Benefits Under Pressure: How HR Leaders Are Rethinking Total Rewards in 2026

Mo: [00:00:00] Welcome to today's episode of People and Strategy. I'm your host, Mo Fathelbab, President of International Facilitators Organization. People and Strategy is a podcast from the SHRM Executive Network, the premier network of executives in the field of human resources. Each week, we bring you in-depth conversations with the country's top HR executives and thought leaders.

For today's conversation, I'm excited to be joined by Kathryn Mayer, a content specialist for SHRM who specializes in total rewards coverage. Welcome, Kathryn. 

Kathryn Mayer: Thanks. Thanks so much for having me.  

Mo: Great to have you with us. So Kathryn, tell us about your career journey and how long you've been writing about benefits and total rewards.

Kathryn Mayer: Absolutely. So I've been covering benefits for about 15 years now, which is crazy to see the evolution and also to think about how long this has been, uh, [00:01:00] covering benefits, but, but very exciting. So I have a journalism background, and I always did want to focus on business reporting of some kind. And I just-- I landed with a business media company in Denver, and it just happened to be focused on benefits. 

And I didn't know much about it, obviously. I was a few years into my career at the time, so I was just learning about benefits myself, like as an employee, and then really jumped in the deep end as far as really learning about them and then sharing all of my knowledge with, with everyone else. So it was...

Yeah, really jumped in the deep end. This was also around the time of, of the Affordable Care Act and so much exciting things that was happening in the field. And then a couple of years later, I then started to focus on employee benefits from the HR perspective and from the workplace perspective. And that's when I got very, very excited about them because you really saw [00:02:00] just how indicative they were of the broader trends in the world, of what is happening, how important they are to employees, how important they are to employers. 

And yeah, so I've been covering them ever since I started working for a publication. I was editor-in-chief of another employee benefits publication, worked at another HR publication focused on benefits, did some work with, uh, benefits and health leadership conferences, running some of those, and I've been at SHRM now for about four years.

Mo: Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. What a great story, from journalism, uh, to benefits. I love it. Yeah. But I see your passion. Uh, you know, I have to start right off the bat here. What is the craziest benefit you've come across?  

Kathryn Mayer: Oh my goodness. Um, I love that question. There was... There's so many interesting ones. I would say, one, there was a yachting company, and they actually, every year, they gave their employees a benefit where they could yacht [00:03:00] where they wanted to.

So I'll say that. So I feel like that's kinda hard to top, right? Yeah. You don't see that one that, that often. You don't  

Mo: see that. I thought you were gonna say they get a free yacht every year, but that'd be 

Kathryn Mayer: a lot. Yeah. I feel like they have some work to do because, you know, they could do that.  

Mo: Yeah.

Wonderful. Well, Kathryn, let's start with the big picture. So the benefits landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years, and HR leaders are navigating a very different environment than they were just a short time ago Uh, so your recent article in SHRM's HR quarterly magazine is titled "Benefits Under Pressure." 

Uh, what are the biggest forces creating that pressure right now, and why does this moment feel different from previous economic cycles? 

Kathryn Mayer: Absolutely. It is, it is definitely a difficult time. There's... I mean, as so many of us know, this has been not the best financial time for a lot of people. Obviously, we've had several years of very high inflation, and employee financial confidence [00:04:00] is among the lowest it's been. 

And as, and then on the flip side of that, employee financial stress is among the highest it has ever been. And then we have high healthcare costs, we have high benefits costs, and this is just a really difficult time for employees. But then on the flip side, it's also obviously a difficult time for employers as well, 'cause they're left navigating all of this.

They're left figuring out, "Okay, how are we gonna best support our employees when they're asking for more help than ever? But at the same time, we have to really watch our bottom line, and we have to make some tough decisions." So this is very difficult for both sides. They're really trying to figure this out. 

You definitely see benefits shift depending on where we are in the economic cycle. That's not uncommon. But I think to your point when you said what makes this a little bit different, I talked to one CHRO recently, and they were talking about how this moment is [00:05:00] different is because they're operating at this level of agility and trying to be as intentional as they can in ways that they haven't before.

And a lot of that I feel like is, part of that is pandemic driven. I feel like they, they operated on such a fast level, and they weren't waiting for the next open enrollment cycle, for instance, and things like that. So it's just a different time. They're being more intentional about this, and a lot of organizations are also saying, "Okay, we don't want to have this benefits whiplash that we have had in years past." 

