"I'm hopeful, but I'm exhausted."
It’s one of the most common sentiments we’ve heard from HR leaders as we head into 2026. Another top issue? How HR is constantly asked to ‘elevate the employee experience’ in the same breath as eliminating headcount and cutting budget. And after a chaotic year of rising healthcare costs, nonstop AI headlines, ongoing regulatory shifts, and yet another stressful open enrollment season, you might be feeling the same way.
With so many competing 2026 HR priorities, knowing where to focus can be overwhelming. But C-suite expectations are high—and now that your budget for the year is approved (hopefully, no judgment if not), leadership is looking to you for a clear strategy to streamline, elevate, deliver at scale, or insert whatever corporatism KPI you’ve been tasked with this year.
But your daily reality might look a little different: instead of focusing on high-value decision-making, you’re stuck in an endless loop of putting out fires, answering repeated questions, and navigating hacked-together workflows. Certainly not the strategic vision you wish you had time for, right?
At the same time, the stakes are higher than ever. Benefits continue to be one of the largest investments your company makes, and yet employees remain confused, underuse what’s available, and flood your team with requests. And while AI is everywhere in HR tech conversations, not all AI is created equal. If you’re just getting started or already using AI successfully, you probably don’t need AI that ‘transforms’ or ‘revolutionizes’ anything. You need AI that solves actual problems. The kind that answers ‘Does my plan cover this?’ without requiring a PhD and 6 months to implement. The question isn’t whether to use AI. It’s whether you’re using AI to complement your existing tools rather than competing with them.
Say it with us, you don’t need a sweeping transformation or a massive AI overhaul in 2026. What you need is a focused plan—built around small (but high-impact) changes that:
- Reclaim hundreds of hours you’re currently losing to manual tasks, Q&A, and context switching between time-sensitive requests
- Help employees actually understand and use the benefits you work so hard to provide
- Simplify (not expand) your tech stack
- Give you clearer data and stronger HR business cases
This guide is here to simplify the noise, with a clear plan that will help HR teams escape the help-desk cycle, put AI to work in practical, trusted ways, consolidate and modernize benefits tech, and build a plan that you can confidently defend with your CEO and CFO.
2026 can be the year HR teams finally get the infrastructure to support the strategic role they already play–not through radical transformation, but through useful tech that actually saves time and reduces confusion.
TL;DR
: A realistic 2026 HR game plan
If you only read one section, make it this one. These are the headlines that your CEO and CFO care about—and these are the priorities that will actually move the needle.
- Benefits are a massive investment, and they’re underperforming.
Benefits now account for 30% of total compensation, yet employees still misunderstand, underuse, and overwhelm HR with questions. Source - HR is losing time to low-value work.
HR teams spend 54 hours every month answering repeat benefits questions—time that should be going towards strategy, planning, and partnership with the C-suite. Source - Costs are rising while budgets stay flat.
Healthcare costs are climbing, benefits programs are getting more complex, and leaders expect HR to “do more with less” without adding headcount. And for many orgs, budget and headcount reductions are the reality. - Employees are paying attention, and trust is on the line.
Nearly 2 in 3 employees (63%) would change jobs for better benefits. Confusion, fragmented portals, and conflicting guidance are eroding their confidence and engagement. Source - AI is here, but you don’t need a massive tech overhaul.
38% of HR leaders are piloting or implementing GenAI, and 40% already use AI in benefits and talent workflows—not to replace HR, but to eliminate repetitive tasks and improve guidance. Source - Most tech stacks are too complicated to be effective.
With multiple portals, microsites, and disconnected data, many organizations lack mature HR tech—which creates risk, manual work, and “portal fatigue.”
The 2026 mandate is clear:
Fix the benefits experience. Deploy AI where risk is low and impact is high. Consolidate duplicative tools. Prove business value. Done right, you reclaim time, reduce risk, and build employee trust — without a massive transformation.
Why is 2026 a make-or-break year for HR?
Picture this.
It’s late January. Open enrollment is finally behind you. You’ve survived the budgeting approval cycle and at least three conversations where someone said, “Let’s take this offline.” You’re sitting with half-finished slides open, trying to turn your approved 2026 dollars into a plan that feels strategic instead of reactive.
