Benefits Strategy
How to Evaluate Your Organization's Benefits Strategy
A benefits strategy that served an organization well three years ago may no longer reflect the needs, expectations, or demographics of its current workforce. The landscape of employee benefits is evolving rapidly — the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey found that the number of available benefits rose from 175 to 216 in a single year, a 23% increase. For HR teams and organizational leadership, this evolution creates both an opportunity and an obligation to assess whether current offerings are still doing the job they were designed to do.
What a Benefits Review Involves
A benefits review is a structured assessment of how well an organization's current benefit offerings are performing against four key dimensions: compliance, cost, competitiveness, and employee satisfaction. It is not a one-time project — it is a regular checkpoint that ensures benefits remain relevant, legally sound, and appropriately communicated.
Compliance
Benefits compliance is an active obligation. Recent years have seen increased regulatory scrutiny around employer-sponsored benefits, including fiduciary obligations for health and welfare plans. In 2024, two major lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo related to their health plans reinforced that fiduciary duties apply broadly — not only to retirement plans. HR teams benefit from reviewing their benefits programs regularly against applicable federal and state requirements.
Cost
The cost of providing benefits — particularly group life insurance, disability coverage, and other group offerings — changes year over year. Benchmarking current costs against market data and peer organizations helps HR teams understand whether their current spend is competitive and whether cost structures can be improved without reducing the quality of offerings for employees.
Competitiveness
Benefits have become a significant factor in both recruitment and retention. According to MetLife's 2025 Employee Benefits Trends Study, employees who have a positive benefits experience are 2.4 times more likely to feel holistically healthy and 1.8 times more likely to trust their employer's leadership. Evaluating how an organization's benefits compare to those offered by competitors — particularly in the labor markets where it recruits — is a meaningful component of a benefits review.
Employee Satisfaction and Utilization
According to a 2025 Selerix survey, 73% of employees say benefits matter as much or more than pay when deciding whether to stay with their employer — yet only 27% say they fully understand their benefits. That gap between perceived value and actual understanding represents a significant opportunity. Utilization data and employee surveys are useful tools for identifying which benefits are genuinely serving employees and which are underperforming due to lack of awareness or accessibility.
Life Insurance and Disability Coverage in the Review
Group life insurance and disability insurance are foundational components of any benefits strategy and warrant specific attention in a benefits review. Relevant questions include: Is the current level of group life coverage competitive in the market? Are supplemental or voluntary life options available to employees who want additional coverage? Are short-term and long-term disability offerings sufficient and clearly communicated? Have enrollment rates in voluntary coverage options been tracked and analyzed?
This article is provided for informational purposes only. Atlanta Life Insurance Company does not provide HR consulting, benefits advisory, or legal services. Organizations are encouraged to consult qualified professionals for guidance specific to their benefits programs.