into trouble with sickness or injury and the income protection plan is no longer their to protect them.

Having spoken to many professionals in the arena it is a very difficult one to call, I spoke to the team at  Drewberry and they agree it can place the employer in a difficult situation, yes you want to offer your staff flexibility however there is huge piece around communication and education to ensure your people are making rational decisions.

As the employer it is your duty to educate your employees on the true value of their reward, if this is communicated correctly then in theory employees should recognise the true value of their benefits and understand the long term implications of cashing in their benefits.