For a third consecutive year, The NEEBC community gathered to connect and learn about ever-developing innovations making a difference for the workforce.  NEEBC’s January 23^rd sold-out conference – Innovation in Employee Benefits: Changing the Game – provided an exciting window into the future of employee benefits, discussing cutting-edge developments in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) in HR, leave management, and health benefits. Here’s a summary of the key topics and insights shared throughout the event.

1. AI-volution in Employee Benefits
Mike Brennan, Partner of HR Digital Transformation Services at Mercer, led an engaging discussion on the transformative impact of AI in the employee benefits space. Brennan outlined how AI can drive productivity and enhance employee value. The future of work, he suggested, will shift from routine tasks (HANDS work) to more strategic thinking (HEADS work) and eventually towards work that fosters human connection (HEARTS work).

The Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) landscape has become increasingly complex as states propose a variety of paid leave laws across the country, even though there were no new mandatory programs enacted in 2024. Multiple states are, however, working to finalize regulations and establish their PFML programs, beginning to collect contributions in 2025, and preparing to pay benefits in 2026. In addition, while various federal programs have been proposed with the goal of aligning practices across states, there has been little movement; and we expect, with the new administration, the stalemate will continue.

Outside of New England, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington, and the District of Columbia have mandatory paid family and/or medical leave laws in place. Employers should be aware of all paid leave laws for the jurisdictions in which they have employees working and ensure they comply with any and all applicable regulations.

In 2025, employee benefits are in the front row for both leadership and workforce interests.  It begs the question: What’s the view from this new seat, and why has this happened? NEEBC hopes the following answers the question.

An evolving benefits landscape in 2025 is certain. It is influenced by rising healthcare costs propelled by drug expenses, GLP-1 demand for weight loss, the growing complexity of medical treatments and high-cost claims, and the prevalence of chronic health conditions.  It will be further shaped by a new federal government administration, demand for talent with specialized skills including AI, and changing workforce expectations.

Pay equity—compensating employees the same when they perform the same or similar duties while considering legitimate job-related factors—is intended to help close the wage gap that still persists among groups of workers who have been historically underpaid.

While pay equity has been regulated on a federal level for decades through the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, states are stepping up their attention to the matter with a number of laws in recent years that provide even further protections such as:

At a time when everything seems to cost a little more, employees may be hesitant to use health care services — especially if they do not know the cost beforehand. For many, cost can be a top barrier to accessing health care. In fact, 7.1% of Massachusetts adults avoided health care due to costs in the previous year, according to the 2023 America’s Health Rankings report.¹ While across the U.S., 43% of insured working-age adults with employer-sponsored health plans said it was very or somewhat difficult to afford their health care.²

People who do not pursue needed health care may run the risk of poorer outcomes that can exacerbate chronic conditions and may drive increased medical costs. Fifty-four percent of people with employer-sponsored coverage who reported delaying or forgoing care because of costs said a health problem of theirs or a family member got worse because of it.³

Approximately half of the population goes through menopause, yet the subject is still stigmatized due to its connection to gender and aging. Many women hesitate to discuss their symptoms with healthcare providers often because of feelings of shame or a lack of awareness about what menopause actually is.¹ 

With women representing nearly half of the U.S. workforce, employers who fail to address menopause risk experiencing declining productivity among their organization.² Research indicates that when symptoms go untreated, it can result in costly, avoidable medical expenses and a decline in quality of life, both personally and professionally.

By 2030, all Baby Boomers in the U.S.—those born between 1946 and 1964—will have turned 65, with about 11,000 of them coming of age every day until then.¹ But as these workers make the transition to retirement, one concern that’s top of mind for many is how they will obtain and pay for health care. “People are generally a little uncomfortable thinking about health care in retirement because they are going into the unknown, it’s complex, and people fear doing it wrong and paying huge penalties,” one benefits leader said. “It’s important to find a way that makes it simple for people to understand and less scary.”

When employees don’t see a sustainable path to pay for health costs, they may delay retirement.² Nearly one in five reported that they had done so to keep their insurance, which can hinder new recruitment and increase overall employer health costs.³ The question for employers is no longer why they should support employees in the transition to retirement, but how they can best smooth the path forward. Here, we’ll examine the challenges workers face as they enter this new phase of life, and the ways that employers can help these employees make a soft landing into retirement.

In today’s U.S. workplace, behavioral health conditions and neurodevelopmental disorders are both more commonplace and more manageable than ever. According to the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC), millions of working Americans struggle with mental health and substance use conditions.  These conditions can lead to challenges such as presenteeism, absenteeism, and reduced productivity, which in turn affect the workplace environment and employer costs¹. Both employers and employees need to adapt; both have a role in ensuring that these conditions don’t exclude otherwise qualified people from success.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects employees with behavioral health conditions and neurodevelopmental disorders if their condition substantially limits one or more major life activities. This includes conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. The ADA mandates that employers provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities, ensuring they can perform essential job functions without undue hardship to the employer².

"Benefits by Life Stages" was the overwhelming response to a recent NEEBC survey gauging interest in various benefit topics.  Perhaps this response shouldn’t be a surprise.  For the first time ever, workplaces may have up to six generations in their workforce¹, spanning across as many life stages².  While each generation is typically at a different life stage with unique benefit priorities, there may be some overlap.  As shown in the diagram³ below, each stage has unique employee benefits priorities. Recognizing and addressing these diverse needs – both by life stages and generations – and reconsidering a one-size-fits-all approach to plan design may lead to a more engaged, satisfied, and loyal workforce.