You know you should be thinking about:
- AI strategy
- Benefits costs
- Employee experience
- Compliance and regulatory changes
- A tech stack that doesn’t feel glued together with spreadsheets and luck
But the fire drills keep winning. Instead of moving forward with a clear action plan, you’re stuck on the hamster wheel of repetitive, administrative tasks—leaving no time for the real work.
The HR experience in 2026
The pressures aren’t hypothetical; this is what many HR leaders and benefits pros are navigating:
Pressure
What it feels like
What it demands of your tech & benefits experience
Rising benefits costs
"We spend so much, but employees still don’t get it.”
Clear, centralized benefits guidance employees actually use, paired with well-timed nudges that prompt action.
Flat or shrinking budgets
“We’re being asked to do more with less.”
Simple but effective tools that save time without adding headcount or inflating tech budgets.
AI hype and uncertainty
“We know AI matters, but it also feels risky and impressive in theory, impractical at scale.”
Pragmatic, easy-to-use, trustworthy AI that helps your workforce navigate resources.
Fragmented tech stacks
“Too many portals. Too many logins. Too many tabs.”
Consolidation, integrations, and fewer places for employees to get lost.
Here’s the truth: you can’t do everything.
We know. It’s tempting. There’s so much to do in so little time! But trying to “do everything” is the fastest way to burn out and stay stuck, instead of evolving into the strategic leader you are.
Now is the time to: Pause. Reset. Regroup. And move forward with an effective, realistic plan that enables your team to rise above day-to-day chaos and make a meaningful impact on your organization.
Because this year could make or break you. Your C-suite is relying on you to make the most of the organization’s benefits investment, create stronger employee experiences, and protect your company’s greatest asset: your people. And if you’re not able to level up your strategies and workflows? Your employees and your HR team suffer.
2026 isn’t about transformation for transformation’s sake. Translation: you don’t need a “paradigm shift.” You need fewer fires, better answers, and time back in your week.
The current HR landscape (in 10 easy stats)
The first step in building your 2026 HR strategy? Taking a look back and understanding where you are today, so that you can move forward tomorrow informed, confident, and ready to take on the most significant challenges of the year.
It’s also important to paint a picture for your C-suite, so that they have a sense of what your world looks like now and what you’ll most need in the future. Here are ten simple statistics that you can use as benchmarks to illustrate HR’s current responsibilities, challenges, and focus areas. How do these compare to your own organization’s priorities? Are you focusing on similar things? Are there outliers?
Bookmark this section and repurpose these stats for board decks, planning docs, and leadership conversations:
The realities shaping HR decisions in 2026
Insight
Why it matters for 2026 planning
How you can use it
Benefits make up about 30% of total compensation on average. Source
You’re managing one of your company’s largest investments.
Make the case that providing a strong benefits experience is a good financial decision.
Employers are facing the biggest healthcare cost increase in 15 years. Source
It’ll be harder than ever to protect your organization’s bottom line this year—and employees are worried about overspending, too.
Prioritize a benefits experience that helps employees make the most of the coverage you’re already investing in—at the best cost for everyone.
62% of employers are motivated to extend voluntary benefits to help ensure employees have access to protections and services tailored to their unique needs. Source
Your benefits package is only getting more complicated—which means you’ll need a more sophisticated communications plan.
Personalize your benefits messages with targeted nudges and reminders throughout the year.
HR loses ~54 hours/month answering repeat benefits questions. Source
Time drain, burnout, and missed strategic opportunities.
Tie tech investments to reclaimed hours that will help you focus on strategic work.
38% of HR leaders are piloting or implementing GenAI. Source
AI is no longer an “experimental” nice-to-have.
Plan for AI, but focus on practical uses with guardrails—not flashy experiments.
40% of HR leaders already use AI for benefits administration, skills insights, and talent management. Source
If you’re not already thinking about or using AI, you’re behind the curve.
Leverage AI as a way to surpass your competitors and position your organization as a leading employer.
