Businessolver

2025 BENEFITS INSIGHTS REPORT

Employers Are Facing an Unsustainable Trajectory Across Rising Costs and Employee Engagement

But our data shows that AI is helping organizations like you contain costs, manage risk, and drive intuitive engagement for improved employee wellbeing year-round. What tech and metrics should you have on your radar to measure success and ROI in the face of rising costs? Download our report to learn more.
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It’s time to update your benefits administration strategy. Our latest report has your plan.

Employees Have Spoken: When the Benefits Experience is Personalized, Satisfaction and Confidence Soar

This year’s data insights contain:

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K

completed post-enrollment surveys
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M

employee member data
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HR decision-makers:
39% CXO, 18% VP, 27% Director, 16% Senior Manager

Employers’ Resistance to Tech Adoption is Driving a Benefits Engagement Crisis

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BIR Quote Image

Healthcare costs are outpacing inflation, making the combination of rising costs, employee confusion, and financial insecurity unsustainable for most employers. Affordability is a consistent issue and employees are frustrated:

%

86% of employees are confused about their benefits (a number that has not statistically changed in 7 years).

%

48% of employees would feel panicked about a $6,000 ER bill—even more for Gen Z at 63%.

%

20% of Millennials say they’d go into debt to pay for an unexpected expense.

Personalized

HR's KPIs for Best-Match Decision Support

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Despite Confusion, Employees Are Making Right-Fit Plan Choices at Enrollment

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85% of employees say they feel confident in their benefits decisions despite 86% saying they’re totally confused when it comes to healthcare.
With best-match decision support available at enrollment, employees are more than twice as likely to enroll in a cost-effective high deductible health plan (HDHP) with a healthcare savings account (HSA). Better still, they're 3X more likely to elect key voluntary benefits.
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69% (+17 points from 2022) of employees use decision support at enrollment when their employer offers it.
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When employees have decision support, they’re 129% more likely to enroll in an HDHP and an HSA.
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For an 11,000-employee organization, this could mean $3,000,000 in avoided premium leakage.

Personalized + Prescriptive

KPIs for Improved
Engagement and Efficiency

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A Benefits Engagement Employer Crisis?

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%
64% of employees with access to Businessolver’s virtual AI assistant, Sofia, get instant answers or access to their benefits.
Employees readily engage with AI and advanced technology given the opportunity, yet an industry-wide benefits engagement crisis exists. While 91% of employees value an EAP, only 14% are activating their EAP benefits. Why? Because many employers are slow to adopt AI and personalized in-platform communications that drive activation and engagement.
%
+19 points
from 2022
89% (+19 points from 2022) of employees opt into using their claims data to help tailor their experience .
%
+11 points
from 2022
45% (+11 points from 2022) of employees opt into text reminders in addition to email communications.
%
18% average lift in benefits activation when employees get personalized in-platform reminders about a relevant benefit or point solution.

Personalized + Proactive + Prescriptive

KPIs for AI-Driven Insights
and Service Outcomes

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Employee Benefits Preferences Are Changing...and Gen Z Wants Everything 

Of the nearly 43,000 employees, Boomers have 2X the number of must-have “Performance” benefits while Gen Z has 6X the number of “Delighter” benefits demonstrating the absolute dichotomy in their expectations and the necessity for employers to intimately understand their demographics to balance costs with care. 
Boomer's Benefits Preferences
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Delighter Benefits
  • Employee Discount Program
  • Fitness Program
  • Wellness Program or Incentives
Gen-Z's Benefits Preferences
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Delighter Benefits
  • Cancer Support Program
  • Care Navigation Program
  • Centers of Excellence
  • Day Care Support Program
  • Find a Provider Tool
  • Fitness Program
  • Nurse Line Services
  • Parent and Caregiver Support

AI-Powered Insights Are Transforming Benefits Administration From Guesswork to Precision Strategies

AI is surfacing data-driven insights that enable even more targeted communications and benefits strategies for HR—without requiring them to be data experts.

HR is both the top cost center and strategists in charge of optimizing spend for your organization. With healthcare costs, prescription drug prices, and employee expectations all on the rise, HR needs direct visibility into cost drivers and opportunities for optimization. This requires intuitive, real-time views of the big picture alongside real-time trends and issues, enabling more proactive and informed program management. 
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90% of Businessolver clients use AI-powered reporting for real-time insights.
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See the Data for Yourself

Download the 2025 Benefits Insights report

This year's data shows how having the right technology in place is helping HR achieve measurable ROI out of their benefits administration, from cost management to employee wellbeing.