Global talent services firm, Morgan McKinley, today launches its Ireland 2026 Benefits Guide, a comprehensive national study of how benefits are offered by employers, experienced and valued by employees across the Irish labour market.
— 68% of employees say benefits influence loyalty, yet 38% believe their package is below market.
— Younger and early-career employees are significantly less likely to report having access to pensions and health insurance.
— Hybrid working is now a baseline expectation, now offered by most employers, but significant sector differences remain.
— Just over 2% of employees report access to employer-supported childcare.
— Life Sciences, Financial Services, Technology, Legal and Telecommunications sectors lead the market on range of benefits and competitiveness.
— Pensions, bonuses, and health insurance remain the most common benefits.
— Guide draws on 1,222 employer and employee responses across 32+ sectors, all 32 counties, among Irish and multinational organisations representing 600,000 employees.
The findings point to a more mature and more strategic benefits market, but also to a sharper contradiction at its core. While pensions, bonuses and health insurance remain among the most valued and most established benefits, access to some of these core protections is still materially lower for younger and early-career employees.
The gap matters at a time when Ireland has an ageing population and when earlier access to private health insurance can have long-term value because of Lifetime Community Rating.
Some 90% of employee respondents report being enrolled in an employer-sponsored pension scheme. However, the report finds that younger employees are significantly less likely to report access to pensions and health insurance than older groups.
This points to a benefits model that remains strongest for established employees, rather than consistently supporting talent from the earliest stages of employment.
The Morgan McKinley Ireland Benefits Guide shows that benefits continue to play a major role in retention, with 68% of employees saying their benefits package influences their loyalty to their employer. Yet 38% still believe their package is below market standards, highlighting a persistent gap between employer intent and employee experience.
Hybrid working is a baseline expectation
Across the wider benefits landscape, the report finds that hybrid working has shifted from a differentiator to a baseline expectation, with almost one in three employees ranking it among their most important benefits.
Childcare support
At the same time, childcare support from employers remains almost non-existent, with just over 2% of employees reporting access to employer-supported childcare, despite persistent cost-of-living pressures on working households.
The research also highlights a disconnect between the benefits employers say they offer and employees’ lived experience. For several high-value benefits, including protection benefits, learning and development and enhanced leave, employer-reported provision exceeds employee-reported receipt by up to 40%. This suggests that access, awareness, eligibility, and communication are important factors in the development and administration of employer benefits schemes.
The research also points to a clear divide in benefits competitiveness by sector
Financial Services, Life Sciences, Technology, Legal and Telecommunications emerge as the strongest performers overall, offering the broadest mix of pensions, bonuses, health insurance, hybrid working, and protection benefits.
Life Sciences stands out as one of the most balanced sectors in the market, providing pensions (84%), bonuses (83%), health insurance (86%) and enhanced annual leave (46%), while Financial Services, Technology, Legal and Telecommunications also perform strongly across financial, wellbeing and flexibility supports.
Key findings from the Ireland 2026 Benefits Guide include:
— Benefits matter for retention: more than two-thirds of employees say their benefits package plays a significant role in loyalty.
— A clear perception gap remains. Large gaps exist between the benefits employers say they offer and what employees say they actually receive. 38% of employees believe their package is below market despite strong levels of employer confidence.
— Hybrid working is now a baseline expectation rather than a perk.
— Childcare support remains extremely limited and has changed little since 2021.
— Family-friendly benefits show uneven progress, with stronger movement on enhanced maternity pay than on childcare, fertility or adoption supports.
— Cost-of-living supports remain weak relative to long-term financial protections.
— Wellbeing supports are widely offered, but not always visible, trusted or fully utilised by employees.
— Younger employees receive fewer core benefits, particularly pensions and health insurance.
— Benefits reviews are active, but not universal, creating a risk of misalignment with employee needs.
Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director at Morgan McKinley, said:
“This report shows that the Irish benefits market is no longer defined by how many benefits an employer can list. It is defined by whether those benefits are accessible, understood and aligned with what employees actually value.
“What stands out most is the contradiction. The benefits employees value most for long-term security, particularly pensions and health insurance, are not always reaching people early enough in their careers. In a market shaped by an ageing population and by Lifetime Community Rating in health insurance, that is a strategic issue for employers, not just a design detail.
“There is also a clear communication challenge. Many employers believe they are offering competitive benefits, but a substantial share of employees do not experience those benefits in the same way. That gap weakens the return on investment and should prompt organisations to look not only at what is on paper, but at eligibility, visibility, and take-up.
“Hybrid working has effectively become a fundamental expectation in many parts of the market. By contrast, childcare support remains exceptionally underdeveloped. That tells us a lot about where employers have adapted quickly and where the market still has a long way to go.”