We don't wanna just take away benefits, reduce them when times are tough, and then add exci- you know, add exciting benefits and do things like that when times are good. So they're trying to, they're trying to figure this out, I feel like, in a way that they haven't yet done before. So I think that's, that's the, that's the difference that we're seeing.

Mo: And why the [00:06:00] increased need for agility?  

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah. It's, it's just, I think they're realizing they have to make those changes quicker. And I, again, I think part of that is because of the pandemic, is because they had to realize, okay, everyone is suddenly remote, you know, within a week. We can't wait for the next benefit cycle, and people are really struggling with something like a mental health benefit.

Um, or they're, they're looking for a mental health benefit. We don't, we can't wait for months and months to have this. They need help now. And so I think that's part of it, and they're realizing, okay, the healthcare costs right now, they're saying, "Okay, our healthcare costs are so high, we need to make changes very, very quickly." 

And so that's part of it, too. And I think part of it, too, is the employee expectations are there in a way that we haven't seen before, and they don't want to wait. 

Mo: So historically, uh, benefits tend to expand when employers are competing aggressively for talent and contract- Yeah ... when budgets tighten. 

Mm-hmm. [00:07:00] Um, so are we seeing that pendulum swing today? And what evidence, uh, are you seeing across organizations? 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah, absolutely. Benefits is definitely this pendulum, and it is different. It's, it definitely swings. It's, I think some of the evidence that we're seeing of, of why it's swinging the way we're seeing it is there are some stats. 

For instance, SHRM had a, a survey recently of workers, and 15% of them said, "Our benefits have been reduced in the past year." So that's not insignificant. And then there was another survey, for instance, from Gallagher, and they had said that 40% of employers are making benefits evaluations, making changes because of economic difficulties.

So you're seeing it in the stats. You're also seeing it from a number of different employers. You're seeing, y- there has been a lot of, I think, headlines and things about certain companies that have reduced benefits. They've cut [00:08:00] certain benefits. So we definitely are seeing this, this play out in the data and anecdotally from workers, from organizations as well. 

Mo: Okay. Um, so that makes a lot of sense. Now, your article, uh, mentions that we're moving from a talent attraction mindset to a cost management mindset. Um, how does that change the way HR leaders evaluate benefits investments in this particular cycle? 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah, absolutely. They're, they're being a little bit more 

Like I said, I think they're being a little bit more intentional about it, and they, they do have to watch the cost because it is just so astronomical of how much they've increased year over year and then this year in particular, so they, they definitely have to figure that out. And it is ... They're being a little bit more intentional as far as looking at the data, I would say.

There's a couple things. Certainly looking at the data, seeing what exactly is possibly used the most, what people, what their employees like the most, [00:09:00] what they value the most. So that's, I mean, the data can be from the health vendors or their carriers and benefits, benefits carriers, and then it can also be from the employees themselves. 

So I think that's a few different, a few different things that they're kind of trying to figure out right now and, and trying to look at to evaluate. But that's, that's kind of where you're seeing that shift. 

Mo: Yeah. So Kathryn, what questions should HR leaders be asking themselves and their teams as a result of all this? 

Kathryn Mayer: I, I would say a few different things. Number one is what do our workers most value? So you need to have that information. I think that is Probably the most important one is trying to figure that out. And benefits, you know, I mean, you, you kind of talk about the, the bigger ones. You obviously know about retirement and healthcare and, and salary and things like that, but, you know, it does go beyond that.

But having a clear hierarchy. [00:10:00] I did talk to a CHRO recently who worked at a food services in the, in the food services industry, and she was saying when they were saying, "Okay, you know, we need to cut costs. We don't know how we're gonna do this. Let's have a clear hierarchy of what our workers value." And she was saying, for instance, her workers said, "We care about our salaries. 

We care about our job, like we want our job security. We want that money coming in. That's most important." After that was health benefits for, for them and for their families. And then, you know, the, the wild card for them was they really valued having like food benefits. So they worked in restaurants, so they said they could get food for themselves, they could bring it home to their families, like that was such a value.

So I think having those clear answers of, you know, where your employees most want help or they need help, that is very, very vital, and that's gonna change obviously from, from different workforces and, and [00:11:00] certainly from organization to organization. Another question is what kind of data do I have? Going back to that, just like piecing that together, having actual Data figures about what's important, what's being used, what's not being used, that's very important. 

