Employers are spending on benefits, just not the ones workers care about

The perks aren’t landing

New Zealand employers are pouring money into workplace benefits that most of their staff quietly ignore. Research from recruitment firm Cultivate, drawn from a survey of 1,003 employed New Zealanders, found only 19% of white-collar workers describe their benefits as genuinely valuable and well matched to their needs. Four in five are, at best, indifferent.

That matters more than it used to, because pay has stopped doing the heavy lifting. In the Cultivate survey, 61% of workers said their base salary has fallen behind living costs over the past three years, and 30% said it has fallen well behind. Predictably, 36% now say benefits matter more to how they value a job than three years ago, against just 4% who say they matter less. Benefits are being asked to do more, and largely failing.

The official wage data backs the squeeze. MBIE’s 2025 Minimum Wage Review found the Labour Cost Index fell 0.4% in real terms in the year to June 2025, meaning pay for the same job still isn’t keeping up with the cost of living.

What workers actually want is boring and cheap

Asked to nominate the single benefit they would value most, 39% chose time and flexibility, 20% chose help reducing everyday living costs, and just 2% chose wellbeing support. Cultivate co-chief executive Trina Jones put it plainly: “When your pay hasn’t kept up with the weekly shop, a benefit that gives you time back with your family, or takes a cost off your plate, lands very differently to a gym discount.”

The demand is clear, but supply doesn’t match it. When it comes to attracting people to a new employer, flexible working ranked first at 25% and an extra week of leave second at 21%, ahead of health insurance at 12%. Yet extra leave above the statutory four weeks is offered by only 22% of employers.

This is not a new signal. In 2025, SEEK research found 68% of workers would prioritise work-life balance over a higher salary. And the 2024 EMA/nib Workplace Wellbeing Survey found 83% of employees wanted flexible work conditions but only 27% of employers intended to invest in it. Employers have had the memo for years.

The EAP that nobody uses

The clearest example of misplaced spend is the Employee Assistance Programme. EAPs are the second most commonly offered benefit, available to 51% of respondents, yet 61% of those offered one have never used it. A significant share of benefits budgets is being consumed for almost no perceived value.

Jones was blunt about the structural flaw: “EAP matters, and for someone in genuine difficulty it can matter enormously. But it responds after someone is already struggling. It was never designed to carry a wellbeing strategy on its own, and that is close to what’s being asked of it.”

The people signing off aren’t the people using them

The most useful finding for any business owner is also the least flattering. Cultivate found executive managers were more than twice as likely as specialists to say their benefits were well matched, 34% versus 16%. The people designing and approving packages are the least representative judges of whether they work.

Co-chief executive Tony Pownall made the point directly: “The people designing benefit packages are having a better experience of them than the people they’re designed for. If you’re wondering whether yours are working, you’re probably the least representative person to ask.”

Worse, employers aren’t even communicating value. 66% of respondents said they had never been told what their benefits were worth in dollars. In 2025, Robert Half found 94% of Kiwi workers received perks, but 76% were planning to negotiate for better ones – dissatisfaction even where benefits technically exist.

The efficiency case, not the generosity case

A softening labour market might tempt employers to leave this alone. Unemployment is at an 11-year high, and some will feel less pressure to fix the mix. That would be a mistake. Randstad’s June 2026 survey found 60% of workers were prioritising reliable pay and benefits over traditional perks, a shift from a perks economy to what it called a predictability economy. Meanwhile the 2025 MBIE Employment Monitor found 49% of workers had at least one employment concern, up from 45% a year earlier. Disengagement without resignation is a productivity drain that never shows up in turnover figures.

The fix doesn’t require more money. An EAP that 61% never touch is a line item, not a strategy, and it could be reallocated to the extra leave that a far larger share would actually value. Pownall’s framing is the one that should land with owners: “It isn’t just that employers aren’t spending. It’s that a lot of what they do spend is aimed at the wrong target.” Ask your staff what they value, price it in dollars, tell them what it’s worth, and make sure the people in the room designing it look like the people receiving it. Cheaper than a pay rise, and it might work.

Sources

• ‘A lot of them aren’t landing’: Work perks miss the mark for many Kiwis (2026-08-16)
• Why we’re trading perks for security (2026-06-24)
• More money, or more flexibility? Employees weigh up work-life balance (2025-09-02)
• The benefit equation: What workers want and how employers can benefit (Robert Half) (2025-10-20)
• Employers falling short in providing in-demand benefits (EMA/nib Workplace Wellbeing Survey) (2024-10-02)
• Employment Monitor report 2025 (2025-06-10)