Extra annual leave tops UK workers’ benefits wish list, SD Worx finds

Almost half of UK employees surveyed want additional days off as a workplace benefit, while only 17% currently receive them, according to new SD Worx research.

Extra annual leave has emerged as the most wanted workplace benefit among UK employees surveyed by SD Worx, highlighting a sizeable gap between what workers value and what employers currently provide.

According to the company’s HR & Payroll Pulse 2026, 47% of UK employees would like additional days off, while only 17% say they currently receive them.

Flexible working is another priority, although the gap is much smaller: 36% want flexible working hours and 32.5% say they already have them. Almost a third, 31.5%, would also like access to health and wellbeing programmes.

The findings arrive as employers and employees remain under pressure from the cost of living. Eight in ten UK employers surveyed by SD Worx said employee pay expectations had risen because of higher living costs, while only 39% of employees felt their pay had kept pace. Almost a third, 32%, said they were experiencing financial stress.

At the same time, 59% of employers said they were exploring benefits and other non-salary options to strengthen their employee proposition while managing costs.

Time, flexibility and financial security

The research suggests that pay remains important, but employees are also looking at the wider employment package.

Four in ten UK employees said they value pension and retirement planning support. That was ahead of performance-related pay, selected by 24%, and pay linked to skills and competencies, at 23%.

Three in ten employees said they value discounts or other support with the cost of living, while 28% want a clearer overview of their total reward and benefits.

That puts a practical question in front of HR teams: not simply whether to add more benefits, but whether the package reflects what employees actually value — and whether people understand what is already there. EmEx recently explored the same issue in our guide to making the full value of total reward more visible to employees.

Pay transparency also appears to be part of that picture. SD Worx found 72% of UK employees consider pay transparency important or very important when deciding whether to join or remain with an organisation. Yet only 38% said they feel comfortable discussing or asking for a pay increase.

Laura Miller, UK People Country Leader at SD Worx, said the findings point to a broader definition of value at work.

“Employees are telling us that time, flexibility and longer-term financial security matter too, whether that’s an extra day of annual leave, greater control over working hours or meaningful support with their pension.”

She added that employers under cost pressure should focus on the benefits employees genuinely value rather than assuming a stronger reward package necessarily means spending more.

The figures come from the UK results of SD Worx’s HR & Payroll Pulse 2026, part of a wider study of 16,500 employees and 5,936 HR decision-makers across 16 European countries.

About SD Worx

SD Worx is a European HR, payroll and workforce management provider. It supplies technology and services covering HR, pay and time management across European markets. According to its 2025 annual report, the company serves more than 105,000 clients representing around six million employees and generated €1.307 billion in revenue in 2025.