And then a final question I would say that I don't think that a lot of organizations necessarily are thinking about is, where do we stand as an organization? What do we-- who do we wanna be? Because so many HR leaders say, "Our employee benefits are a way to show who we are." Like, it's how we show our support.

It's who we show... It's kind of like your brand message, right? What's an example  

Mo: of that? 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah. I mean, I would say, I mean, that's a- I think the  

Mo: yachting company was a great example of 

Kathryn Mayer: that It is, yeah. I mean, yeah, right. I think, I mean, but sometimes it is because, say, like that's that food services company that I was just mentioning. 

They said that [00:12:00] they, like food and having that kind of being that common denominator is like so important. Like, that's kind of our calling card. Like, that's what, like, our workers care about. Like, we wanna show, like, this is a great product, and this is, you know, this is what brings people together, and this is important.

So I think that could be it. But I mean, that could really run the gamut, and I think it depends from organization. But some people really care about family benefits, right? Like, we wanna show we care about your, your, your children, your caregiving support, like what you have, what you have going on. I think that's a great example of, of a benefit. 

Or maybe we care a lot about education. We want career development for you. Maybe that's another one. So kind of having, you know, having those examples of what-- who you want to be, I think is, is really important, 'cause you don't wanna take that away. 

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Mo: So Kathryn, those market shifts are forcing employers to make difficult decisions. Let's talk about how organizations are balancing financial realities while still trying to meet employees' evolving expectations. Uh, many employees are dealing with financial stress, inflation concerns, affordability challenges.

At the same time, employers are facing rising costs. Uh, so how can organizations balance those competing realities, uh, without damaging trust and engagement?  

Kathryn Mayer: Yes, and that is, that is really one of the, one of the top questions I feel like [00:14:00] on so many company leaders' minds is how to do this. I would say one thing that I think is important to note is that A lot of times we're talking about those benefits investments or we're talking about benefits reductions, and kind of the middle ground is, you know, what do you have-- you're not touching, you know?

You're gonna-- You're keeping a lot of your health benefits, even if you are increasing, shifting some costs perhaps. But you have a, you know, a lot of organizations have great health benefits in place. They're obviously paying a lot of money for this. A lot of them are contributing something toward a retirement account. 

A lot of organizations have some kind of a financial wellness component into place. So I think one thing is, that is important is don't neglect to kind of tout some of those benefits that you have and say, you know, "I know you, you-- maybe you are looking for some support, but just remember, here's some things that you do have already.

You know, don't forget [00:15:00] about this." Like, and sometimes even having, for instance, a total rewards, like a compensation statement, and actually you're spelling out how much money you're spending on these benefits. I think that is one of those kind of eye-popping figures that employees don't realize a lot of times. 

So I would say that's, that's one, 'cause that's a great way to just increase some of that satisfaction, some of that trust, is 'cause you hear that so often. Employees don't know what they have being... They don't know what they're being offered. They don't know how much their employer is spending on this. So I think that's an easy way to increase satisfaction and just showcase that support.

And then another thing is if you are making some kind of a benefits change, especially if it is a bit negative, right? Say you're shifting more of those costs, say you have to cut a certain benefit or something like that, and this is something that I've certainly talked to HR folks about is you have to be so open and [00:16:00] communicative and transparent about those changes, because so many times you're just kind of making some changes behind the scenes. 

The last thing you want to do is someone, some worker is trying to, you know, use some certain benefit or they're finding out their healthcare costs are much higher, and they're not even aware of that. I mean, that is a great way to kill trust. So you want to be very open about these changes, and some of the experts I've spoken to is saying, they say, not just say the what is changing, but the why behind it.

That's another thing, and I think that could have... That's, that's a two-way conversation, right? And that's openness, and sometimes you might have, you might have some sympathy from employees. Like, you know, "I'm dealing with this too," you know? I think that's a great way to just ensure that you, you are keeping trust and engagement in your workforce. 

Mo: Listen, I'll never forget, uh, s- I was doing a, a, a, a, a meeting with a group, and this one CEO said he literally had his employees forego a paycheck- 

Kathryn Mayer: [00:17:00] Wow ...  

Mo: because he was so transparent with them and- Wow ... and they were in dire straits, so. 

Kathryn Mayer: Exactly.  

