What do employees really want? According to Origin Zero’s  Electric Employee Benefit Program’s recently released Employee Insights Report, a majority of employees are seeking relief from cost-of-living pressures. Here’s how human resources teams can respond, plus a free-to-join program they can utilise.

Cost-of-living pressures have become a significant workforce challenge in 2025. This is likely to extend into 2026 with reports suggesting that while inflation rates have eased, the average Australian household may be left playing catch up for a few years yet, as wage growth isn’t expected to catch up to inflation until March 2029.

Origin Zero and research expert Platform One’s 2025 Employee Insights Report, which surveyed 1500 employees from various sectors across Australia, found that 9 in 10 Australian employees are affected by cost-of-living pressures, and 61 per cent believe their employer should be doing more to help.

“What surprised me most from the report was just how widespread the cost-of-living impact really is,” says Dr Rebecca Dare, Research Director at Platform One.

“It cuts across every sector, every age group and every income bracket. Everyone’s feeling it, and they’re looking to their employers for support, not necessarily through pay rises, but through visible, everyday help that eases financial stress.”

This signals a need to end generic, tick-box employee benefit schemes. Employees now expect offerings that reflect their individual circumstances and personal values. According to the report, when benefits align in this way, 73 per cent of employees say they feel more valued by their employer.

“The organisations that stand out are the ones meeting people where they’re at,” says Dr Dare. 

“That starts with empathy, which means really understanding what life looks like for your employees day-to-day. When benefits reflect those realities, people feel genuinely cared for, not just managed.”

Meaningful employee benefits for small and medium businesses

The research uncovered an important shift in employees’ expectations of their organisation’s benefit programs. 

Last year, employee benefit programs were seen as aspirational (e.g. focused on values and remuneration or benefits framed as enablers of purpose). But they are now seen as critical to employees’ sense of financial survival as they navigate an environment of social and economic uncertainty.

Pay still matters, says Dr Dare, but it’s the gateway into the organisation rather than the glue that keeps people there, she explains. 

“People consider remuneration when choosing who to join, but once they’re in, it’s the benefits that keep them there,” says Dr Dare.

When exploring the top benefits – outside of remuneration – that employees say are most likely to have a positive impact on their lifestyle affordability, the report found the top three were:

• Subsidised or discounted energy and utility bills
• Subsidised or discounted health, car, home or life insurance
• Free or discounted access to healthcare services 

This data shows employees don’t want bells and whistles, or aspirational benefits. While benefits like career development and learning opportunities remain important, they are no longer enough. Employees want useful and meaningful benefits that offer them financial relief.

“A lot of people are feeling the cost-of-living pinch, and it’s not just lower-paid employees,” says Dr Dare. 

“Even those on higher incomes are feeling it, especially those in the 30-to-44-year-old age group, who are often raising children. It’s pretty tough out there for everyone.”

For HR practitioners rethinking their employee value proposition or benefits strategy for 2026, the report highlights not only the importance of meeting employees where they are financially, but also the critical role of integrity. 

Dr Dare notes integrity is now the most important reputational factor, with 58 per cent of employees saying they are less likely to work for a company with a poor reputation.

“HR leaders really want their offer to be equitable so everyone in the company can utilise it. Everyday financial support is something you can offer to everyone. It’s equitable, it’s accessible and it’s transparent,” says Dr Dare.

“If employees’ psychological needs are being met – if they feel secure and appreciated – that builds fairness into the employment relationship. People like to feel that sense of security and appreciation, especially when there’s uncertainty in the wider economic environment.”

Learn more about Origin Energy’s free-to-join Electric Employee Benefits Program – a simple way to make your employee benefits program more meaningful and aligned to your employees’ real needs.

Everyday saving as a differentiator 

For HR practitioners in the planning stages of a refreshed EVP or benefits scheme for 2026, Origin Energy’s report suggests considering the following tips

• Anchor EVP on affordability and flexibility as twin strategic pillars: Make affordability support a core EVP pillar, not a perk, and prioritise simple, visible, recurring savings.
• Accept volatility and provide targeted support: Support employee financial resilience via EVP for an uncertain global outlook.
• Simplify and communicate: Ensure plain-language communication, worked examples and calculators to show value and build trust through clarity and transparency.
• Design for everyday impact: Focus benefit design for impact employees can see on everyday bills or in their wallets and treat benefits as strategic investments.
• Embed values and integrity into EVP delivery: Align policies with fairness and transparency.

Dr Dare offers a final tip: keep it simple, clear and transparent. The report found that when employers over-engineer benefits programs, employees tend to disengage from them.

“It’s not that the benefits themselves aren’t useful; it’s that people don’t always see their value straight away. If you can show them, for example, how a five per cent discount translates to hundreds of dollars a year, suddenly that benefit becomes real,” says Dr Dare.

Employees want benefits that reduce their monthly expenses, relieving them of the stress and pressures that can impact their productivity and engagement at work.

“I think this focus on affordability is going to be a longer-term shift,” says Dr Dare. 

“As long as we’re in this era of economic uncertainty, people will keep looking for security and fairness from their employers.”

You can download the full report via Origin’s website. If you want to make your employee benefits scheme more meaningful for employees, you can explore Origin Energy’s Electric Employee Benefits Program – a free-to-join program designed to support employees with cost of living pressure.

From discounts and deals on energy plans, solar, batteries and internet plans, EV subscriptions and more, you can help employees access tax savings through salary packaging and could support your organisation’s Scope 3 emissions reduction targets by partnering with Origin Energy. 

Explore the program here and start your journey to designing an employee benefit scheme fit for 2025 and beyond.