7 Major Takeaways from SHRM’s 2025 Employee Benefits Survey

Employer decisions about employee benefits are continually top of mind, including choosing which benefits in an ever-growing list to offer to employees and navigating competing priorities such as holding down high benefits costs while attracting and retaining talent.

To get some perspective on where employers are landing on those decisions, look no further than the 2025 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey, which offers a comprehensive view of which benefits employers are offering and what HR leaders currently view as the most important.

SHRM’s findings — gleaned from a survey of 3,969 HR professionals at organizations across all sizes, industries, and sectors — were released June 30 at SHRM25 in San Diego.

The survey includes hundreds of findings about the prevalence and popularity of benefits — members can explore the full report at shrm.org/benefits. Here are seven takeaways about the state of benefits this year. 

GLP-1 Coverage 

Roughly a quarter of employers (23%) offer GLP-1 drug coverage for type 2 diabetes and/or weight management, according to the survey. It’s the first time SHRM has asked about this coverage, which has been rising in popularity over the past couple of years. The pricey but popular drugs were originally approved for type 2 diabetes management but have shown promise for weight loss — news that has put the injectable medications in the spotlight. As a result, increasingly more employers are deciding whether to make the coverage available for their employees. 

“It feels like you can’t turn on the TV without hearing about GLP-1 drugs. It’s a huge, huge trend,” said Daniel Stunes, manager of data monetization with SHRM Thought Leadership. “We knew we had to add it to our survey, and we think it will continue to grow in the future.” 

AI as a Benefit?

Another new benefit included in SHRM’s annual survey for the first time is artificial intelligence assistance. Sixteen percent of employers said they offer subscriptions to AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, or Claude.ai.

“It could be considered a benefit because it can make someone’s job easier, compared to what they may experience at another employer,” Stunes said. “And I bet next year it will be higher.” 

Most Important Benefits

The SHRM survey lists more than 200 benefits, but the offerings that employers view as the most important for their employees have remained consistent over the years. As they did last year, employers consider health care to be the most vital benefits offering, according to this year’s survey. Roughly 9 in 10 HR leaders (88%) said health care is “very important” or “extremely important,” with virtually all employers surveyed (97%) offering health coverage to their employees. 

For the fourth consecutive year, leave benefits tied for second with retirement savings and planning benefits when respondents were asked to rank the most important benefits. These categories were listed as “extremely important” or “very important” by 81% of employers. 

Flexible working benefits (68%), family care benefits (67%), and professional and career development benefits (65%) were the other benefits employers ranked as most important. These categories have remained fairly steady in recent years, although flexible working benefits declined by 2 percentage points in 2025.

Paid Care Leave Declined Since Last Year 

Although employers emphasized the importance of both family care benefits and paid leave, two specific types of leave have declined since last year. Paid leave to care for immediate family is offered by 31% of employers in 2025, down from 33% in 2024, according to SHRM’s survey, while paid leave to care for extended family is offered by 17% in 2025, down from 19% in 2024.

PPO vs. HDHP

The vast majority of employers (81%) offer a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan in 2025 — down slightly from 82% in 2024 — while 64% offer a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) linked with a savings or spending account.

FSAs on a Downward Trend

While the percentage of employers that offer a health savings account (61%) and those that offer a health reimbursement arrangement (14%) have stayed about the same, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) have been on the decline over the past few years.

Both medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs) have declined in prevalence, according to SHRM. Sixty percent of employers offer a medical FSA, down from 63% in 2024 and 68% in 2021.  Dependent care FSAs have also been on a downward trend: 54% of employers offer the accounts in 2025, down from 58% in 2024 and 65% in 2021.

Critical Illness and Hospitality Indemnity Insurance on the Rise

Benefits to help supplement emergency and critical health care expenses are on the rise this year. 

A majority of employers (53%) offer critical illness insurance, which helps cover extra expenses related to a diagnosis. That marks a rise in the benefit’s prevalence for the third consecutive year, up from 51% in 2024, 48% in 2023, and 47% in 2022. Meanwhile, hospital indemnity insurance increased in prevalence by 4 percentage points from 2024. 

“Hospital indemnity is the largest year-over-year increase of any benefit,” said Calven Engstrom, senior researcher with SHRM Thought Leadership.