Mo: There's value there. Yeah. 

Kathryn Mayer: Absolutely.  

Mo: So one of the themes in your article is that employers are becoming more intentional about benefits spending.

Kathryn Mayer: Mm-hmm.  

Mo: And I think I've got some of the gist- ... 'cause you've, you've rolled out the three biggies already, but how are organizations determining which benefits are must-haves and which are becoming harder to justify? 

Kathryn Mayer: That's a great question. I think it's gonna... That, that'll obv- ob- obviously shift, too, from organization to organization. 

But again, I think having that data in play is one thing, but... And, and again, having that, looking at the utilization, looking at satisfaction rates, looking at what's being used, 'cause sometimes you're hearing about a certain benefit, and people are saying, "We love it," and then you look at the data, and no one's using it.

Um, so obviously that's really important. But talking to employees, I think you cannot have... You can't overstate how important this is. It's so [00:18:00] It's so vital to continue to, to have those conversations, to understand what employees really care about, and that once a year survey, that's not really gonna cut it. 

You're gonna have to continually talk about this. Have a benefit-specific survey, have regular pulse surveys, have focus groups, just chat with employees about what, what benefits. And I think that's gonna really... That's probably gonna be the, the biggest thing, is that you're gonna realize what is a must-have benefit and what is a nice-to-have benefit.

Mo: Good stuff. So you've mentioned healthcare a couple of times already. And, uh, we know it's one of the areas where, you know, it's, uh, especially visible- Mm-hmm ... because of the rising costs. Uh, so, uh, healthcare costs continue to rise. Yeah. We know that. What's driving these cost increases, and how is it impacting employers? 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah, I know I've kind of like alluded to these, these ominous healthcare cost, uh, healthcare cost problem. But, you know, it is important to, to know just [00:19:00] how substantial it is. So Mercer, for instance, reported that ... So, I mean, also keep in mind, healthcare costs have risen every year. This is constantly a problem for employees.

It's constantly a problem for, for employers, but it's outpacing inflation. It is due to rise, I think this year it's about 6.7%. It's about to hit a, on track to hit a 15-year high. So this is very substantial, and there's, there's a few things that are going on. Number one is there's just been a rise in chronic conditions, and that's, that's certainly contributing. 

A lot of people have some kind of chronic condition that they're managing, and obviously that's, that's costly. And there's also been even a rise in things like cancer rates, and you're seeing that across people of all ages. Like this is not, you know ... I think there's always those feelings of, oh, cancer affects people of a certain age, and that's, that's obviously not what we're seeing.

So that's, that's certainly contributing to these higher healthcare costs. And then [00:20:00] another thing is Prescription drug costs, and that's kind of in tandem a little bit, obviously, right? So a big, a big one is specialty drugs, and that could be things from, like, autoimmune conditions, for instance, and that's very, very, um, costly to manage, and cancer drugs too. 

We're seeing a lot of sophistication with these prescription drug co- or prescription drugs, which is great. Like, prescription drugs are showing a lot more sophistication, they're showing a lot more promise and, but they come at a cost. And then I cannot mention prescription drug costs without mentioning GLP-1s, such a massive issue, such a massive line item for employers to figure out, and they are just really trying to get a handle on this.

And you have to also realize, so they were first approved as a diabetes management drug, and then they were start to be used for weight loss management. But along [00:21:00] with that became such-- And they're showing promise for so many other health conditions, which is also great, could possibly hold down healthcare costs in the long run, but in the short term, just astronomically expensive. 

And one in eight employees are allegedly using these drugs, according to Kaiser Family Foundation. Wow. So it is- Wow ... enormous how many-- I mean, the utilization rate is insane. So obviously this is becoming very, very costly for employers, having a massive impact. 

Mo: Is that cost short-term?  

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah. 

Mo: In terms of will the GLP-1's effect of weight loss in the longer term Have a, a healthier cohort? 

Kathryn Mayer: Right. Exactly. That's, that's the hope, right? And that's the promise, is that later on, okay, like it's gonna even out, right? Like presumably 'cause you're gonna have a lower, say, cardiovascular risk, you're gonna... Your diabetes rates and that kind of thing is gonna be well under control. It's also [00:22:00] showing that it could have promise for in- inflammatory diseases, possibly even cancer risk.

