As the cost of medical care continues to show double-digit growth in the United States, employers face greater challenges in delivering their strategy in key areas such as health benefits (44%), wellbeing programs (44%) and leave benefits (36%). To address these concerns, employers are shifting their strategy. Few are expanding their benefit portfolio, choosing to instead focus on extracting value from their current offerings and improve financing, employee experience, analytics and administration.

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Compared to just 8% in the past year, nearly two-thirds of employers plan to reallocate or rebalance spending in the next three years. Nearly three-fourths plan to tackle high costs by enhancing value or switching to better-value vendors across health, retirement and risk benefits. Just less than half (44%) plan to tackle high-cost medical conditions, and 37% plan to adopt a network of preferred medical providers.

Companies also are looking to improve the following priority areas over the next three years -- maximizing value, mental health, health benefits, financial wellbeing and family support. Many plan to increase their use of communication and use nudges and navigation solutions to influence behaviors and enhance the employee experience. Regularly reviewing vendor performance, including employee feedback, also is a key action employers are taking.

“Organizations are facing more pressure than ever to deliver the right benefits strategy,” Levin-Scherz said. “Finding innovative solutions for old and new challenges, and reallocating spend on benefits that deliver true value, is a good start. There is still a long way to go to address these pressure points, but employers are headed in the right direction by focusing on what matters most to their employees.”