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Overview

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) commissioned IFF Research to conduct the 2024 Employer Survey. This survey is the second wave of a two-wave survey, with the first wave conducted in 2022. The published slide decks present findings from the 2024 survey, conducted with 8,006 employers in Great Britain, with an employment headcount of at least 2 people. The data tables for each survey question are published alongside the slide decks.

Research context

The Employer Survey was originally commissioned by DWP in 2021 as a two-wave survey. Fieldwork for wave 2 took place between 28 February and 25 April 2024.

The aim of the survey was to understand employer attitudes and behaviours in relation to a range of topics of interest to DWP including health and disability at work, recruitment, retention and progression of staff, engagement in government employment schemes, pension provision and disadvantaged groups. This survey allows DWP to understand how employer attitudes and behaviours have changed since 2022, as well as providing information on new topics of interest to DWP such as menopause and flexible working.

Main findings

Health and disability in the workplace

Employer attitudes towards employee health and wellbeing were generally positive; however, employer confidence in recruiting disabled people and people with long-term health conditions was relatively low, with a quarter of employers (25%) reporting that they were not confident in doing so.

In terms of employer behaviour, there has been a slight decrease since 2022 in the proportion of employers who identify as adopting a proactive approach to addressing employee health and wellbeing (68% in 2024, compared to 72% in 2022); however, this is still higher than in 2018 (45%).

Most employers offer some form of support to employees who cannot carry out their usual activities due to ill health. Over six in ten (63%) employers provide access to Statutory Sick Pay and over three in ten (37%) provide pay above Statutory Sick Pay levels. In addition, just under one in three employers (31%) said they provide Occupational Health or Vocational Rehabilitation services for their employees. The most common way employers accessed Occupational Health was to use an external provider on an ‘as required’ basis (19%).

Employers reported a range of barriers to supporting staff on long-term sickness absence to return to work. While the most common response was that employers do not face any barriers to supporting these staff (34%), the most common barriers mentioned by employers included a lack of time or staff resource (29%) and a lack of capital to invest in support (28%).

Most employers (65%) think that workplaces should provide mental health support for their employees.

Recruitment, retention and progression of staff

Almost half of employers (46%) had recruited or tried to recruit staff in the previous 12 months. Over half of employers (53%) who had recruited in the previous 12 months said there have been instances in the last year where they had been unable to find a suitable candidate.

Most employers (87%) have not had any problems with retaining staff in the previous year.

Employer provision of support to encourage employee progression has remained broadly consistent since the 2022 survey. The most utilised measure employers reported undertaking was encouraging employees to upskill or undertake learning activities (75%).

Engagement with government employment schemes and wider engagement with DWP

Overall, engagement with government employment schemes was low, with just under one in ten (9%) employers saying they currently employ someone through a government scheme. Most employers (79%) had not made contact with or obtained information from DWP in the last year. When employers had contacted or obtained information from DWP, they were more likely to be satisfied with how their last query was dealt with than dissatisfied (48% were satisfied compared to 14% who were dissatisfied).

Older workers

Employment of older workers (aged 50 or over) has increased since the 2022 survey (84% said they employed this age group in 2024 compared to 73% in 2022); with employers also more likely to agree with many of the perceived benefits of having these workers in their organisation.

Over four in ten (41%) employers who employed staff aged over 50 said that there were no particular challenges of having these workers in their organisation. Of those who reported challenges, the most common was that staff might retire soon (26%) followed by difficulties with the physical aspects of their job (19%).

Over six in ten (64%) employers agreed that workplaces should provide support for employees who are experiencing menopause. However, only a small proportion of employers have a menopause policy in place (18%) or provide menopause-related training (5%).

Pensions

Defined Contribution schemes were the most common type of pension scheme employers contributed to for new employees (49%). A small proportion of employers said they contributed to Defined Benefit schemes (7%), or another type of scheme (2%).

The majority of employers had not switched or thought about switching pension provider (82%). Compared to 2022, employers were more likely to say that they had not switched provider and wouldn’t know how to switch (44% said this in 2024 compared to 38% in 2022). Almost half of employers who had not switched provider indicated they would not consider switching (46%).

Disadvantaged groups

Around one in five (18%) employers said that they employ people from the specified disadvantaged groups (for the purposes of this survey, these groups were specified as individuals who may be disadvantaged in the labour market, including those who have experience of homelessness, prison leavers, people with drug and/or alcohol dependency, care leavers, or ex-armed forces).

Employers who said they do not currently employ people from these groups were asked what would encourage them to consider doing so from a list of options. Just over one in five (22%) said a financial subsidy would encourage them, however almost half (49%) said none of the options presented to them would encourage them to consider employing people from these groups.

Diversity in the workforce

Employers in the 2024 survey were less likely to report that they monitor the diversity of their workforce than in the 2022 survey (a decrease of 10.9 percentage points to 39%).

The likelihood of employers reporting no benefits in employing a diverse workforce has increased since the 2022 survey by 6.9 percentage points to 27 per cent. For those employers who did report benefits, the most common benefits cited were improved company culture (23%) and a wider talent pool to pick from (18%).

Flexible working

The most common flexible working time arrangements offered by employer to their employees are flexibility in working hours (77%), part time working (70%) and the ability to reduce working hours (58%).

Methodology

The survey used a mixed mode design (online and telephone) and involved a sample of employers in GB, with an employment headcount of at least 2 people. The employers that participated in the survey were from a range of size bands, regions, and sectors. Following initial piloting of the survey, the mainstage fieldwork was carried out between 28 February and 25 April 2024. In total, 8,006 interviews were achieved (3,059 Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews and 4,947 online surveys).

To cover a wide range of topics the sample was split into 6 modules which meant that the majority of questions were asked of a sub-sample only. This means that the base sizes for some questions will vary, despite being asked of all eligible employers. As with wave 1, the survey sampled at the organisational level, meaning the survey sought to speak to the most senior person in the organisation responsible for people management and/or HR.

Concluding remarks

This research provides evidence of employer attitudes and behaviours in relation to key topics of interest to the DWP. It will be used to support policy development across a number of areas, including health and disability at work, and recruitment, retention and progression.