Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

The employee benefits paradox

fastcompany.com · 11dShare

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation , employers are spending more on benefits than at any point in history, yet employees remain overwhelmed, distracted, and increasingly stressed. This affects employee morale and engagement, and impacts organizational productivity . Yet that disconnect rarely gets the scrutiny it deserves. For decades, companies viewed benefits as an investment in organizational performance. They offered them to attract talent and retain employees. Every dollar spent on benefits represented a conscious tradeoff: Leaders believed that dollar would create more value than spending it elsewhere, whether through direct compensation, technology investments, or other business priorities. HIGHER PRICES, NO WORKFORCE ADVANTAGE Those objectives remain, but employers are changing where the money goes. Over the last several decades, healthcare costs have steadily consumed a larger share of benefits budgets. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2025 Employer Health Be

First report: The Benefits Activation Gap: what claims data teaches us about employee engagement — fortune.com, 13d