Workplace Immigration

SHRM advocates for broad-based access to essential medical benefits, encouraging policies that support coverage stability and affordability for all employees. SHRM’s focus is to ensure employees have access to essential medical coverage, including traditional group health insurance, mental health benefits, and telemedicine. 

SHRM data highlight several key insights. Mental health coverage, telehealth, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are widely adopted and have remained largely stable over recent years, underscoring their role as foundational elements of employer health strategies. These benefits not only support employees’ preventive and ongoing care needs but also help manage healthcare costs and address increasingly prominent workforce concerns, such as mental health and chronic condition management. 

Public policy plays a critical role in maintaining and expanding access to these benefits. SHRM advocates for policies that reduce administrative complexity and cost barriers, including incentives for telehealth services, simplified reporting requirements for mental health programs, and other measures that support employer flexibility while protecting employee access. By promoting such policies, SHRM helps ensure that employers can offer robust, accessible, and sustainable medical coverage that meets the evolving needs of the workforce. 

SHRM emphasizes the value of flexible, tax-advantaged accounts such as Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and supports policy changes that simplify plan administration and reduce costs for both employers and employees. 

To remain competitive, organizations leverage these accounts to give employees greater control over healthcare spending while helping manage overall employer costs. HSAs, in particular, continue to grow in adoption and are often supported by employer contributions, reflecting their popularity and long-term value. Newer account-based options, including Individual Coverage HRAs (ICHRA) and Qualified Small Employer HRAs (QSEHRA), are emerging but remain niche, highlighting the importance of thoughtful design and targeted guidance for employers exploring these options. 

Given the significance of these accounts, SHRM advocacy focuses on elevating the collective experience and expertise of HR professionals to influence public policy. This includes simplifying reporting and reducing administrative burdens, making these accounts easier for employers to offer and for employees to use. SHRM also emphasizes best practices in account design to maximize employee participation, enhance financial literacy, and support long-term health care savings, ensuring that consumer-directed benefits remain a strategic and sustainable part of the workplace health offering. 

SHRM asserts that workplace wellness and preventive programs are critical to employee health, engagement, and productivity, and supports public policies that incentivize wellness adoption while reducing implementation complexity. 

Given the importance of employer-provided health care and access to care, it is essential to encourage programs that promote healthy lifestyles, stress management, and the management of chronic conditions. SHRM research shows that flexible offerings, such as Lifestyle Spending Accounts and mindfulness or contemplative programs, are emerging; however, adoption remains limited. Programs targeting chronic conditions continue to be maintained but are not expanding significantly, highlighting opportunities for innovation and support. 

SHRM seeks to assist employers in implementing high-value, flexible wellness programs that are accessible and effective for a diverse workforce. Our advocacy focuses on policies that reduce regulatory hurdles for wellness benefits, expand tax-advantaged spending options for lifestyle programs, and incentivize preventive care adoption. By supporting employers in these efforts, SHRM helps ensure that wellness and preventive programs not only enhance employee well-being but also contribute to long-term engagement, productivity, and cost management. 

SHRM believes that benefits should be designed to support all employees, including those with unique healthcare needs, and advocates for policies that encourage broader adoption of targeted programs. With multiple generations in the workforce, employers must ensure that benefit offerings address a wide variety of needs while balancing affordability and administrative feasibility. 

Employers are increasingly tailoring benefits for specific employee groups, as seen in emerging programs like menopause support, reflecting a growing focus on inclusion, retention, and overall workforce well-being. These targeted programs help employees navigate life and health challenges while supporting engagement and productivity. 

Public policy plays a critical role in enabling employers to implement these population-specific benefits. SHRM advocates for policies that make such programs more accessible and feasible for employers. By supporting these policies, SHRM helps ensure that employers can provide meaningful, inclusive benefits that address the needs of their workforce, improving both employee satisfaction and long-term organizational success. 

SHRM emphasizes active engagement with regulatory and policy changes to ensure workplace health benefits remain accessible, affordable, and effective for all employees. 

To meet workforce needs and ensure employees can access the care required for their physical and mental health, employer benefit offerings must align with evolving healthcare policies, regulations, and broader workforce trends. Regulatory changes significantly influence the adoption and design of benefits such as telehealth, Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), FSAs, and medical travel programs. In response, employers are increasingly streamlining complex offerings to reduce administrative burden, manage costs, and maintain compliance. 

SHRM equips HR professionals with guidance on regulatory compliance and flexible benefit design, helping them navigate changing rules while optimizing benefit value for employees. SHRM also advocates for public policies that reduce administrative complexity and cost, such as simplified reporting for account-based benefits, standardized telehealth regulations, and clearer guidance on emerging benefit structures. By influencing these policies, SHRM helps expand access to care across industries, ensuring that employers can offer high-quality, compliant benefits that support the well-being, engagement, and productivity of their workforce.