Rising costs, an uncertain election year, and the importance of balancing benefits offerings are all top of mind for benefits leaders this year. How these leaders rise to meet these challenges, and how benefits providers can support them, is a key question as we approach 2025.

Lively’s third annual Employee Benefits Pulse Check captures and shares what’s at the top of benefit leaders’ minds and what they are doing right now to keep up with shifting marketplace and employee expectations and highlights how brokers and consultants can serve them better.

In partnership with CITE research, we anonymously surveyed 250 benefits leaders across the United States and multiple industries, with a focus on companies with over 500 employees, to capture key data and understand current trends around employee benefits, healthcare, health policy, and retirement.

The report identifies the key stressors on benefits leaders minds and what they need from their benefits providers in order to combat them, including:

• The rising cost of health insurance and employee financial stress.
• The challenges of benefits education to drive employee adoption.
• Why customer service and streamlined integration are key differentiators for benefits providers.
• How benefits providers can enable key features and customer service to support benefits leaders and their team.

This report provides benefits leaders and the brokers and consultants that serve them with key data, insights, and action items that they can use during open enrollment, to drive benefits adoption, and as they plan their benefits strategies for 2025.