Every year after open enrollment, we interview hundreds of Jellyvision customers and survey over 1.5 million ALEX users. Our goal? Explore what benefits pros are prioritizing and worrying about in the year ahead, and learn how employees are actually using their benefits.
As a benefits broker, you need to anticipate your clients’ challenges before they even bring them up. Which is why we analyzed the latest data from 1.5 million ALEX users and hundreds of HR leaders to bring you the key priorities shaping benefits decisions in 2025. Use these insights to help deepen your client relationships and position yourself as a strategic consultant.
Ready to increase your value as a benefits broker in 2025? Let’s dive in!
In this report, you'll find:
Focus #1: Financial Wellness
Your clients are under more pressure than ever to control costs while still offering competitive benefits—economic instability is affecting us all. As a broker, your ability to help them maximize financial wellness solutions can make all the difference in retention and engagement. Inflation, an unpredictable job market, and regulatory changes have all caused chaos and concern in the last few years, and many employees are left wondering how they’ll stay afloat.
Plus, another 8% increase in healthcare costs this year means employers and employees are bracing for impact.
Rising healthcare costs continue to significantly impact employers and Jellyvision customers:
Where are employees struggling the most when it comes to rising healthcare costs?
A lot of it comes down to savings (or a lack thereof).
We’ve all been in a situation where a medical concern pops up unexpectedly. But unfortunately, most employees say they wouldn’t be financially prepared:
Another huge area of concern? Paying for prescriptions.
the average number of current prescriptions an ALEX user has
How brokers can improve their financial wellness support this year
Your clients are looking to you for more effective benefits engagement strategies that give their workforce the health coverage they need while containing costs for everyone involved. And part of containing costs involves ensuring employees know what benefits are available and what benefits are right for them.
But there’s a lot of ground to cover when it comes to financial education, as these Jellyvision customers can attest:
Better guidance, better financial wellness education
ALEX is a benefits decision support tool that uses aggregated and personalized claims data to recommend the best plans for each employee’s well-being and wallet. And the platform remembers each employee, offering more specific guidance over time depending on an individual’s health and financial situation, taking their age and stage of life into consideration.
Plus, ALEX ID sends out targeted benefits communications throughout the year that drive proven engagement around financial benefits. And in 2025, we’re increasing ALEX messaging around how to take full advantage of health savings accounts, reminding employees to use their funds for things like therapy, prescriptions, or copays.
Take action
- Educate clients on financial wellness tools: Many HR teams are overwhelmed and don’t have time to communicate HSA strategies, voluntary benefits, and financial literacy programs—but you can help them do it more effectively.
- Use data to highlight cost savings: Show your clients how better benefits education reduces claims costs and improves retention.
- Differentiate with proactive engagement: Instead of waiting for renewal season, start conversations about how employees are using their benefits now—and where gaps exist.
Focus #2: Mental health
In uncertain times, it’s not just money that your clients are worried about. They’re also thinking about the mental well-being of their workforce. They know that financial stressors, job instability, and burnout at work are putting a huge strain on their employees—and nearly 1 in 4 Americans live with a mental illness.
In response, many of your clients are showing a renewed interest in their mental health benefits this year:
That number may seem low, but it’s significant considering many employers have already increased their investment in mental health benefits during the pandemic. So a 13% bump this year is worth noting.
But our research shows that there’s a disconnect: employees aren’t taking advantage of the resources that are available to them.
What gives? It’s not that you and your clients haven’t worked hard to implement EAPs, offer free counseling services, or offer paid mental health leave. The resources are there.
The problem is that employees aren’t fully aware of what’s available to them.
HR leaders know that mental health benefits matter, but most employees still aren’t using them. As a broker, you can help clients implement better communication strategies that increase utilization and improve overall workforce well-being.
How brokers can help clients make mental health accessible
As one Jellyvision customer reminded us, a strong mental health education strategy starts with considering your audience:
Whether your clients’ employees work remotely, spend most of their time in the field, or are retail workers without a company email address, the workforce is more dispersed than ever. That means it’s harder to know when they might require mental health services, and it’s even harder to connect them with the resources they need.
