State of the Market for Employee Benefits in 2025

In designing their organization’s benefits program, business leaders and HR professionals need to consider two groups: current and prospective employees, and the competing organizations who may value those very same people. 

What are the needs and priorities of those in the workforce and the employment market? What are rival businesses offering to attract and retain the best the market has to offer? And what shifts are taking place in the market that employers should anticipate and prepare for?

Alera Group’s 2025 Employee Benefits Market Outlook, scheduled for release on January 16, provides answers to those essential questions. 

Common elements, diverse needs 

Based on insights from Alera Group subject matter experts and secondary research, the report combines written analysis with informative graphics. The result is a comprehensive guide to making informed decisions on offering the kind of benefits program that makes your business employer of choice while maintaining a healthy balance ledger.

In addition to a summary of key findings, the Market Outlook includes sections dedicated to six essential elements of employee benefits, each with subsections on market trends and employer strategies:

• Medical Insurance
• Prescription drugs
• Dental Insurance
• Mental and behavioral health
• Women’s health
• Voluntary benefits
• HR technology.

The report also delves into age demographics and the importance of providing a range of offerings that addresses the priorities of both Baby Boomers and Gen Z, as well as every generation in between.

Introductory webinar

To introduce the report, Alera Group will host the first in our 2025 series of Engage webinars, “Setting Your Strategy for the New Year: Alera Group’s 2025 Employee Benefits Market Outlook” on from 1-2 p.m. CT on January 16.
During the webinar, we’ll discuss the report’s findings on employee benefits hot topics such as:

• The continued demand for expensive GLP-1 drugs for weight-loss and specialty medications for chronic conditions, and the impact those demands have on employers; 
• An increasing interest in women’s health and the profound gap between insurance coverage and spending for women’s health and coverage and spending for men’s health;
• Investments in AI and big data and their impact on the future of employee benefits and HR technology.

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR

About the author

Marcy Updike
Director of Market Research
Alera Group

Marcy Updike has more than two decades of experience in market research, customer analytics and product insights. She became Alera Group’s Director of Market Research in 2022. Her primary responsibilities include project management of Alera Group’s Employee Benefits benchmarking survey and tool. In addition, Marcy works with the Alera Group offices around the country to develop thought-leadership research and meet the informational needs of our clients.

Contact information:

• marcy.updike@aleragroup.com
• Connect with Marcy on LinkedIn