This Just In ...
Employers Shift Focus from Expanding Benefits to Extracting More Value
According to the newly released 2025 WTW Benefit Trends Survey, employers are pivoting away from expanding their benefits portfolios and instead focusing on maximizing value from existing programs. This shift is driven by rising healthcare costs, economic uncertainty, and employee demand for personalization.
Key Takeaways:
- 73% of employers plan to address rising costs by enhancing value or switching to better-value vendors across health, retirement, and risk benefits.
- Rather than adding new benefits, employers are:
- Auditing vendor performance
- Revisiting PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Manager) contracts
- Targeting high-cost medical conditions with focused programs
- Mental health, cancer, and cardiovascular care are top areas of concern
- “Nudges and navigation” tools are gaining traction to help employees better engage with their benefits
“Medical inflation remains dramatically higher than it’s been for the last two decades,” said Jeff Levin-Scherz of WTW. “Employers are more focused on cost control than benefit enhancement”.
Why This Matters Now
This trend marks a strategic inflection point: benefits teams are being asked to do more with less. This may be a good time to reach out to your broker to help you:
- Reassess plan design
- Improve vendor ROI
- Communicate benefits more effectively.
This Just In ... Employers Shift Focus from Expanding Benefits to Extracting More Value
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