Employee appreciation for benefits is high. And for good reason.
Over the past decade, employers have made their benefits programs more flexible, more personalized and more supportive. Employees notice. Today, 75% say their benefits package meets their needs, up from 59% in 2017, according to our 2026 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey. Trust in employers to play a role in benefits has also grown, as has employees’ willingness to recommend their employer.
But there is another story emerging.
Employees are increasingly worried about the uncertainty they face. Half are living paycheck to paycheck. Half say financial problems are negatively affecting their lives. And now AI is creating a new source of anxiety: What happens to my job? More than six in ten say AI is already affecting their jobs—or expect it to in the near future.
In an uncertain world, employees are leaning into the benefits that provide security. Health. Retirement. The things that protect us when life gets complicated.
But here is the twist. Employees also want more flexibility. They want more choice. And they want greater transparency around costs.
At first, these demands may seem contradictory. Employees seem to be saying, protect me—but give me flexibility. But employees are not necessarily asking employers to give them more. They are asking employers to help them get more value from what they already have.
As employers face continued pressure to manage costs, adding another benefit or another point solution may not always be the answer. Sometimes the bigger opportunity is to make the existing portfolio easier to understand, easier to access and more relevant to individual needs. Sometimes this can be best accomplished by a small reduction in the number of offerings to simplify the employee's decision-making process.
And this is where employers need to pay attention: a great benefits program can fail if the experience is poor.
Employees do not experience a benefits strategy on a spreadsheet. They experience it when they are choosing a health plan, trying to save for retirement, dealing with a financial challenge or navigating a difficult moment in their lives.
And more, the question is not simply: Do employees like our benefits? The better question is: What are we asking our benefits to help our employees do?
Employers should connect each major benefit to the behavior or outcome they want to influence and drive decisions through that lens. Are employees better prepared for retirement? Are they making better healthcare decisions? Are they taking advantage of resources that can improve their financial security? Are the programs helping employees—and ultimately the organization—perform better?
Employee appreciation is important. But appreciation alone is not the finish line. The next generation of benefits strategy is about security, flexibility and control—and making sure the experience delivers on all three, while ultimately drives the behaviors that improve outcomes.
A next step for employers is to assess their benefits strategy through the lens of where the current benefits experience forces employees to trade protection for control. And does that balance drive the desired behaviors to best support organizational success?
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