But that's the, that's the thing and that- that's the, that's the promise. But employers haven't seen those cost savings yet, and so they're like, "Ugh," like, "What are we gonna do?" So it's, it's, it's an issue. So it is interesting because they're hoping for that, but they're not seeing it yet. So it's, it's interesting. 

Mo: So how are employers managing these soaring health costs? And are they shifting them to the employees, or are they approaching things differently? Are there, are there any innovative approaches? 

Kathryn Mayer: I mean, I think a little bit of all of that. Definitely shifting healthcare costs is one of those levers that employers pretty much always pull if... 

Just 'cause it's an easy thing, right? Like we're paying more, so we're gonna have our workers pay a little bit more every year. So that's raising premiums, that's raising deductibles, that's, that's [00:23:00] increasing out-of-pocket costs for them. And about 50%, a lot of the stats are around the same, it's about 50% of employers do that, and they're gonna do that this year.

But obviously employees feel very, very stressed then. So they're very stressed out about this. So employers are trying to more aggressively, I would say, look at other ways of trying to hold down costs. And prescription drug costs, because we were just talking about how, how big of a problem this is, they are looking at things, and even with things like GLP-1s, they are looking at specific things. 

So there are some stats saying that, uh, not substantial amount, but it, but enough employers say, "Maybe we're gonna stop coverage next year," or, "Maybe we're only-- We're gonna put a lot more utilization or authorization kinds of, uh, you know, measures into place." Maybe it's people above a certain BMI, for instance, that can only be getting this, or first you might have to use a nutrition [00:24:00] program or a wellness program or something like that.

So there's, there's more things that they're putting into play there. So that's one thing. And then as far as prescription drug costs, I mean, including GLPs, they are looking at... So SHRM data had recently said that they are moving away from just working with their health insurance plan as far as managing prescription drug costs, and they're moving toward looking at like pharmacy benefit managers and independent programs, because that way they possibly could get better-- they can get more data, they can get more handle on utilization, they could do things like that, and they could also possibly get rebates and things like that. 

So that, that could also... That's one way that they're also doing this. And there's a number of other things. They're looking at plan design. They're looking at switching vendors. They're looking at some point solutions or apps that maybe target a condition that a lot of their workforce might have, things like that.

So a number of different things, which I [00:25:00] think is great because they're looking at so many different things that could possibly have an impact, and hopefully hold down those costs for, for sure in the long run.  

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Mo: Uh, the other thing that we can't escape in this conversation is AI- Yes. Right ... AI impact on benefits administration. Um, so how is AI beginning to change the employee benefits experience?  

Kathryn Mayer: That's a, that's an interesting one. Like, like everything else, [00:26:00] obviously AI has its place in benefits and, and people are using it for benefits management and things like that.

But I think the interesting one is how it's playing out as far as employees and how they're using it for, for benefits. So there's certainly a lot of chatbots and AI kind of things about how employees use it to get information. And there's... I talked to some folks not long ago, and we were talking about how a lot of people, obviously, you know, like everyone else, like they're logging into ChatGPT, and then they ask a benefits question perhaps, or like, "How does," you know, "my employer does this, and how is this working?" 

But organizations don't really want that to happen because they don't want some of that information leaking out, perhaps. You know, they're, they're concerned about some privacy concerns or accuracy concerns and things like that. So they, so a lot of the companies are then turning to AI companies. They're rolling out their own kinds of tools so that employees can get very fast information.

So [00:27:00] they could log in, they could say, "Hello," whoever my chat, you know, AI chatbot name is, and, you know, "Can you tell me about this benefit or how do I use it?" And so that's, that's been really interesting to see how- It's being used in terms of that communication, which I think is really interesting and kind of helps with that one of the biggest problems you see in benefits, which is that employees aren't aware of so much of their benefits. 

They don't understand them. They don't know how to use them, and I think that could be a big help. So I think that's, that's probably the most interesting, I, I would say, as far as how it's being used. 

Mo: A- and privacy risks aside- Yeah ... are there any other risks that you could see?  

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah. I think it's... One of the risks, just like we talk about with AI in general, is just making sure that the human component is not taken away.

So, you know, you don't wanna have [00:28:00] just people to rely on AI, and just making sure that that information is just always accurate, and then that could just be part of the conversation. So I would say that is another one of the biggest risks, but, but you know, I mean, like everything else there, there's the, there's certainly the benefits. 