Better guidance, better mental health support
As a benefits broker or consultant, you can play a crucial role in helping your clients educate employees about their mental health benefits. But even with your guidance, it’s not always easy for HR teams to reach every employee—especially deskless employees, or those without work email addresses. That’s where ALEX comes in.
ALEX makes it easier for your clients to educate all employees about their mental health benefits. By personalizing conversations and guiding folks to the right resources, ALEX helps organizations deliver a better benefits experience—without adding to their workload.
And in 2025, ALEX will help you drive even more impact, using census data to target communications and ensure employees engage with the right mental health benefits at the right time.
With ALEX, you can be a more effective advisor, making mental health education easier for your clients while strengthening your role as their go-to benefits expert.
Take action
- Help clients rethink their outreach strategy: If employees aren’t using EAPs or free counseling, it’s likely because they don’t even know about them. Guide HR teams on multi-channel communication approaches to get the message across.
- Use ALEX as a mental health education tool: Personalizing benefits communication drives engagement—especially when employees aren’t in the right headspace to seek out resources themselves.
- Position mental health as a retention strategy: Employees who feel supported in their mental well-being are far more likely to stay with their employer. Brokers who help HR teams increase engagement in these programs will solidify their value as a strategic partner.
Focus #3: Family planning
Oh, baby! Lastly, our customers and ALEX users told us that 2025 will be a big year for family planning:
And when you consider that 1.5 million people use ALEX, that’s a lot of babies! If you’ve welcomed a child into your family, you might know firsthand how challenging it can be to figure out healthcare resources, parental leave schedules, and how you’ll pay for it all.
Plus, the data shows that employees and employers alike are concerned about navigating administrative changes and covering the costs related to family planning:
Your clients know that family planning benefits are critical, but many are struggling to manage the complexity of leave policies, fertility care, and increased costs. As a broker, you can help HR teams streamline communication, improve cost predictability, and ensure employees understand and use the resources available to them.
How brokers can give their clients’ family planning benefits a boost this year
Family planning comes with huge financial hurdles for employees and can be a huge time suck for your clients.
So as organizations prep for a mini baby boom this year, ask if they need support revisiting leave of absence policies. This extra assistance will not only ensure employees have the time they need to grow their families, but also that your clients can manage their temporary gaps in the workforce. (All of which will further cement your status as an invaluable advisor 🏆).
Helpful hint: ensure your clients highlight additional health and wellness resources that families need to thrive:
And of course, those updated benefits offerings and leave policies won’t help anyone if employees don’t know about them. So, how can brokers and consultants help HR leaders as they navigate communicating this with employees? We’re glad you asked!
Better guidance, better family planning resources
If managing leave of absence has become an overwhelming chore for your clients, ALEX has solutions that can help lighten the load. We’ll help you explain leave-of-absence policies in a personalized way, helping employees understand their options without taking more time away from your clients’ HR teams.
And if your clients are expanding voluntary and supplemental benefits this year, ALEX can help. We’re enhancing the platform to make it even easier for employees to navigate options like hospital indemnity and other key benefits—highlighting only the plans that fit their needs.
Take action
- Advise HR on best practices for leave management: Many teams still rely on outdated processes to manage leave. Help them implement more effective policies and communication strategies.
- Ensure employees understand all available benefits: Adoption, fertility support, and paid leave policies often get lost in the mix. Guide HR in making this information more accessible and digestible for employees.
- Differentiate with a proactive strategy: By helping clients improve benefits education around family planning, brokers can stand out from the competition and deepen client relationships.
Strengthening your client relationships
Now is the time to set yourself apart as a benefits broker. Your clients are looking for strategic partners who anticipate their needs—not just react to them. Here’s how you can strengthen your client relationships in 2025:
- Get ahead of HR’s biggest concerns: Don’t wait until renewal season. Start conversations now about how benefits education can improve engagement and control costs. Show clients how data-driven insights—like engagement trends and cost-saving strategies—can help them make informed decisions.
- Deliver measurable value with data & technology: HR teams need real-world insights to justify benefits decisions. Use data to highlight trends, employee engagement, and savings opportunities. Invest in tools that personalize the employee experience and make benefits more accessible and impactful.
- Help clients prioritize what matters: Employees and employers alike are focused on financial wellness, mental health, and cost containment. Proactively guide clients toward benefits that meet these needs, strengthening relationships and driving retention.
