There was cheery new year’s news for the marketing, PR, creative, media and digital sectors today with the release of new research that reveals that the sectors rank amongst the lowest in supporting staff’s financial well-being.
The research comes from AI-powered employee financial well-being platform Access PayWise+, part of The Access Group, a Loughborough HQ’d business software specialist with around 8,000 staff based in offices around the world, including in Birkenhead, Chorley, Sandbach and Glasgow.
The research analysed more than 20 financial wellbeing benefits listed in recent job ads across 30 UK sectors to show which industries best support staff beyond their salaries.
Benefits were grouped into seven categories including financial compensation and pay enhancements, insurance and protection, lifestyle support, health and wellbeing, family and parental benefits, retirement and savings, and work from home flexibility.
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In what may or may not come as a surprise, both marketing/PR and creative/media/digital did not outdo themselves.
Creative/media/digital fared slightly the worse out of the two, ranking fourth to last overall, out of the 30 sectors, and ranking in the bottom tier for five of the seven benefits categories. Its weakest area lies in retirements and long term benefits, with just 0.33% of job ads mentioning this type of support.
Before readers in the marketing and PR sectors crack open the bubbly though, things weren’t much brighter here. The sector ranked ninth to last overall, ranking in the bottom tier for two of the seven benefits categories. Its weakest area also lies in retirements and long term benefits, with just 0.96% of job ads mentioning this type of support.
The most common financial benefits offered in marketing and PR relate to insurance and protection, though still only 7.11% of job ads included this. The most common financial benefits offered in the media, digital and creative sector related to working from home, though still only 6.99% of job ads included this option.
Across all sectors, less than 10% of job ads include benefits from even the most common category – financial compensation and pay enhancements – showing clear room for improvement, even among top performers which, in case you’re thinking of a career change, in descending order were motoring and automotive, training and safety and security.
Addressing the poor performance of both sectors, Abhishek Agrawal at Access PayWise+, said: “Companies offering limited financial wellbeing packages are likely to see lower workforce productivity and loyalty, as well as providing a less competitive offer for prospective talent.
“Simple, low-cost steps such as cycle-to-work schemes, life assurance or earned wage access can help staff manage everyday costs. Our previous research shows 80% of employees using earned wage access feel more loyal to their employer, yet it’s still rarely offered. Expanding this into a broader financial wellbeing strategy will deliver the best long-term results.”
Methodology
Access PayWise+ analysed job descriptions on Reed across 30 UK sectors for mentions of financial wellbeing benefits as of September 2025. These were grouped into seven categories and ranked using an index from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicated stronger provision within each category. The combined index scores were then used to identify which sectors offer the most comprehensive financial wellbeing support overall.