Knowledge is, knowledge is power, so having employees understand their benefits more, having to, having them get information. And then, like another benefit, for instance, is that a lot of data finds that when people talk about benefits or when they're using benefits, so maybe I'm at night, I'm talking to my spouse, and we're talking about our retirement future and our projections, and I think, "Hmm, I have a question about that."

I'm not-- I don't wanna wait until the next day. A lot of the benefits questions are not in this, like, nine to five, right? A lot of times it's happening, like, with, you know, when you're using them. Maybe it's with your family. Maybe you have a sick kid, and you're wondering if I have a telehealth, uh, you know, [00:29:00] benefit that I can use in the middle of the night or something like that. 

So that's another interesting benefit, I think, too, that could happen. It's just, is giving them that information when they want it. But you don't wanna take the HR out of it. You don't wanna take that component out of it, and you don't want that to be the only part of education 'cause it needs to be so substantial, I think, with benefits.

Mo: Yes. Yes. Yes. The human part is always- Absolutely ... at the center here at SHRM, right? Uh, so beyond today's challenges, uh, HR leaders also have one eye on what's coming up next. Uh, so let's look at a few emerging trends that could influence benefits strategy in the months and years ahead. Uh, so one policy generating attention is the introduction of tax advantage investment accounts for children, dubbed Trump accounts. 

Uh, what should HR leaders know about these accounts? 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah, this is always a fun one when, uh, kind of a financial benefit comes up that we [00:30:00] didn't necessarily expect. So it's ... It, it does impact employers because they are allowed... So just for background, the Trump accounts are for children, uh, under 18, and a lot of guardians, parents, et cetera, can contribute to these accounts. 

And employers are part of this. They are allowed to contribute to an employee's kid's Trump account, and they're allowed to contribute $2,500 to it per year. So that is a substantial amount of money. Whether that happens or not, this is very, very new. This just opened for contributions July 4th. So we'll see what happens, but it is It is really great, I think, for employers to know about this, that this is, you know, you see so many issues about savings.

People are very concerned about it. They're concerned about it for themselves. They're concerned about it for their family members. So this is just another way of employers possibly contributing to, to help it, um, to help that, that issue.  

Mo: And do you see this as, as a one-off [00:31:00] policy change or a part of a broader trend toward employers playing a larger role in employees' long-term, uh, financial security?

Kathryn Mayer: The latter. I think you're right on. I think that's, that's kind of what we're seeing is just because you are seeing so many of those dire stats, especially recently, and, you know, that low financial confidence, that very high financial stress, and there's so many figures saying, you know, Um- American families don't have a few hundred dollars for any kind of emergency. 

They don't have... They're taking money out of their retirement accounts. You're seeing a lot of stats on that. They're contributing less than they have in years past. No one feels very prepared for retirement. I know that's very general, but I mean, that is a lot of what's happening. So I think we are seeing a bigger push towards financial security, and it could be done in a number of different ways certainly, but that's, that's another way.

Like the Trump accounts are a great example of, of some-- of, of that being kind of top of [00:32:00] mind, I think, for, for people in general, and then for organizations in general as well.  

Mo: And despite, uh, cost pressures, some benefits, particularly family and mental health benefits, uh, appear to be holding steady or even expanding.

Uh, why are these proving to be more resilient than other benefits?  

Kathryn Mayer: That's a great one. So SHRM's annual employee benefits survey had found that paid parental leave jumped up quite a bit from this year compared to last year. So that's a, that's a really great example. I think in, in mental health coverage, I think it actually went down a little bit, but it had reached-- it had peaked, uh, right after COVID, but it has stayed very, very high.

So I think that's all important to note. But those are such I feel like those are great examples of benefits that have become table stakes or are on their way to becoming table stakes. With employee benefits, we've talked so long about, I feel like the, the top ones, right? Healthcare, healthcare, [00:33:00] retirement, paid time off. 

I would say those were, like, the three biggest ones. The holy trinity of benefits, uh, as you might say. And then we're seeing a lot more. It's, you know, that wasn't gonna move much, right? Not necessarily. And I think that now you're seeing those other benefits, and they're really becoming, yeah, table stakes.

I think the employee expectations are... play a big, big role in that. They are-- People are saying, "I don't wanna work for an organization that doesn't offer me possibly flexibility if I have a family issue come up. I, I don't wanna work for a company that doesn't have paid parental leave, and I don't want to work for a company that isn't h- prioritizing my mental health or giving me certain benefits, like a therapy benefit." 