Nearly 2 in 3 employees (63%) would change jobs for better benefits. Source
Benefits drive retention and trust.
Frame benefits as a productivity and retention investment.
About half of organizations lack mature HR tech stacks. Source
More tools = more confusion and risk.
Argue for consolidation over additional point solutions.
78% of organizations increased their spending on HR technology in the last two years. Source
You’re spending more, but are you seeing the return on your investment?
Assess which technologies are working for you and reduce redundancies.
30% of employers say they struggle to extract accurate or useful data from their HR analytics tools. Source
If you don’t know how your workforce uses their benefits, you won’t be able to guide them towards the right choices.
Conduct an analysis of your benefits utilization, employee engagement, and communications effectiveness. Schedule regular check-ins to monitor progress.
Sound like a tall order? More later on how ALEX Home can help with these initiatives.
The Takeaway
You’re not overreacting. These stats show that the pressure you’re feeling is very real, and the data backs your instincts. Use the numbers at your fingertips to share your story with the folks at the top of your organization.
What should your top 2026 HR priorities be?
So, let’s narrow things down. With all of the shiny objects that could potentially steal your focus this year, what should actually make your HR priorities short list for 2026?
After considering the latest industry data, listening to Jellyvision customers, and weighing effort vs. impact, we’ve put together a clear, achievable game plan to help HR teams earn the biggest possible wins—without burning out or overpromising.
Here are three priorities that can do some heavy lifting—freeing up time, lowering risk, and making benefits easier for employees. Let’s call it a more realistic roadmap for 2026.
Priority #1: Fix the benefits experience
Most teams don’t have a benefits problem. They have a benefits experience problem.
Translation: your benefits are fine. Finding and using them is the nightmare.
When employees can’t find answers, they don’t go hunting through portals, PDFs, intranet links, and mailed brochures. They email HR. They Slack HR. They walk into HR’s office. Then you call your broker.
And you answer the same questions. Again. And again.
That comes at a huge cost to your employees, your HR team, and your organization as a whole: from wasted time to lost trust.
The hidden cost of a poor benefits experience
When employees struggle to understand their benefits, they aren’t the only ones who suffer. A subpar benefits experience means:
- Money down the drain: Underused benefits aren’t just confusing. They’re wasted dollars that your company already spent.
- Compliance headaches: Confused employees make mistakes, miss deadlines, don’t seek preventative care, and create risk that your team then has to manage.
- A disconnected workforce: When employees are uncertain about how to choose, use, and take full advantage of their benefits, they blame you. That means less trust and more disconnection at work.
- HR burnout: Answering the same questions over and over steals hours from strategic work—and lowers team morale, too.
The fix: A centralized, always-on benefits platform
The solution isn’t another portal, another log-in, or yet another system to maintain. It’s useful software that does one thing really well: gives employees accurate answers when they need them. That means a single, centralized place where employees can quickly and confidently find the answers they need, without the jargon, without the scavenger hunt, and without needing to decode insurance-speak at 10 PM on a Sunday. In practice, that looks like:
- Surfacing only the benefits they’re eligible for
- Explaining complex plans in plain, jargon-free language
- Guiding them toward the next best action—whether that’s enrolling in a plan, comparing costs for an upcoming procedure, or finding a new doctor
When implemented thoughtfully, benefits software can also safely incorporate AI to answer everyday questions, giving employees guidance (and trusted resources) without escalating to HR every time. The result is a win-win: employees feel supported, informed, and empowered to use their benefits effectively, while HR gets hours back each week and finally stops being the default help desk. Not a transformative next-gen journey. Just fewer questions.
Good news: there’s already a place where your benefits can live under one roof.
ALEX Home centralizes all of your benefits and HR info—plans, policies, carrier links, and resources—and sends employees personalized nudges and reminders when it matters most. Say goodbye to tab overload and hello to one intuitive experience.Benefits Experience Audit Checklist
If you’re wondering how effective your benefits experience is, ask yourself:
- Do employees know exactly where to go first for benefits questions?
- Do we have one source of truth (not PDFs/microsites scattered everywhere)?
- Does our benefits experience help employees understand and use their benefits?
