Enhanced benefits grow in appeal and become more personalized as critical needs evolve.
In a more competitive job market, employers are focusing on demonstrating empathy, and understanding to support unique and thoughtful voluntary benefits across family coverage, caregiving, and financial wellness.
• Home and condo
• Auto, including exotic and collectible
• Watercraft
• Personal Excess Liability (Umbrella)
• Flood, Earthquake, Wind, and Wildfire
• Cyber Risk and Identity Theft
• Worker’s Compensation
• Employment Practices Liability
• Life and Disability
• Private Aviation
• Executive Management Professional
Liability (D&O and E&O)
• Equine
• Farm and Ranch
• Fine Art and Collections
• Small Commercial
• Special Purpose Acquisition Companies
• Sports and Entertainment
• Yacht
• Family Office Solutions — advice, education, and risk strategies
• Voluntary Benefit Solutions — employer sponsored benefits for executives and senior leaders
• Wealth Advisory Solutions — Cohesive risk management services that allow financial advisors to deliver holistic advice
For years human resources professionals have wanted a seat at the proverbial table. Now they have that seat in a major way. And if you’re good, you’re going to stand out. But if you’re not good, you’re going to stand out even more. We’re going to see this crisis as a make-or-break time for a lot of CHROs.
-Johnny C. Taylor, CEO of Society for Human Resource Management
of employees to do not wish to return to onsite full-time.
Permanent remote jobs doubled in 2021.
The future is hybrid
Now, remote work is a
pillar of the workforce
The gig economy continues to
make exponential gains
people are gig in the U.S. workforce.
Now that productivity has been proven, employees do not want to go back to “normal.” The demand for flexible working has and will continue to require employers to continually reshape how we work, reorient necessary benefits to support it, and reimagine employee engagement overall.
Reduction of
non-essential meetings
70%
60%
54%
44%
34%
Increased schedule
flexibility
No commute
Less distractions than the office
Greater autonomy
What about remote work has worked
better than your expectations?
is the approximate amount of excess medical
care costs driven by inequity.
Inclusive benefit definitions get broader—and more specific.
$93B
Health care inequities in the United States impact coverage, access, availability, and most of all quality.
of employers are expected to make inclusive benefits a key area of 2022.
30%
Inclusive and diverse leadership
teams and employees increase the bottom line.
higher revenues for organizations
with strong gender diversity.
21%
33%
higher revenues for organizations with
strong ethnic/cultural diversity.
The business case for diversity in executive teams remains strong
LGBTQ+ employees ranked support for mental health
as no. 1 in terms of what they would find valuable.
The definition of family, and therefore their coverage, is expanding.
#1
of working caregivers either left their jobs or are considering leaving their jobs due to difficulty balancing work and caregiving.
Caregiving support
becomes mandatory.
80%
of workers are facing financial setbacks.
Financial turmoil has people searching for financial wellness benefits.
72%
Length of Paid Caregiving Leave
In a more competitive job market, employers are focusing on demonstrating empathy, and understanding to support unique and thoughtful voluntary benefits across family coverage, caregiving, and financial wellness.
Enhanced benefits grow in appeal and become more personalized as critical needs evolve.
New workforce dynamics require HR departments to successfully manage and communicate continuous change.
An organization’s ability to effectively deliver benefits information to all employees is more important than ever for increased utilization, while the preferred means of communication continues to fragment. Understanding
the new landscape for both communicating and supporting employees will require businesses to diversify their tools to succeed.
Gen Z and millennial employees want more benefits than their Gen X and baby boomer colleagues.
With multigenerational, cultural, and geographical differences, one-size-fits-all communication is gone.
96%
of employees say that companies showing empathy is of great importance, yet 92% say that empathy is undervalued in the workplace.
Employees who want to hear from their manager about benefits throughout
the year
In a more competitive job market, employers are focusing on demonstrating empathy, and
understanding to support unique and thoughtful voluntary benefits across family coverage,
caregiving, and financial wellness.
Employers are exploring creative strategies to manage increasing health care costs while trying to provide affordable, high-quality care for employees.
As premiums continue to rise and the COVID-19 pandemic persists, companies are searching for creative strategies.
As a percentage of GDP, the US currently
spends 17% on health care and most economists expect this number to be
25%
or higher by
Delayed care is top of mind as utilization and
spending are expected to increase.
of large employers anticipate an increase in medical
services due to delayed care
94%
COVID-19, specialty Rx, and gene therapies
continue to impact the high cost of claims.
COVID-19 was the 22nd highest-cost
claim with stop-loss
$13M
The workforce is not going
back to a “new” or “next”
normal. It’s demanding new permanent ways of working.
75%
1
in
3
REALITY 1
Chart source 4
Chart Source 7
REALITY 3
REALITY 4
Chart source 11
Chart source 12
REALITY 5
Mental health becomes a major,
and most likely permanent, pillar of the public health conversation, as the global pandemic marches on.
REALITY 6
of adults reported a decline in their mental health, as compared with at the onset of the pandemic.
The mental health, has shifted the
public health care conversation.
The impact of the mental health crisis will outlast the pandemic, focusing employers on new solutions.
Increasing mental health costs require employers to adjust offerings in order
to compete.
said mental health is the most important
benefit beyond traditional health insurance
is the projected global cost of
mental disorders by 2030
47%
70%
The loss of daily contact, grief, stress, finances, and ongoing family and health concerns will create a sustained impact on mental health. With the majority of the workforce reporting worsening mental health, this is a topic employers can no longer ignore or minimize. Mental health support and benefits, both on the job and at home, are now critical for employer-provided plans.
