Employers and Broker Benefits Outlook for 2022

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Mandates. The Great Resignation. Supply chain disruption. Hybrid workforces. The last year presented challenge after challenge for employers and their advisors alike. And, then the page turns upon the new year. We surveyed over 13,000 benefits leaders in the brokerage and employer space, asking them to weigh in on what they expect in 2022 as it relates to benefits and employee-focused issues. Here is an overview of their responses.

 

What best describes your role?

 

We went to the source of folks responsible for plan design – benefits brokers, employers and the teams they enlist for plan design. Of the survey respondents:

36% were Employer

42% were Brokers

22% chose Other

 

Of those who responded, here’s what group size looks like.

 While the bulk of employers and brokers worked with smaller groups, our respondents still represent a wide range of sizes.

 

For Employers, the average employee headcount represented

54% 500 and under

10% 501-1000 employees

27% 1001-5000 employees

and 9% 5001 and above

 

For Brokers, the average client size was

60% 500 and under

26% 501-1000 employees

9% 1001-5000 employees

and 5% 5001 and above

 

As you plan for benefits in 2022, which driver is the most important to you?

 The past two years have forced employers and advisors alike to re-evaluate how benefits are administered. Tightening purse strings and the looming promise of The Great Resignation have forced a shift in what drivers are now important in plan design.

 

Our respondents weighed in with their top three as:

#1 Innovative or Data-driven Solutions

#2 Cost Containment

#3 Employee Satisfaction

 

Do Covid-related resources continue to be relevant to you moving into 2022?

 There’s no escaping Covid, yet. When it comes to importance and weight of the issue, here’s what employers and brokers have said:

 

55% said Yes

28% said No

18% said Unsure

 

Looking ahead into 2022, rank the following issues according to how you anticipate your time will be spent?

Now that we’ve gotten semi-used to the “fruit basket turnover” that has been the past few years, employers and brokers seem more confident in how to spend their benefits-related time. Determining what’s important to protect the population, here’s how they imagine their time will be spent.

 

Employers and brokers chose

#1 Remote work (cyber security, productivity, morale), followed by

#2 Return-to-work issues (office safety hybrid, sick leave, etc.)

 

The list of 8 choices also included:

Vaccine mandate

OSHA compliance

Mental health

Financial wellness

Disease specific solutions

Implementing virtual/app related services

 

However, time allocation doesn’t always correlate to importance.

When asked to identify which of these items were most important as they looked across their plan members’ needs, respondents kept their first choice the same, but mental health became the second issue.

 

25% of all employers and brokers chose mental health as #2 issue

 

With that said, we asked respondents to give their parting thoughts, sharing what additional topics they plan to explore as they move into 2022.

 

Some of the most consistent themes include:

Innovative cost reduction strategies

Solutions that are validated but are also least disruptive

Direct Primary Care integration

More tele-related solutions

and a big one…..Transparency reporting.

 

 

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