- Does your benefits utilization increase YOY? Does it justify the cost?
- Have we eliminated (or significantly reduced) the number of questions we receive from employees?
If you answered “no” to more than two, improving your benefits experience should be part of your 2026 HR plan.
Priority #2: Focus on helpful AI, not flashy AI
AI is certainly in the spotlight, and it’s becoming overhyped as the single solution to all of our HR woes. (Apparently, it’s also going to “revolutionize the employee experience” and “unlock unprecedented synergies,” if you believe vendor pitch decks.) But here’s what most HR teams actually need: AI that makes benefits less confusing. Not AI that sounds impressive in a demo. Not AI that requires a 6-month implementation and a dedicated data science team. Just useful tech that eliminates repetitive work and helps employees get accurate answers. The kind that works quietly in the background instead of demanding to become your ‘trusted strategic partner on the journey.’
No one’s asking you to build a custom employee benefits AI platform from scratch (and if they are, we have some questions). But with so much new technology on the market, it can be hard to know what works, what’s worth it, and which platforms you can trust.
The bottom line is this: 2026 is not the year to attempt to completely transform the entire workplace with AI. It’s about small, measurable improvements that can bring disjointed workflows together, eliminate redundancies, and reduce confusion. In other words, fewer tabs, fewer tickets, fewer headaches. And that’s where AI can help.
The real wins come from applying new technology to make things like benefits plan documents, FAQs, enrollment guides, and census data less confusing and more useful. By using AI in a focused, low-risk way, your team can take back your time, reduce errors, and improve the employee experience without adding complexity.
The key is starting small and scaling thoughtfully. That’s where the Crawl-Walk-Run framework comes in. Here’s what that might look like for you:
The Crawl-Walk-Run Framework for AI Adoption
Stage
What it looks like
Impact
Crawl
Centralized documentation, clean naming conventions, and standardized workflows for all repeated tasks.
An up-to-date, organized foundation for future AI expansion and time savings through automating repetitive tasks.
Walk
A trusted AI assistant or chatbot answers employees’ benefits FAQs, using your company’s unique plan details, resources, and claims data to offer guidance and support, all in one place.
Reclaims hours of your HR team’s time every month
Run
An AI-powered platform provides conversational, personalized guidance and proactive nudges to employees throughout the year. AI assists with generating thoughtful content to improve employee engagement.
Higher benefits utilization, measurable health outcomes, and greater employee satisfaction
Implementing AI in small, incremental steps means you can finally use new technology confidently and effectively, instead of conducting a science experiment.
Priority #3: Simplify and consolidate your tech
If adopting AI feels like adding another tool to an already crowded tech stack, we hear you. Most of us are already juggling more logins and passwords than we’d like to admit. You’re already lost in a tangled web of portals, spreadsheets, PDFs, and point solutions—and the last thing you need is one more platform that no one knows how to use.
But we’re actually recommending the opposite: 2026 is the year to simplify your tech stack with useful tools that integrate with what you already have, not platforms that promise to replace everything and require you to rip out your entire benefits infrastructure just to fix confusion. Smart tech should add clarity where people get stuck, not create new complexity.
What can a streamlined tech stack do for you?
of HR leaders say it increases efficiency/productivity
of HR leaders say it supports their organization’s key business goals and strategies
say it boosts the employee experience
“Portal fatigue” is real
“Portal fatigue” creates real problems: employees don’t know where to find what they need, they default to asking HR for answers, and sometimes just flat out give up (wasted benefits dollars). Duplicate or conflicting data also increases compliance and reporting risk. Meanwhile, your team spends valuable hours maintaining multiple systems instead of focusing on strategic priorities.
The solution isn’t to rip everything out and replace it with a massive new platform that requires six months of implementation and a change management roadmap. For HR teams, the real win comes from fewer, smarter systems and a centralized platform that brings benefits, content, and employee guidance together in one place. A flexible, integrated platform (like ALEX Home) reduces friction, keeps data accurate, and grows with your benefits plan, without adding administrative headaches. Employees know exactly where to go, HR has one source of truth, and your team can focus on higher-value work.