And you're s- I think we're seeing that play out in real time, and it's, yeah, I think it's interesting. It'll be interesting to see kind of how that, how that works itself out certainly in the, in the years to come. I- 

Mo: is there any kind of statistic, uh, that you're aware of [00:34:00] that shows how the mental health benefits have had a positive impact in corporate America? 

'Cause I remember, it was probably the 20th episode of People and Strategy where this topic came up when I first heard somebody offering mental health benefits. 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah. I mean, I would say one of the, one of the things is the stats regarding what employer and what employees will not do, and AKA, they will not work for a company that is not offering that. 

I think that is one of the main things to watch is that number is so high, like the expectations. And some stats say, you know, when they are prioritizing mental health, and especially for younger employees too, I think that is, that's one of the kind of generational differences is we're seeing more, I mean, more employees of all kinds, but I think a lot of times sometimes that is driven by generations.

And younger people are saying, you know, "That's one, that's in my [00:35:00] top three." Like mental health is, is very, very big. Um, and you're definitely seeing that, that play out in, in everything that we're talking about, right? Like it's so, it's so important. I can't imagine that that's gonna, that's gonna change much. 

And you, you definitely saw that after the pandemic too. That was one of the main, main changes from out, out of COVID is we need to prioritize this, and this is gonna be like a real calling card as far as who we are as an employer too. 

Mo: Yeah. And, and you know, a good thing nonetheless. I mean, obviously an important aspect of, of health, which, uh, is, is often, uh, invisible, so to speak. 

Exactly. So- 

Kathryn Mayer: Exactly ...  

Mo: yeah. Um, so what do you think is next on the horizon for the benefits landscape? 

Kathryn Mayer: Yeah, that's a fun question. I, I would say, I mean, I, I see so much happening as far as that financial wellness piece, and I mean, we have seen a lot of progress with that, uh, certainly. But because I [00:36:00] think that's top of mind, I, I, you know, I don't wanna fail to mention, I think, the importance there, and I think we'll see some movements with that. 

I think, for instance, like emergency savings accounts will be one of those benefits that I would, I would anticipate that that's gonna rise just because when we talk about financial security, so often we are talking about retirement. But that is, you know, for so many people, that's such a long way away, and we don't want people taking money out of their retirement accounts to pay for things.

So things like an emergency savings account, I think would be, would be a benefit to watch. And then generally speaking, too, there has been some movement, and it'll be-- I think this will be an evolution that we're gonna see a little bit of, is more personalization with employee benefits. And some organizations are looking at something like a lifestyle spending account is someti- is what it's called sometimes, which is you're allocating a budget of money and saying, "Here's some money for benefits." 

And it's [00:37:00] usually not gonna be for, like, your healthcare and things like that. But, like, here's some, you know, you could use it for a fitness stipend. You could use it for, um, like a caregiving service or something like that. And then people have their choice of how they wanna spend that money. And I think that could also help employers budget more, too.

Um, because, you know, a lot of when they are concerned about things like utilization rate, not everyone is-- Obviously, th- people have different needs, right? So that's a way to help employees of all kinds and, like, to have them choose what's most important to them. So I think that's, that's one of the interesting things that I would think is on the horizon in benefits. 

Mo: Yeah. Very interesting. Um, so before we wrap up, one, uh, thing we'd like to ask before, uh, we say goodbye to all our guests is, uh, what is one piece of advice that has shaped your work or personal life? 

Kathryn Mayer: Ooh. I would say that one piece of good advice [00:38:00] is perfection is kind of a myth Um, the perfect timing, or at least I s- maybe I'm just, uh, not a perfectionist, which I'm not, but but this is an excuse. 

Um, but perfection's kind of a myth. The perfect timing is kind of a myth. You just kinda have to do things, especially as someone who I think I'm just such an over thinker sometimes. I just need to start it without worrying about it. I think excuses are just ver- are just too easy to find sometimes. So if it's something that you really want, start it and just work itself out, and, you know, make sure it's the best that you can possibly make it.

Mo: And that's where we'll end it for this episode of People and Strategy. A huge thanks to Katherine for your valuable insights.  

Kathryn Mayer: Thanks so much, Mo. 

Mo: Thank you. 

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