Top Benefits Trends HR Needs to Know for the Second Half of 2025
Get the Businessolver Blog in your inbox
By Don King
on June 3, 2025
Share:
6 Key Trends and Action Items You Can’t Afford to Ignore
As we move into the latter half of 2025, HR professionals are facing a pivotal moment in benefits administration. With healthcare costs continuing to rise, employee expectations evolving, and mental health challenges on the rise, the pressure is on to deliver benefits strategies that are both cost-effective and deeply empathetic. In fact, HR’s top two priorities for the next year at least, according to a recent survey we ran, are cost management and employee engagement.
Our 2025 Benefits Insights Report offers a data-rich roadmap for you and your team to optimize your benefits programs for both your CFO and your workforce. Here’s what you need to know—and do—right now.
Looking to maximize your benefits ROI? Let’s chat.
6 must-know benefits trends
Cost Containment Is Critical—But So Is Care Healthcare costs are projected to rise up to 9% this year, with employers spending an average of $26,000 per family on health insurance. Medical spend eats up the majority of your benefits spend, so finding ways to still offer diverse benefits without busting the bottom line is critical. Why? Because benefits are among the top three reasons employees decided to stay, leave, or join a new organization.
But 86% of employees, on average, are confused about benefits. Driving awareness and the value of benefits is crucial to maximizing your spend and showing employees your best-in-class benefits.
How you can use this to your advantage: Use decision support at enrollment to help guide employees towards right-fit and cost-effective medical and voluntary benefits. Our data shows that employees are 129% more likely to elect a high-deductible health plan and a health savings account when decision support is available.
Mental Health Support Is a Must-Have, Not a Perk According to our 2025 Mental Health report, 72% of employees say they’re no longer willing to sacrifice their mental health for work. Yet, only 22% of employees report having access to extended mental health benefits—despite 92% saying it’s one of the most empathetic benefits an employer can offer.
Action Item: Audit your mental health offerings. Are they visible, accessible, and stigma-free? Consider expanding EAPs, offering teletherapy, and training managers in empathetic leadership and implementing a communications strategy to drive more awareness of benefits using empathetic and supportive messaging.
Flexibility Is the New Currency of Loyalty In 2025, flexibility isn’t just a perk—it’s a must for employee wellbeing and retention. As organizations navigate the post-pandemic workplace, the demand for flexible work arrangements continues to surge, especially among younger generations.
But the benefits go beyond wellbeing. Flexible work policies also contribute to: •Higher productivity: Employees with control over their schedules are more likely to stay focused and engaged.
•Reduced absenteeism: Flexibility allows employees to manage personal responsibilities without sacrificing work.
•Improved talent acquisition: Flexibility is a top decision-making factor for job seekers, especially in competitive markets.
Action Item: To close the gap between what employees want and what they’re getting, HR leaders should: • Conduct regular pulse surveys to understand evolving employee needs around work location and hours.
• Audit current flexibility policies and compare them to industry benchmarks and employee expectations.
• Educate leadership on the ROI of flexibility—not just in terms of retention, but also in productivity, engagement, and mental health outcomes.
• Invest in technology that supports hybrid and remote work, including collaboration tools, virtual wellness programs, and AI-powered benefits platforms that employees can access anytime, anywhere.
AI Is Reshaping Benefits Administration
AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s a present-day differentiator. Businessolver’s AI-powered platform has helped clients save up to $3 million annually through automation, self-service, and personalized decision support.
Key AI-driven outcomes include: •90% of chats resolved instantly
•10 million minutes saved in call and chat times
•18% lift in benefits activation with personalized nudges
Action Item: If your benefits platform isn’t using AI for personalization, analytics, and engagement, it’s time to reevaluate. Look for tools that offer real-time insights, sentiment analysis, and year-round engagement—not just during open enrollment.
Meaningful Interaction Drives Engagement—and Retention Despite 86% of employees reporting confusion about their benefits, 84% still rate their enrollment experience as “great” or “excellent” when supported by personalized tools. Personalized decision support leads to a 3X lift in voluntary benefits enrollment.
These decisions don’t just benefit employees—they drive significant savings for employers. For a company with 11,000 employees, this kind of plan steerage can result in over $3 million in premium savings annually.
But personalization’s impact extends beyond enrollment. Businessolver found that: • 36% of employees log in to their benefits portal 4+ times post-enrollment
• That number jumps to 46% when Total Rewards are integrated into the platform
• Personalized nudges and reminders lead to an 18% increase in benefits activation
Pro Tip: Don’t wait for employees to come to you. Use in-platform communications, text reminders, and AI-driven nudges to guide them toward the right benefits at the right time.
Empathy Is a Business Strategy Empathy in the workplace is no longer a soft skill—it’s a strategic differentiator. Businessolver’s 2025 State of Workplace Empathy report makes it clear: organizations that prioritize empathy see measurable improvements in employee wellbeing, engagement, and retention.
The data is striking: • Employees at empathetic organizations are 1.5X less likely to experience mental health issues.
• 93% of employees at empathetic companies feel a sense of belonging, compared to just 61% at unempathetic ones.
• Only 14% of employees at empathetic workplaces describe their culture as toxic, versus 45% at unempathetic ones.
The empathy gap has real consequences. More than half of employees at unempathetic organizations say they’re likely to leave within six months. And 72% of all employees say they’re no longer willing to sacrifice their mental health for work.
Pro Tip: Empathy isn’t just about listening—it’s about acting. Use data to identify gaps in support and implement benefits that reflect what employees truly value. When empathy is operationalized, it becomes a powerful lever for retention, performance, and culture.
The Future of Benefits Administration Is Empathetic, Data-Driven, and Always-On
As HR leaders look to the second half of 2025, the mandate is clear: balance cost containment with care, and use technology to deliver a benefits experience that’s personalized, proactive, and empathetic.
By embracing AI, closing the empathy gap, and aligning benefits offerings with employee preferences, organizations can not only improve wellbeing—but also drive retention, productivity, and ROI.
