This is according to research carried out by insuretech startup YuLife – a company that specialises in group life insurance for companies of all sizes.

The other two preferred employee benefits included health insurance and childcare vouchers for employees.

The role of employee benefits has become essential in today’s workplace, where managers are looking for interesting ways to engage and motivate the staff – and employees are looking for interesting benefits to maintain their loyalty with an organisation.

The popularity of employee discounts has emerged in recent years, with the likes of Perkbox, Rewards Gateway and Xexec offering platforms where staff can access discounts for a number of high street brands.

For YuLife, the startup was founded by former Vitality executive, Sammy Rubin, who wanted to reward employees ‘not just in death, but also in life.’

Whilst their group life insurance product is available from just £4.99 per month and pays 4 times the individual’s salary to their loved ones, users also get access to a number of discounts and vouchers through the YuLife app.

When completing mindful or active tasks just as meditation or jogging, the user is rewarded with a YuCoin, the brand’s own currency which can be transferred into rewards from partners such as Amazon, ASOS and Nike.

Founder Rubin explains: “Life insurance should be about inspiring life, but all these companies focus on death. You can hold a life insurance policy for decades and it expires – so I thought why not get value out of the life insurance on an ongoing basis, rather than at the end when you claim in death?”

YuLife’s proposition has added other benefits including virtual GPs, mental health support, will writing and HR insights. Companies can sign up from 2 to 1,000 employees and has so far been adopted by a variety of industries.

In 2019, yulife secured £10 million in Series A funding led by Creandum Funds and currently has over 50 members of staff in their head offices in Old Street, London.