Characteristics and Recommended Employee Benefits
by Life Stage

Over the last several years, more and more employers, health insurers and tech companies are paying attention to the inequities women face, making efforts to better support women’s health and unique needs. When it comes to factors like affordability, caregiving, mental health and menopause health, there are gaps to fill. New benefits offerings, digital solutions and resources have entered the market as organizations try to create a more holistic approach to women’s health.

“Women tend to be the decision makers and caretakers in health care, both when it comes to the health plan they choose and when a health situation arises within their family. It’s important for us to design service navigation, products and programs with that in mind,” shares Katie Catlender, Point32Health executive vice president and chief operations officer.

Navigating the intricacies of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) can be challenging for both employers and employees. Typically, there are three types of FSAs:

1. Traditional Medical FSA
2. Limited Purpose Medical FSA: For employees with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and an HSA, allowing them to set aside pretax funds for vision, dental, and orthodontia expenses.
3. Dependent Care FSA: For employees who pay for eligible services such as preschools, summer day camps, or after-school programs.

According to SHRM’s 2023 Employee Benefits Survey, 62% of employers offered an FSA plan to their employees. Despite the popularity of FSAs, a recent report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) reveals a concerning trend: a significant increase in FSA forfeitures, with over 50% of Medical FSA participants leaving unused funds in their accounts by the end of 2022.

With the availability of newer treatment options for weight management – glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) medications – metabolic health is in the news, shining a light for the public on the impact of weight on overall health.

When evaluating patient well-being, physicians are increasingly reviewing metabolic health as an indicator of future health risk. Metabolic health factors – including a patient’s cholesterol profile, waist circumference, blood pressure and blood glucose – are interconnected. Obesity is a multi-faceted medical condition that typically manifests as a result of several factors, including genetic makeup, use of certain medications, lack of physical activity, excessive calorie consumption and sleep patterns.¹ There are over 200 conditions associated with obesity, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatty liver disease and cancer.² It is well documented that even a 10% reduction in body weight has health benefits.

Nine years is the average period people live with a mental health condition before seeking help. Why does it take so long? Like so many things related to our emotional wellbeing and mental health, it’s complicated. Some of the reasons people delay seeking help sit outside an employer’s sphere of control. But not all of them. In speaking to over 16,000 individuals in the last 12 months, we’ve heard four themes about seeking support that employers can influence.

1- What to do?  What to say? 
About a third of all emotional/mental health cases start with the individual saying something like,

In today's ever-changing workforce, benefits are evolving at a rapid pace. From flexible work arrangements to mental health support, employers are recognizing the importance of offering comprehensive benefits packages that will attract and retain top talent. Yet offering these advancements may not be enough.  There is still the challenge of ensuring that employees are fully informed and educated about all their benefit options.

According to Employee Benefit News’ The State of Healthcare 2024, only 31% of employees who took a healthcare literacy quiz (i.e. what is a deductible, copay, etc.) scored over 70%!¹ Obviously, employees need more benefits information and education to make better consumers of their benefits. 

Retaining talent is the top organizational concern this year according to an isolved survey of 1,000 HR-decision makers. These same decision-makers say employees’ increasing expectations for the experiences they have at work is the biggest threat facing retention.

Although increasing employee expectations can be driven by external factors (like what employees see on social media and the consumer experiences they have outside of work), total compensation still plays a critical role. In fact, HR decision-makers say competitive compensation and competitive benefits are the top two investments that can be made to deliver employee experiences that matter.

For over ten years, NEEBC’s group mentoring has helped advance early-in-career Total Rewards professionals with their career choices.  While the program is focused on skills development required to succeed in this career, as well as career planning, it is greatly augmented by NEEBC’s in-depth benefits education led by industry thought leaders, conferences, best practices, and networking opportunities.  The group mentoring topics include leadership, public speaking, and communications. In addition, each year mentees decide extra topics most important to the group, which helps make the experience unique and meaningful for all.

The following sentiments were shared by recent mentees about the skill development sessions:

National and multistate employers have a lot to think about when it comes to administering paid leave in a compliant manner. In the ever-changing landscape of statutory leaves, employers are forced to monitor new laws and changes to existing laws and be ready to implement those changes around their existing benefits. I previously faced these challenges directly while working on the employer side for two large, national employers, and now focus on analyzing these regulations to help clients operationalize compliant leave and disability processes.

If you are an employer with a national footprint, or even one with employees in multiple states, it can be quite a challenge to keep up. Many mandating states make annual changes that impact employer and employee contribution rates, benefit amounts, notice requirements, and other statutory changes that impact eligibility and entitlements under each state’s program.

February is Cancer Prevention Awareness Month, and to many employers, that likely sounds like yet another opportunity to highlight standard prevention advice: quit smoking if you smoke, prioritize fresh foods and exercise, and make sure to follow cancer screening guidelines. But the truth is that there is much more to this issue than this one-size-fits-all advice. Increasingly, health experts and employers alike are discovering that no standardized message is enough to adequately solve this persistent problem.

FAST FACTS:
- A little over 2 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer each year, and more than 600,000 die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.^[1]
- Research suggests that less than half of cancers can be prevented by a healthy diet and lifestyle alone.^[2]
- Only 14% of diagnosed cancers in the U.S. are detected by a recommended screening, per research from the University of Chicago.^[3],[4]