COVID-19 impact: What’s trending in benefits?

Throughout the year, Milliman conducts regular surveys focused on benefits topics that employers find meaningful and strategically informative. For this round, we looked at how employers and plan sponsors are addressing plan design, cost management, compliance and employee engagement in the pandemic— for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. We discuss how the top priorities for employers include the health and safety of their workforce in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Half of respondents listed return-to-work workplace safety as their number one priority, followed closely by a focus on developing and communicating a vaccine strategy. Rounding out the top priorities was an increased focus on supporting emotional well-being (mental health), and staying up to speed on ever-changing legislative compliance issues.