U.S. employers prioritize benefits strategy amidst rising costs and economic uncertainty, focusing on value, employee experience, and mental health.
Quiver AI Summary
A recent WTW survey highlights the challenges U.S. employers face in refining their benefits strategies amid economic uncertainty and rising costs. The 2025 Benefits Trends Survey shows that 90% of employers cite increasing benefit costs as their primary concern, a significant rise from 67% in 2023. Other pressing issues include talent competition, employee experience, cost of living, and mental health concerns. Employers are responding by focusing on optimizing existing benefits rather than expanding their offerings, with 63% planning to reallocate spending in the next three years. Key areas for improvement include mental health, health benefits, and family support, along with enhancing communication and vendor performance review processes. The research, conducted with 696 U.S. employers across various sectors, emphasizes the necessity for innovative solutions to meet employee needs effectively.
Potential Positives
- WTW's 2025 Benefits Trends Survey reveals significant insights into U.S. employers' strategic responses to rising benefit costs, reflecting the company's expertise and relevance in the current economic climate.
- The survey indicates a strong shift among employers towards enhancing employee value and satisfaction, demonstrating WTW's ability to guide organizations in adapting their benefit strategies effectively.
- By highlighting trends such as increased employer focus on mental health and financial wellbeing, the release positions WTW as a thought leader in addressing contemporary workplace challenges.
- The comprehensive participation of 696 U.S. employers in the survey underscores WTW's credibility and the broad applicability of its findings across various industries.
Potential Negatives
- Survey indicates that rising benefit costs are a significant concern (90%), which may imply that the company is facing challenges in providing affordable employee benefits.
- Over half of employers (52%) are worried about competition for talent, suggesting that the company may be losing its competitive edge in attracting and retaining employees.
- Only 8% of employers intended to expand their benefit portfolio, highlighting potential stagnation in innovation and responsiveness to employee needs.
FAQ
What are the top issues affecting U.S. employers' benefits strategies in 2025?
The top issues include rising benefit costs (90%), competition for talent (52%), and enhanced employee experience (43%).
How are employers addressing rising benefit costs?
Employers are reallocating spending, enhancing value, and switching to better-value vendors for health and retirement benefits.
What is the focus of the 2025 Benefits Trends Survey?
The survey focuses on how economic uncertainty impacts employer benefit strategies and employee engagement in 2025.
What priority areas are employers looking to improve?
Employers prioritizing improvements include maximizing value, mental health, health benefits, financial wellbeing, and family support.
What percentage of employers plan to reallocate benefit spending?
63% of employers plan to reallocate or rebalance their benefit spending in the next three years.
Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. See the full release here.
$WTW Congressional Stock Trading
Members of Congress have traded $WTW stock 5 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 4 have been purchases and 1 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $WTW stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:
- REPRESENTATIVE GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR. has traded it 4 times. They made 4 purchases worth up to $95,000 on 04/07, 02/24, 01/28, 01/13 and 0 sales.
- REPRESENTATIVE JULIE JOHNSON sold up to $15,000 on 04/07.
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$WTW Insider Trading Activity
$WTW insiders have traded $WTW stock on the open market 8 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 8 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $WTW stock by insiders over the last 6 months:
- CARL AARON HESS (Chief Executive Officer) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 10,000 shares for an estimated $3,091,315.
- JULIE JARECKE GEBAUER (Pres.-Health, Wealth & Career) sold 1,616 shares for an estimated $547,404
- ANDREW JAY KRASNER (Chief Financial Officer) sold 1,600 shares for an estimated $505,200
- ALEXIS FABER (Chief Operating Officer) sold 265 shares for an estimated $81,333
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$WTW Hedge Fund Activity
We have seen 352 institutional investors add shares of $WTW stock to their portfolio, and 372 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.
Here are some of the largest recent moves:
- VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC removed 514,178 shares (-26.1%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $173,766,455
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- PROFICIO CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC removed 456,884 shares (-99.7%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $154,403,947
- MASSACHUSETTS FINANCIAL SERVICES CO /MA/ removed 391,618 shares (-6.0%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $132,347,303
- BAUPOST GROUP LLC/MA removed 311,081 shares (-16.9%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $105,129,823
- CITADEL ADVISORS LLC added 310,878 shares (+462.9%) to their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $105,061,220
- CEREDEX VALUE ADVISORS LLC removed 266,418 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $90,035,963
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$WTW Analyst Ratings
Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $WTW in the last several months. We have seen 2 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.
Here are some recent analyst ratings:
- Goldman Sachs issued a "Buy" rating on 05/13/2025
- Jefferies issued a "Buy" rating on 12/20/2024
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Full Release
NEW YORK, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As U.S. employers grapple with heightened economic uncertainty and greater financial pressures on budgets, steering the right course on benefit strategy is more challenging than ever. This is according to a survey by WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. As a result, companies are turning to smarter spending, sharper focus and using benefits as a strategic tool to drive engagement, retention and purpose.
The 2025 Benefits Trends Survey found rising benefit costs to be the top issue (90%) influencing U.S. employers’ benefit strategies in 2025, up from 67% in 2023. Other top concerns include competition for talent (52%), expectations for an enhanced employee experience (43%), cost of living (39%) and rising mental health issues (32%).
“After a long period of high benefits inflation and in the face of a possibly weakening economy, employers are taking a step back and looking to focus on what drives real value for employees and the business. That means targeting support and spending on the benefits that matter most, enabling personalization and helping employees make better decisions,” said Jeff Levin-Scherz, Population Health Leader, North America, Health & Benefits.
As the cost of medical care continues to show double digit growth in the U.S., employers face greater challenges in delivering their strategy in key areas such as health benefits (44%), wellbeing programs (44%), and leave benefits (36%).
To address these concerns, employers are shifting their strategy. Few are expanding their benefit portfolio, choosing to instead focus on extracting value from their current offerings and improve financing, employee experience, analytics and administration.
Compared to just 8% in the past year, 63% of employers plan to reallocate or rebalance spend in the next three years. A majority (73%) plan to tackle high costs by enhancing value or switch to better-value vendors across health, retirement and risk benefits. Just under half (44%) plan to tackle high-cost medical conditions and 37% plan to adopt a network of preferred medical providers.
Eager to address employee pressure points, companies are also looking to improve the following priority areas over the next three years: maximizing value, mental health, health benefits, financial wellbeing and family support. Many plan to increase their use of communication and use nudges and navigation solutions to influence behaviors and enhance the employee experience. Regularly reviewing vendor performance, including employee feedback, is also a key action employers are taking.
“Organizations are facing more pressure than ever to deliver the right benefits strategy. Finding innovative solutions for old and new challenges and reallocating spend on benefits that deliver true value is a good start. There is still a long way to go to address these pressure points, but employers are headed in the right direction by focusing on what matters most to their employees,” said Levin-Scherz.
About the survey
The 2025 Benefit Trends Survey was conducted from early March to mid-April. Respondents include 696 U.S. employers, representing a broad range of industries in both the private and public sector.
About WTW
At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.
Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you.
Media contact
Ileana Feoli: +1 212 309 5504
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