New year, new benefits: An opportunity for employers to help their workforce stay engaged

January is the start to a new year and is also “Financial Wellness Month” — a refreshing beginning that provides an excellent opportunity to start the year off on the right financial foot. And that also rings true in the workplace. With many employees having new benefits kick in, and some employers offering new workplace savings and benefits solutions to their workforce, now presents a great time for employers to help their employees remain engaged throughout the year with the important benefits and solutions available to them.

The good news is your employees want to hear from you: According to recent research from Voya Financial, 65% of Americans find receiving more information from their employer outside of open enrollment to help them better understand their employee benefit options extremely important or important. While getting through open enrollment and helping your workforce choose the benefits you offer is critical, making sure they know how to use them is equally important, so here are a few things to keep in mind.

The capabilities of HSAs

Over the years, health savings accounts (HSAs) have grown in interest and popularity — so much so that there were $104 billion in HSA assets held among 35.5 million accounts at the end of 2022, according to industry data. However, many individuals may not fully realize what exactly HSAs can do for them, particularly in the future. This unawareness is prevalent as additional Voya data has found that while the general understanding that HSAs can be used to pay for health care expenses in retirement has increased noticeably over the past few years (from 43% in 2020 to 55% in 2023), only 3% of survey respondents were able to correctly identify all attributes of an HSA.

With this lack of understanding, there is still an interest to learn more as Voya data has also found that more than half of employed Americans say they are more likely to stay with their current employer if offered access to health spending and savings accounts (53%), access to a professional advisor (51%), and education tools and resources to help them reach their retirement goals (51%).

Employers, working with their financial professionals and brokers, can apply learnings from qualified retirement plan education campaigns to help employees understand the full benefits of HSAs, both now and in the future. Offering easy access to information, tools and guidance to support the benefits decision-making process can help workers improve their overall financial wellness.

Voluntary benefits

Not only is it important to keep your workforce engaged in their core workplace benefits, but they should understand their voluntary benefits as well. When faced with a short-term, unexpected need — such as a trip to the hospital — some people may dip into their retirement savings. This could jeopardize their long-term financial planning goals and, in the short-term, put them in a challenging financial situation if they get hit with an unexpected, or even a planned, medical expense. As a result, more employers are adding supplemental benefits to their offerings. This includes both traditional and non-traditional benefits and services. At the top of the list are supplemental health insurance benefits like hospital indemnity and critical illness insurance, for example, which pay fixed benefits for specifically covered events such as an illness or hospital confinement.

Furthermore, employers are starting to offer more non-traditional benefits and services like student loan repayment and emergency savings support, particularly considering the opportunities available given the passing of the SECURE 2.0 legislation.

The good news is that as more of these offerings become available, we can see that employees value them as well: Voya data shows that 50% of employed Americans are extremely likely or likely to participate in more voluntary insurance benefits offered through their employer (e.g., critical illness, accident, disability, hospital indemnity, supplemental life, etc.) heading into 2024.

While ongoing education is also critical, employers should also consider additional solutions to ensure employees get the most out of the benefits they selected when they experience a covered event. For example, employers can consider making features like “Medical Claims Integration” available with their supplemental health products, which can enable carriers to automatically pay or engage with employees to pay an eligible claim.

Bringing mental health to the forefront

Many core workplace benefits (e.g., medical, dental and vision) have traditionally focused on an employee’s physical health, but in today’s competitive job market, creating a culture and environment where employees can get the mental health support they need can be a differentiator. This is especially important as financial stress and money worries can also severely impact mental health. As a result, employers can consider investing in mental health resources by starting, continuing or expanding their workplace benefits in this area.

In addition to helping your employees stay healthy, productive and engaged, providing mental health offerings that your employees value can provide a competitive edge in attracting and retaining talent. For example, Voya research has found that half (50%) of employed Americans are more likely to stay with their current employer if they offered mental health benefits or resources (such as mindfulness, meditation, mental health coaches/therapists, etc.). The demand from today’s workforce is also becoming increasingly apparent as more than half (55%) of employed individuals strongly or somewhat agree that their employer has a responsibility to ensure they are mentally healthy and emotionally well. Therefore, many employees consider these resources beneficial and important as the focus on mental health remains top of mind.

There are also opportunities to frequently and simply communicate to your employees to help combat the stigma around mental health — and it doesn’t have to be complex. Offering solutions like tips for helping with burnout, acknowledging “awareness months” or providing counseling support are all areas to consider.

Lean into digital guidance support

Many Americans have competing financial needs — especially following the pandemic and the more recent impacts from inflation. For example, addressing student loan debt and building an emergency savings fund have become increasingly important. As most individuals are busy juggling multiple priorities, this is where digital guidance tools can help make it simpler for employees, save them time and, in many cases, can help them make more informed decisions. Voya research has also found that three-quarters of benefit-eligible employed Americans (73%) are interested in guidance and support tools that would help them understand how much money to put aside for retirement, emergency savings and health care expenses. And equally promising, they plan to use these solutions as additional Voya data found that in 2024, more than half (52%) of Americans are extremely likely or likely to utilize digital financial tools to help them better understand their overall spending and savings picture.

Related: Navigating the post-open enrollment marathon for employee benefits

For employers, offering workplace benefits and savings decision support that consider specific employee needs can help to drive greater efficiency, overall savings potential and optimize utilization of employee benefits.

Final thoughts

Educating employees about their benefits is important throughout the year. But particularly as we start the new year, now is an opportune time for employers to build upon the work that was done last fall during open enrollment to provide employees with year-round guidance on how to optimize their workplace benefits and savings. Helping employees utilize all an employer has to offer can encourage them to make the most of their comprehensive benefits package and further support both an employer’s investment and individuals’ long-term goals.

Nate Black, VP, health solutions product, Voya Financial