What does “tech consolidation” really mean?
Consolidating and simplifying your tech stack makes it easier to actually use your data. When all your benefits, enrollment, and usage details live in a single system, you can surface actionable HR insights to bring to your C-suite: like benefits utilization trends, your highest cost drivers, and areas to optimize. It’s a practical way to reduce risk, improve the employee experience, and give HR teams an outsized impact.
Tech Debt Calculator
What does it look like when your tech experience is fragmented?
Symptom
Example
What problem does it create?
What does a consolidated experience look like?
Multiple portals
Benefits portal + wellness portal + HRIS + Microsites + PDFs
Employees are confused about where to get the right information, which leads to repeated HR questions and underutilized benefits
Centralized platform where employees find all benefits info in one place
Disconnected data
Enrollment info in HRIS, eligibility details in Excel, plan docs in PDF
Compliance risk, reporting errors, duplicate work
Integrated system with a single source of truth for all benefits data
Conflicting guidance
Carrier/broker guides, internal guides, and email reminders all have different information
Employee mistakes, delayed actions, and increased HR support load
Standardized content, plain-language guidance, with eligibility filters
Manual reminders & follow-ups
HR sends repeated emails to nudge enrollment and encourage benefits use throughout the year
Time lost, burnout, inconsistent follow-up
Automated, AI-assisted nudges and reminders based on actual employee eligibility and deadlines
Point solutions for niche needs
Wellness app, commuter benefits app, separate retirement portal
Admin overhead, implementation fatigue
Flexible platform that connects existing solutions into one cohesive employee experience
The outcome: When all of your benefits resources live under one AI-powered roof, employees know exactly where to go to find trusted information that they can actually use—any time of day or night. For your HR team, that means less repetitive work, risk, and more time for strategic priorities. And for your organization, that means a greater return on your benefits investment.
It’s time to bring your benefits home.
Here’s how you can offer one connected benefits experience that employees trust—and that you can rely on for valuable insights that will drive HR decision-making.
Pitching Your 2026 HR Priorities to the C-Suite:
3 Presentation Slides You Can Copy + Paste
We see you, late-night deck-makers…
If there’s one thing we know about our HR community, it’s that you love a good PowerPoint presentation. As you work on your 2026 strategy proposals, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you, providing content for three main slides that will resonate with your CEO and CFO. (We promise to spare you the rocket-ship graphic.)
Here’s how to succinctly outline the current problems your team is facing, where there’s room for improvement, and your plan to take your organization’s benefits programs to the next level.
Feel free to steal these so that you can actually log off at 5 PM today. 😉
Slides ready? Story nailed down? Strategy in order? Congrats! Now it’s time to reach out to your CFO to seek approval. Here’s a quick email template you can use to get the ball rolling.
Email Template: Pitch to Your CFO
Speak their language, ground it in dollars, not buzzwords.
Hi [Name],
As we finalize our 2026 HR strategy, I propose a focused investment to reclaim team time, reduce compliance risk, and ensure employees actually use the benefits we’re already paying for.
As you know, our benefits package represents nearly 30% of [company name]’s total compensation. But our employees regularly struggle to navigate their health and wellness options, resulting in underutilization, a lower return on our benefits investment, and wasted time for our HR team.
By centralizing our benefits experience and using low-risk AI to handle repeat Q&A, we can:
- reduce manual, administrative tasks
- improve employee experience and trust
- drive higher utilization of existing programs
Happy to walk through options and expected impact. Let me know when you might have 30 minutes to chat.
— [Your Name]
Bringing 2026 Into focus: fewer moves, bigger impact
If 2026 already feels full before it even begins, that makes sense. You’re balancing a lot—and you’re facing significant uncertainty. But the path forward doesn’t have to be complicated, and it definitely doesn’t require a massive transformation. The biggest wins come from focusing on a short list of high-impact initiatives and doing them really well.
Start with the benefits experience, because it touches every employee and quietly drains time, trust, and dollars when it isn’t working. Bring in AI where it actually helps: reducing repeat questions and guiding people toward better choices. Then simplify your tech stack so that everything connects, your data actually works for you, and your team isn’t stuck maintaining systems instead of leading strategy.
