The landscape for benefits most valued by employees is shifting every year based on several factors such as market trends, escalating costs, and the needs of employees.
Within a workforce comprised of several generations – Boomers (1946-1964), Gen X (1965-1980), Millennials (1981-1996), Gen Z (1997-2009), and Alpha (2010-2024) – needs and expectations vary, making it challenging for employers to define the benefits that meet the needs of everyone.
Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all benefits. While there is a group of mainstay benefits expected across all age cohorts, including comprehensive health care coverage, retirement benefits, and paid time off, there are also cohort-specific benefits pertaining to education, finances, volunteering, and family care which have become more popular in recent years.
Employees have more voluntary or niche benefits to choose from than ever before. The SHRM Annual Benefits Survey listed some 175 available benefits offered by companies in 2022 vs 216 benefits offered in 2024—a 23% increase.
So how do employers know which benefits employees value most when evaluating new programs and making changes from one year to the next?
Industry Surveys
Most employers use industry surveys or brokerage companies to track emerging trends annually. For 2025, employers are hearing that employees are asking for:
- Personalized Benefit Packages that align with their personal circumstances, life stages, and offer lower premiums for the budget-conscious consumer.
- Increased Access and Coverage for Mental Health Assistance is in high demand with employees feeling the stressors of home and work. They need to know that mental health coverage is available, how to navigate their options and the network, what the cost will be, and how they can access services without the stigma of asking their employer for help.
- Quality Plans with comprehensive coverage that do not exclude essential family care services offer reasonable payroll costs, manageable deductibles, and affordable out-of-pocket plan maximums.
- Intuitive Technology for enrolling in or making benefit changes via employer or third-party systems. Technology should be easy to use and accessible from home or a smartphone.
- Education about and understanding of the plans are essential for the benefits to be valued. The value is diminished if employees do not understand the terminology or inclusions/exclusions of the coverage, or do not know how to navigate the plan to access services.
To underscore the need for educating employees, based on a survey conducted by The Harris Poll and commissioned by Justworks (October 21, 2024), “Zillennials (those aged 18-43) require more support during the open enrollment process and need greater clarity, especially on where to find resources to help answer their questions as they select their health insurance.”
Additionally, the study showed “Zillennials who participate in open enrollment (51%) admit to having blindly chosen a health insurance plan in the past because they didn’t understand the complicated terms and definitions – double the amount of Gen X or older adults who say the same (25%). Further, nearly half of Zillennials who participate in open enrollment (46%) say they regret certain decisions they’ve made about their health insurance plan during open enrollment – compared to just under a quarter of those aged Gen X or older (24%).”
Getting Employee Feedback
Many employers are turning to data-driven strategies based on findings from employee surveys, focus groups, and other forms of direct feedback. Employees are speaking up about what they need, want, and expect from their employers. This feedback can be attributed to employers asking for more feedback about what programs they value and then increasing spending in lifestyle, wellness, and financial programs.
Employees are increasingly willing to speak up but only if the employer makes actionable changes from the feedback, in a timely manner.
Conclusion
Finding the right solutions for a company requires an experienced HR leader or advisor to drive the evaluation and assessment of the benefits programs, understand the needs of employees, and align the business culture and limited financial resources to the most valued benefits.
Please look for our next article focused on Employee Engagement Surveys.
Authored by: Darren DeRosa, Sr HR Advisor at Danforth Advisors.
Danforth Advisors can help with highly experienced and skilled life sciences HR professionals with deep capabilities to support your needs. We offer interim, fractional, and project-based service delivery models to suit scale without adding fixed costs. We provide best-in-class leadership, strategy, and operations with strong collaboration with compensation and benefits partners and providers.
Let us partner with you to assess your current plans and how they align with what your employees want and ask for in their benefits.