ORLANDO, Fla. – Today, SHRM, the trusted authority on all things work, workers, and the workplace, released new findings from its 2026 Employee Benefits Survey during the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo (SHRM26) in Orlando and virtually. For the last 30 years, SHRM has collected benefits data from employers nationwide representing a variety of industries, sizes, locations, and regions across the U.S. These findings can help employers improve organizational resilience, talent retention, and workforce readiness in a time of rising costs, shifting employee expectations, and accelerating technological change.
The 2026 findings point to a broader leadership challenge: employers are making strategic decisions about how to support workforce health, financial security, flexibility and long-term performance. As employers navigate economic pressure and workplace transformation, the most effective benefits strategies align employee value with business sustainability.
Key Findings from the 2026 Employee Benefits Survey:
- Health-related benefits remain highly-rated as important by employers, with 88% rating them as “very important” or “extremely important,” reinforcing that health-related benefits continue to serve as the foundation of a competitive total rewards strategy. The share of employers offering fully insured health plans fell from 70% to 67%, while self-insured plans increased from 27% to 29%.
- Retirement and leave benefits remain central to workforce stability, with 82% of employers rating each as very or extremely important.
- Employer-sponsored subscriptions to AI tools climbed to 33%, a 17-percentage-point increase from 2025, reflecting a broader shift toward equipping workers for an AI-enabled future — and underscoring the growing need to pair technology access with skill development.
- Flexible work offerings continue to evolve: while the prevalence of flextime during core business hours declined by six percentage points and hybrid work by three percentage points, 27% of employers now offer limited-time work-from-anywhere arrangements, suggesting a more targeted and deliberate approach to flexibility.
- Rising specialty medication costs, including demand for GLP-1 medications, are driving changes in employer health strategies. The share of employers who offer prescription drug coverage bundled with their health insurance fell from 93% to 77%, while third-party pharmacy management programs grew from 18% to 23%, suggesting that organizations are attempting to shed the costs associated with covering specialty medications.
- Leave for new parents saw some of the largest gains this year, with paid parental leave increasing to 46% of employers, up 7 percentage points from 2025, paid maternity leave beyond legal requirements rising to 44%, up 6 percentage points, and paid family leave reaching 36%, an increase of 5 percentage points.
- Employers invested more into leadership training, with the prevalence of leadership and managerial coaching increasing by 8 percentage points to reach 55%.
“This year’s survey highlights that health coverage remains the foundation of competitive benefits, while retirement and leave offerings are central to workforce stability,” said Alex Alonso, PH.D, SHRM-SCP Chief Knowledge Officer, SHRM. “We’re seeing a strong shift toward technology access, with more employers investing in AI tools. Flexible work arrangements are evolving, and targeted family-support benefits are on the rise. As organizations navigate economic pressures and workplace transformation, aligning benefits strategies with both employee value and business sustainability is more critical than ever. By leveraging these insights, leaders can build resilient organizations that support workforce health, financial security, and long-term performance.”
For SHRM Members, the 2026 Employee Benefits Survey provides an interactive online tool that enables benchmarking by industry groupings, organization size, and location (region and state). Members gain access to five years of historical data, providing deeper insights and trend analysis to make informed and strategic decisions. Non-members can still access the Executive Summary on the Benefits Survey page.
You can find more information about the 2026 employee Benefits Survey here.
Methodology
The 2026 Employee Benefits Survey was conducted from January 28 to March 23, 2026. Responses were collected through general SHRM Membership and the Voice of Work panel, yielding 5,472 responses from HR professionals representing independent organizations across the U.S. Respondents were asked to provide answers regarding what employee benefits their organizations are offering during plan year 2026. A stratified sampling approach was used to ensure coverage of all locations (including states) in the online benchmarking tool. Respondents represent organizations of all sizes — from two employees to more than 50,000 — in a wide variety of industries and sectors across the U.S. The data is unweighted.
About SHRM
SHRM is a member-driven catalyst for creating better workplaces where people and businesses thrive together. As the trusted authority on all things work, SHRM is the foremost expert, researcher, advocate, and thought leader on issues and innovations impacting today’s evolving workplaces. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM touches the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally. Discover more at SHRM.org.
Was this resource helpful?
Validate your HR expertise
Earning your SHRM-CP credential makes you a recognized expert and leader in the HR field.
Related Content
Learn how Marsh McLennan successfully boosts staff well-being with digital tools, improving productivity and work satisfaction for more than 20,000 employees.
The proliferation of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and the ensuing expected increase in productivity and efficiency, could help usher in the four-day workweek, some experts predict.
As artificial intelligence technology continues to develop, the demand for workers with the ability to work alongside and manage AI systems will increase. This means that workers who are not able to adapt and learn these new skills will be left behind in the job market.