On 1 October, we were pleased to host our latest Employee Wellbeing and Engagement: Strategic Insight and Practical Solutions seminar in Guernsey, exploring the changing employee benefits landscape and the practical challenges organisations are facing.
Led by Natasha Lucock, Director, Jersey; Richard Clarke, Group Head of Healthcare, Channel Islands and Isle of Man; and Steve Flynn, Director, People Experience Consulting, Gallagher Benefits Services, the session combined broader workforce trends with insight from the Guernsey market.
The key message was clear: understanding wider trends is important, but making the right decisions also depends on knowing how those trends translate to your business and your local market.
The challenges facing employers
Drawing on Gallagher’s 2025–2026 Workforce Trends Report: People Strategy Benchmarks, the session explored pressures influencing employee benefits strategies, from rising costs and multigenerational workforces to communication and employee engagement.
The discussion also focused on some of the most common practical challenges employers face when managing benefits programmes. These can directly affect engagement, retention, risk and an organisation’s ability to make informed decisions.
The biggest concerns include:
Heavy administration - particularly where benefits are managed manually across multiple spreadsheets, systems or data sources.
Low employee engagement - employees may not fully understand the benefits available or recognise how much their employer is investing in them.
Talent attraction and retention - benefits are an important part of the employee value proposition. In a competitive market such as Guernsey, they can have a significant impact if they are not well communicated or aligned with the wider market.
Higher risk through a lack of automation - manual processes can increase the risk of inaccurate data, reporting errors or employees not being placed on the correct cover.
Limited insight for decision-making - without accessible data, HR and leadership teams can struggle to understand usage, identify trends and shape future strategy.
Communication cuts across many of these challenges. Employers can invest significantly in benefits, but if employees do not understand what is available, how to access it or its value, much of that investment can go unrecognised.
Why local knowledge matters
These challenges do not exist in isolation. Employee expectations, healthcare systems, costs and available products vary between jurisdictions, which means an approach that works in the UK may not translate directly to Guernsey.
Discussions highlighted how the realities of the Guernsey healthcare and insurance market can have a practical impact on both premiums and benefits strategy.
Key local insights included:
Private medical insurance plays a significant role. Around one third of Guernsey’s population has access to private medical insurance, compared with around 12% in the UK.
Premiums are typically higher than in the UK. Average premiums are around £1,800-£1,900 per year for a single employee, compared with approximately £1,200 in the UK.
Local healthcare costs influence premiums. A GP appointment can cost close to £80 in Guernsey, compared with around £35-£40 in Jersey, whilst a night in hospital can cost more than £600.
The local healthcare ecosystem is different. With one hospital and a comparatively high proportion of the population using private medical insurance, insured healthcare plays an important role in the wider system and in employee expectations.
Technology does not always work in the same way locally. Virtual GP services can provide consultations and referrals, but prescription arrangements remain more challenging in Guernsey, limiting some of the benefits available elsewhere.
Understanding these factors helps employers look beyond headline premiums and make more informed decisions about the structure and value of their benefits.
How employee benefits are changing
Combining wider trends with local insight also helps show how employers are responding.
For example, around 90% of Gallagher’s Guernsey corporate medical clients now fund employee-only cover, rather than fully funded family cover, reflecting the need to balance competitiveness with increasing cost pressures.
Dental benefits are also not universal, with some employers considering alternatives such as adding limited dental cover to medical insurance or introducing voluntary schemes employees can opt into.
For smaller businesses, flexibility is becoming increasingly important. Insurers are offering more modular products, giving organisations greater scope to tailor cover around their workforce and budget rather than choosing from a small number of fixed options.
These trends underline the importance of local benchmarking. Employers need to understand not only what is available, but what others are offering and how employee expectations are changing.
Turning insight into practical solutions
From rising costs to engagement and retention, employers are facing increasingly complex benefits challenges. Gallagher helps organisations understand those pressures and identify practical solutions that work for their people and their local market.
The Gallagher Guide is one example, helping employers reduce administration, improve engagement and gain clearer data and insight to support better decisions.
By combining global expertise, local knowledge and practical tools, Gallagher can help employers build benefits strategies that are easier to manage and better understood by employees.
For more information, contact Richard Clarke