How empathetic AI will empower benefits tech and HR in 2024

In benefits we’re already seeing AI drive benefits engagement and activation while helping employees make right-fit choices for their physical, mental, and financial wellbeing.

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In less than a year, generative AI has gone from a bright shiny object full of theoretical promise to a table-stakes technology that every business across every sector endeavors to capitalize on, including HR. The efficiency use cases for HR professionals are abundant and gaining widespread adoption, particularly in the talent management realm. But what about AI’s potential to empower employee wellness and culture?

AI holds promise far deeper than surface-level efficiency and cost-management gains, and this is especially true for benefits personalization and access.

Transform, revolutionize, upend—these buzz words are all used to convey the power of generative AI; however, their context has been mostly limited to AI services that enable the automation of routine HR tasks, not so much true efficiency through empathetic technology. Over the next few years, however, we’ll witness a clear demarcation between ‘automation’ and ‘AI’ as HR, and organizations everywhere, realize the potential for AI technology to positively impact total wellness, inclusivity, company culture, and more.

In benefits , for example, we’re already seeing AI drive benefits engagement and activation while helping employees make right-fit choices for their physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. In fact, Businessolver’s 2023 Benefits Insights  data shows that when personalized, empathetic AI is in play, employees are 19% more likely to engage with the right-fit benefits at the right time.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. In 2024, empathy in AI will take center stage. When implemented at scale, empathetic AI will transform benefits personalization and access as we know it—while bolstering both company culture and HR’s strategic influence within the C-suite. Here’s how empathetic AI will take shape over the next year:

Data from Businessolver’s 2023 State of Workplace Empathy report  shows that empathy is nothing short of a strategic imperative, with HR caught in the middle of an empathy and mental health crisis. Having to execute contentious policies like return-to-office (RTO) has depleted HR’s empathy reserves and comes at the expense of their mental wellness.

While 63% of CEOs report a positive mental health impact from RTO policies, only 39% of HR professionals agree. Likewise, 61% of HR professionals have experienced a mental health issue in the past year. These findings, combined with alarming declines in HR’s empathy perceptions toward their CEOs, organizations, and fellow coworkers, is evidence of burnout and “empathy fatigue” among HR professionals. Equally concerning is that both HR and employees are less aware of their mental health benefits than they were in 2022, further underscoring the barriers many people face in managing their wellness alongside productivity, regardless of title.

AI is not the sole solution to solving the depths of these challenges, but it can alleviate the burden on HR by enhancing operational efficiencies and providing valuable data for C-suite interactions, thus helping HR earn a more strategic and influential voice at the table.

Additionally, AI can scale a personalized, accessible employee benefits experience that is key to cultivating an empathetic and inclusive culture—ultimately leading to healthier, more engaged, and productive employees.

We all know benefits are an enormous investment too often underutilized by employees. In fact, benefits account for an average of 33% of an employer’s total compensation spend, and the average deductible cost to insure a single person has more than tripled since 2007. Yet 86% of employees report being confused about their benefits—a number that’s remained statistically unchanged over five years. But our data also tells us that employees don’t need to be benefits experts—they just need the right tools and support to navigate what’s been a historically confusing ecosystem.

In 2024, there will be a heightened focus on employee wellbeing, especially mental health support, as it becomes a top priority in the workplace. Yet employee assistance programs (EAPs) and mental health benefits are prime examples of benefits that often go underutilized by the employees who need them most, primarily for key reasons that AI can alleviate: confusion, awareness, and access.

According to a 2022 survey by One Medical and Workplace Intelligence, 91% of employees said their mental health was negatively impacting their productivity, but only 19% of employees said they used their mental health benefits in 2022.

It’s simply not enough for employers to offer a robust suite of benefits—there needs to be intentional strategy designed to connect the right benefits to the right employees for the right reasons. For employees to be engaged, motivated, and for culture to thrive, organizations must close the gap from benefits activation to year-round engagement and awareness. Data from our benefits administration technology, shows that AI plays a huge role in that equation, especially when the experience is not only answering the question at hand, but helping those same employees dig into the underlying need, such as connecting them with an eligible benefit when they’re asking about a deductible.

With AI, employees don’t need to know the difference between an HMO, PPO, or HSA; they just need to be guided toward elections that are the right fit for their diverse health, wealth, and total wellbeing needs.

Beyond personalization, we’re seeing AI drive benefits engagement and activation, evolving benefits from a one-and-done enrollment event to a front-of-mind, year-round experience. As companies invest in more diverse and robust benefits, such as consumer spending accounts and mental health benefits, AI will drive improved engagement, ensuring organizations and their employees get true returns from their investments.

AI-powered platforms, for example, can provide personalized reminders to drive engagement with point solutions. For new parents, this might include personalized reminders about telemedicine services or EAP programs, while employees approaching retirement could get reminders related to catch-up contributions and Medicare. For employees interested in mental health services, AI can recommend in-network therapists or connect them with day-to-day resources like meditation apps or stress reduction tools.

AI technology will likewise play a pivotal role in fostering greater inclusivity by ensuring that benefits are accessible to everyone, regardless of their background, language, or physical capabilities.

Read more: How will AI move the benefits needle?

For HR teams, this means having an incredible technology tool at their side, reducing the administrative burden while serving up critical insights about their employees, from emotional health to logistical snags. AI will never replace the value of the human touch, but it can certainly enhance the value HR teams bring to an organization—teams with skills and expertise that’s best suited for strategy not just benefits Q&A.

This all sounds well and good, but what about the pitfalls of AI? For sure there are thorny considerations when adopting AI-driven technology, such as security, system agility, transparency, and bias. It will be paramount that individuals always understand when AI is being used and how biases are being removed.

AI ethics will pick up steam in 2024 but time is equally of the essence. HR professionals must do their due diligence quickly in an environment where AI will see rapid adoption. Case in point: 76% of HR leaders agree that not adopting AI solutions like generative AI in the next 12 to 24 months will leave their organizations trailing competitors. That said, the value of a proven vendor that understands HR’s diverse challenges in a nascent, rapidly evolving space cannot be overstated.

In full transparency, it’s hard to contain the excitement over the future possibilities that AI holds for benefits —possibilities we can’t even fathom at this moment. But today, the impact on HR efficiency, employee wellness, and benefits access is already very tangible and creating a positive ripple effect on company culture that is uniquely achievable through AI designed with empathy in mind.

Jon Shanahan, President and CEO at Businessolver

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