$6T
% of Respondents reporting feeling
anxious or depressed in past week
Welcome to the new
workforce landscape.
As we enter the second full year of living with the coronavirus and its variants, the workforce landscape is rapidly evolving right along with it.
What can employers and HR professionals
expect to face this year? Read on for the realities of 2022.
Shifting workforce demands
1
Mission critical
DE&I
2
Enhanced benefits
3
Change management
4
Creative cost savings
5
Mental health
6
Diverse and inclusive cultures and teams are imperative for staying competitive in both attracting and retaining top talent. Businesses must demonstrate inclusion in their workplaces, and an inclusive benefits package is one of the most important ways to show you value all your employees.
The resulting benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), which are broadening in scope, is mission critical to business success.
REALITY 2
Bottom Quartile
Top Quartile
Gender Diversity
Ethnic Diversity
Likelihood to outperform
less-diverse organizations
44%
55%
43%
59%
2X
34%
Sources
1. “Flexibility is the Future,” HealthEquity, 2021, https://healthequity.com/doclib/commuter/ebook-flexibility_is_the_future.pdf.
2. “Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity,” Enterprise Technology Research, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-technology/permanently-remote-workers-seen-doubling-in-2021-due-to-pandemic-productivity-survey-idUSKBN2772P0.
3. “New Upwork Study Finds 36% of the U.S. Workforce Freelance Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Upwork, 2020, https://www.upwork.com/press/releases/new-upwork-study-finds-36-of-the-us-workforce-freelance-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic.
4. “Future Workforce Pulse Report,” Upwork, 2020, https://www.upwork.com/documents/future-workforce-pulse-report-2020.
5. “Disparities In Health and Health Care: 5 Key Questions and Answers,” Kaiser Family Foundation, May 11, 2021, https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-and-health-care-5-key-question-and-answers/.
6. “Health on Demand, Delivering the Benefits Employees Want Now,” Mercer Marsh Benefits, 2021, https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/health/mmb-2021-health-on-demand.html.
7. “Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters,” McKinsey & Company, 2020, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters.
8. “Access to Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage for Same-Sex Spouses: 2020 Update,” Kaiser Family Foundation, November 20, 2020, https://www.kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/access-to-employer-sponsored-health-coverage-for-same-sex-spouses-2020-update/.
9. “Caregiving is much more than backup care. It’s a lifestyle,” BenefitsPRO, November 2, 2021, https://www.benefitspro.com/2021/11/02/caregiving-is-much-more-than-backup-care-its-a-lifestyle/.
10. “2021 PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey,” PwC, January 2021, https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/workforce-of-the-future/library/employee-financial-wellness-survey.html.
11. “2019/2020 Caregiving and the Workplace: Employer Benchmarking Survey,” AARP, April 2020, https://fluxconsole.com/files/item/574/75979/CaregivingWorkplace-EmployerBenchmarking.pdf.
12. “Caught in the Middle: Managers in the Wake of COVID-19,” MetLife Employee Benefit Trends, 2021, https://www.metlife.com/employee-benefit-trends/ebts-managers-2021/.
13. “Health on Demand, Delivering the Benefits Employees Want Now,” Mercer Marsh Benefits, 2021, https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/health/mmb-2021-health-on-demand.html.
14. “2021 State of the Workplace Empathy Study,” Businessolver, 2021, https://www.businessolver.com/resources/state-of-workplace-empathy.
15. “Three Cost Containment Strategies in health care Benefits,” Peter G. Peterson Foundation, April 2020, https://firstpersonadvisors.com/three-cost-containment-strategies-in-health care-benefits/.
16. “Large Employer’s Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey,” Business Group on Health, August 24, 2021, https://www.businessgrouphealth.org/resources/2021-large-employers-health-care-strategy-and-plan-design-survey.
17. “Stop-Loss & Health Research Report, High-cost Claims and Injectable Drug Trends Analysis,” Sun Life, 2021, https://www.sunlife.com/us/en/about/insights-and-events/2021-stop-loss-research-report-high-cost-claims-and-injectable-drug-trends-analysis/.
18. “Greater proportion of Americans say mental health and social life have worsened vs. gotten better compared to before the pandemic,” Ipsos, May, 2021, https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/many-americans-say-mental-health-and-social-life-have-worsened-since-start-of-pandemic.
19. “Mental health access: 2021 trends for employers,” Vida Health, August, 2021, https://go.vida.com/mental-health-access-report-2022.
20. “Mental Health in the Workplace: CHRO Insights Series,” One Mind at Work, September, 2019, https://onemindatwork.org/chro-reports/.
21. “COVID 19 Consumer Survey,” McKinsey & Company, March, 29, 2020.
All
employees
Gen Z
/Millenials
63%
55%
49%
Gen X
/Millenials
35
42
23
5
26
6
37
26
Both anxious and depressed
Anxious but not depressed
Depressed but not anxious
Neither anxious not depressed
All respondants
Job
reduction/loss
Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey
2025
1
2
3
6
5
7
8
9
10
14
16
18
19
20
94%
91%
76%
68%
49%
We anticipate an increase in medical services due to delayed care
We are concerned about
long-term mental health issues resulting from the pandemic
We anticipate higher chronic condition management needs
We anticipate higher prevalence of late-stage cancers in our population due to delayed screenings
We anticipate increased disability claims due to employees experiencing long-term COVID-19 symptoms (long-haulers)
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