SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. (SHRM-SCP) and Chief Data & Insights Officer Dr. Alex Alonso (SHRM-SCP) noted at SHRM’s recent Benefits Trends Virtual Retreat that companies have been changing how they invest in employee health in recent years. Core health insurance benefits remain important to U.S. employers, with 88% of employers deeming them “very important” or “extremely important” in the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey. But employer offerings are expanding to include telehealth services and a focus on mental health and wellness, trends that are often driven by workforces in other countries.
“When you look at innovation in health-related benefits, it’s almost always happening outside the U.S.,” Alonso says. “A lot of multinational companies and employers are testing it in other markets, like India or the Middle East, and then bringing it to the U.S. as a more global benefit for all of their employees, so there’s an opportunity for us to learn.”
The SHRM Employee Benefits Survey, one of the longest-running annual surveys examining employee benefits trends across the U.S., found that 97% of employers will offer some form of health insurance plan in 2024, even though individuals and families have the option to purchase insurance through the federal and state marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act.
“Since 2017, two main factors have accelerated the importance of health benefits,” Alonso said. The first was the growing realization that investing in wellness initiatives could reduce overall health care costs, leading companies to invest more in such programs. The second was the telehealth revolution, accelerated by the pandemic.
“Between 2017 and 2020, the importance of health care benefits actually declined,” Alonso said, with employers’ ratings of the importance of health care benefits dropping by two percentage points during that period. “It was the first time that retirement benefits and financial benefits rivaled the importance of health care benefits.” But that trend quickly reversed in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. However, as mental health issues quickly became less stigmatized during the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a greater focus on mental health benefits.
“Everyone has experienced the mental health aspects of COVID-19, whether it’s working from home, burnout or depression,” Alonso said. But the stress of responding to a national emergency and caring for others has also taken a toll, making mental health benefits and telehealth solutions even more attractive, he added. According to the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey, 90% of employers now offer mental health benefits.
Taylor noted that many employees have also had to deal with the stress of staying close to family during the pandemic, and the burden of helping children, in particular, cope with the crisis. The pandemic has “particularly impacted employees who have seen their children struggle with isolation,” he said.
Taylor and Alonso said many children’s educations have been upended during the pandemic, which could have long-term implications for the workforce: Even if children are doing well academically, they may have missed out on social and leadership opportunities that provide a foundation for personal growth later in life.
“It’s going to affect us for generations to come,” Taylor added.
Alonso said employers have found that offering family care benefits, such as family care leave, can reduce overall health care costs. Because many of the largest costs of health insurance come from family members, especially dependents, who are covered by the plan, rather than the employee, flexibility to allow employees to be more involved in their family’s care tends to reduce costs. Employees also experience less stress and better mental health when they are able to participate in their family’s care.
