Employee Health & Benefits Trends: The Evolving Workforce

Tomorrow’s workforce is looking for more than a benefits plan. Employers that emphasize financial and mental well-being and pharmaceutical costs can help to keep employees engaged and healthy.

Future-focused HR departments and employers' priorities can include:

• Centralization: To curb spending, tech platforms and human support options for HR teams will likely centralize over time.
• Empathy: Organizations and employers that strive to support the individuals in their workplace.
• Personalization: Give employees choices when it comes to their benefits.
• Segmentation: Understand the different segments of employees and what they seek.

Employers’ focus on four key trends can optimize employee health and benefits plans.

Trend 1: 4 generations, 1 workforce
Each generation’s economic challenges, health care issues, and work attitudes shape their benefit expectations. However, across these groups, employees feel under-engaged, concerned about the cost of living, and want improved mental health services.

Trend 2: Better benefits, better talent
Benefits are critical in attracting and retaining top talent, with customization and flexibility being important elements of a company’s benefits package.

Trend 3: Whole-person health is here to stay
Many employees have come to expect whole-person health benefits to be part of their company’s health care offering. It focuses not just on physical health but also on mental and financial health.

Trend 4: Health care costs—the pressure is on
Health care costs are rising consistently, requiring many organizations to reevaluate their levels of transparency and optimization of data and pharmaceutical coverage.