Gallagher Study Reveals Employers Investing in Holistic Wellbeing for Future Growth

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., July 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to macro uncertainty and rising costs, employers are increasingly prioritizing comprehensive wellbeing strategies to meet the evolving needs of their workforce. Gallagher's 2025 U.S. Benefits Benchmarks Report highlights a growing trend among employers to adopt holistic approaches that encompass physical, emotional, career and financial health.

"We are at a pivotal moment as employers and organizational leaders—a moment where we can have a significant opportunity to reimagine the employee care experience. To compete for talent, reinvesting benefit savings where it may matter most to employees can make a difference. Knowing that care encompasses all aspects of an employee's wellbeing from physical to emotional and financial needs, ensuring leaders have the right data to make informed decisions is more critical than ever," stated John Tournet, U.S. CEO of Gallagher's Benefits & HR Consulting Division.  

The foundation for crafting a successful people strategy begins with data. This study, based on Gallagher's 2025 U.S. Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey, analyzed responses from over 4,000 organizations across the U.S. and aims to guide employers in optimizing employee wellbeing through holistic initiatives and effective healthcare cost management.

Key Findings in Benefits:

Rising Costs Drive Plan Design Changes

Access to affordable, quality healthcare and prescription drugs is essential for maintaining an engaged and productive workforce. However, employers face challenges due to the high costs of medical services and specialty drugs. While 31% of employers have enhanced medical benefits to support recruitment and retention in 2025, only 12% are focused on improving pharmacy benefits.

Adjustments to medical (31%) or prescription drug (26%) plan designs can help manage expenses effectively. Employers often aim to achieve efficiencies and greater value through their vendors and contracting processes. Actions like switching plan carriers (29%) and conducting eligibility (16%) or claims (16%) audits, though less common, are still worth considering. Additionally, nearly a third of employers (32%) are carving out pharmacy benefits to a pharmacy benefit manager, marking an increase of 13 points from 2024.

Including Specialty Coverages to Meet Diverse Needs

Employers can customize and enhance their employee benefit packages with specialized coverages to better meet the diverse needs of employees and their families. Common options include hearing aids (59%), applied behavior analysis therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder (54%) and other autism treatments (44%). Furthermore, 45% of employers cover bariatric surgery for eligible plan members.

Recognizing the significant impact of family formation on employees' emotional and physical health, many employers offer reproductive health benefits. Specifically, 48% cover infertility services or fertility treatments. Among those offering coverage, there's been a slight increase in rates from 2024 for fertility medications (84%, up 2 points), in vitro fertilization (71%, up 2 points), intrauterine insemination (54%, up 3 points) and surgery (50%, up 4 points). Other covered services include evaluations by a reproductive or infertility specialist (69%, unchanged) and cryopreservation (32%, up 4 points).

Offering Voluntary Benefits as Financial Protection

Two-thirds of employers (67%) agree that voluntary offerings are an important component of a comprehensive financial wellbeing strategy. They can provide crucial support in areas where traditional benefits may still expose employees to substantial costs if an emergency occurs.

Financial-focused programs, like identity theft protection (39%) and legal plans (38%), help employees better manage their risk for financial exposure, leading to reduced stress and increased productivity. Likewise, permanent life insurance options — including whole (36%), permanent term (35%) and universal (17%) — offer another financial safeguard. Their long-term care features provide living benefits such as home healthcare, adult day care and assisted living support during the later stages of an employee's life.

"By embracing comprehensive wellbeing strategies, employers not only support their workforce's diverse needs but also pave the way for organizational success," said Tournet. "When we invest in our people, we invest in our future."

ABOUT THE 2025 U.S. BENEFITS BENCHMARKS REPORT
Gallagher's 2025 U.S. Benefits Benchmarks Report is part of the Workforce Trends Report Series, which highlights survey results on medical, pharmacy and voluntary benefits, as well as wellbeing initiatives and absence management strategies. Other reports in the series cover talent and financial solutions, best-in-class employers, employee communications, and employees' perspectives on voluntary benefit programs.

The series is designed to assist employers in developing and optimizing a people strategy focused on holistic wellbeing, enabling their employees and families, their organization and their communities to thrive. The data and insights are compiled from a variety of Gallagher benchmarking surveys conducted each year. In this report, they're based on the results of the U.S. Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey, gathered from January to March 2025. A total of 4,035 organizations across the U.S. participated.

ABOUT GALLAGHER
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Gallagher provides these services in approximately 130 countries around the world through its owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Contact:        
Mary Schwartz, Gallagher
847.378.5893
[email protected]

SOURCE Gallagher