One in Four Employees Receives Benefits in Kind in Luxembourg

One in four employees in Luxembourg received benefits in kind as part of their salary package last year, according to a recent report by Statec.

According to the results of the EU-SILC survey, 26% of employees residing in the Grand Duchy received part of their remuneration in kind in 2018. Among them, 18% received meal vouchers, free meals or canteen access and 8% benefitted from a company car for private use.

More specifically, 48% of executives received part of their remuneration in kind in 2018, compared with 40% of employees in a higher intellectual occupation. Benefits in kind were less prevalent among technicians and middle-level employees (33%) and administrative employees (26%). This form of remuneration was rare among manual workers (12%).

Similarly, more executives (35%) than any other group benefitted from company cars for private purposes. This was followed by employees with higher intellectual occupations (14%), those in intermediate occupations (7%) and administrative employees (6%). Only 3% of manual workers benefitted from company cars in this way. On the other hand, those in higher intellectual professions (28%) most often benefitted from meal vouchers, free meals or a canteen, followed by technicians and intermediate professions (24%), executives (23%) and administrative employees (19%). Again, very few manual workers (7%) received such benefits in kind.

The services sector benefitted the most in this way, with 28% of employees working in this sector receiving in-kind benefits compared to only 14% of employees working in industry and construction. Regarding gender distribution, 31% of men and 21% of women received benefits in kind in 2018. 

Nevertheless, in 2017, the monetary value of benefits in kind represented only 1.4% of the total remuneration of resident employees. The weight of benefits in kind compared to monetary income thus remains marginal, according to the report.