Taken together, these moves will give your HR team space to be what your organization truly needs: a strategic partner who can speak in outcomes, not just day-to-day operations. Translation: you’ll finally have time to think instead of just putting out fires.
The best part: you’ll give employees something they’ve been asking for all along: benefits that are clear, accessible, and genuinely supportive. No synergies required. Now that’s a 2026 plan worth presenting to your C-suite.
Ready to bring your benefits into one connected experience?
ALEX Home is a year-round, AI-powered benefits platform that meets employees in their everyday health and financial moments, while giving HR fewer questions, fewer fires, and some much-needed time back.
Added annual FICA savings for a typical 2,000-employee company
Saved per month for HR
Of employees say that ALEX gave them a better understanding of their benefits
Ready for a smarter way to use AI, save time, and support employees all year long?
Join us on February 24 to see how ALEX Home brings benefits into a single, intuitive place, without ripping and replacing the systems you already rely on.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the top HR benefits tech priorities for 2026?
Fix the benefits experience (and stop leaking time and trust).
- One clear starting place for all employee benefits needs and questions
- Answers and recommendations tailored to eligibility
- Guidance that helps employees take the next step
- Reduce repetitive employee questions to save the HR team time
Deploy AI safely and smartly, in high-impact areas.
- Use AI to answer common benefit questions from approved sources
- Provide citations/links back to official materials when possible
- Keep humans in control of the underlying content
- Focus on measurable time savings and fewer errors
- Expand after accuracy and governance are proven
Simplify and consolidate HR tech.
- Fewer tools, fewer logins, fewer dead ends
- A clearer “front door” for benefits and HR info
- More consistent data for reporting and compliance
- Less manual maintenance for HR
How do I calculate ROI on benefits tech?
A simple ROI calculation could look like this:
ROI (%) = (Annual measurable savings attributable to the tool – Annual cost of the tool) / Annual cost of the tool x 100
But the right benefits tech can have wide-reaching impacts, so you may want to consider additional drivers of ROI to get the full picture of your return on investment. You can start with primary drivers that are easier to defend with data, and add in secondary drivers that you can track over time.
Step 1: Pick your timeline and set the baseline
- Time horizon: 12 months is often the easiest, though you may also want to look at 24-36 month windows to view the broader impacts of behavioral change over time.
- Baseline: Assess your most recent open enrollment plus the last 6-12 months of benefits inquiries, enrollment outcomes, and utilization metrics.
Step 2: Quantify the primary ROI drivers
- Payroll tax savings (when pre-tax contributions increase)
- Reduced premium/claims waste from better-fit plan choices
- HR time savings from fewer repeat questions
- Plan design savings from utilization and engagement analytics
Step 3: Add secondary drivers that are harder to attribute, but can make a big difference
- Improved utilization of existing benefits such as EAP, mental health resources, and preventative care programs
- Retention and productivity improvements
- Risk reduction
So, how long does it take to see ROI?
Great question, I’m glad you asked! Time savings can show up quickly. In just a few weeks, you should be seeing time savings from fewer questions if your benefits tech centralizes information, provides personalized guidance, and is easy to use and understand. The impacts of plan-choice and utilization will grow over time. You’ll see some immediate impact around open enrollment, with additional ROI building throughout the year.
Want a shortcut? Use this ROI Calculator to help estimate some of your potential savings.
How do I talk to my CFO about using AI for our benefits experience, without sounding like I’m chasing the hype?
Lead with:
- What you’re already spending—and where AI-powered software could curb costs
- How much time your HR team could reclaim with new technology
- Where you can reduce risk and improve compliance
- What the measurable outcomes would be (instead of focusing on fancy new features)
What should HR teams avoid when planning for 2026?
The biggest pitfall is overcommitting to transformation and underinvesting in the basics that make it succeed.
- Building a custom AI system from scratch without a clear use case
- Adding another tool on top of an already fragmented stack
- Launching AI before content, ownership, and governance are ready
- Treating benefits communication as a once-a-year project
