This is our fourth and final piece looking at the priorities of professionals whose remit touches on Workplace Culture and Employee Health and Wellbeing, and it focuses on the perspective of Reward/Benefit leaders.
We’ve already covered CPOs, Health and Safety Leads and Health and Wellbeing Leads.
It could be said that benefits professionals, in some ways, are outliers in this mix. When it comes to Health and Wellbeing, historically they’ve tended to approach solution finding in a more transactional, tactical way, rather than strategic, with their focus predominantly on landing a good deal.
Pressure to cut costs on benefits
Indeed, when we approached a few for this piece, they told us they didn’t feel they could comment on priorities at this point for 2026 because the predominant one currently is cost-cutting due to restructures. Others talked, but asked to remain anonymous.
There are exceptions to the rule, of course. Like one interviewee who we spoke to who works for a large corporation and is keen to change this typical perception of Benefits and Rewards specialists working in this area.
She told us:
“Unfortunately, you’ve got a lot of reward professionals who tend to focus on just the transaction but to me it’s about showing people how we can make a big difference to their lives, it’s not just about technical content.”
Benefits specialists need courage, determination & resilience in 2026 especially
She talks about the need for Benefits professionals to develop their “courage”, “resilience” and “determination” in the face of “what’s currently going on in the world” in order to raise their “heads above the parapet and create a better future”.
This person talks about how she is “excited about the future of benefits” because of the discipline’s power to “not only get the best deal, but transform culture”.
These priorities for 2026 are written from the perspective of Benefits professionals, like her, who are focused on taking the discipline to this higher purpose level, making a real difference to employee health and wellbeing. In no particular order…
1. Embed Health and Wellbeing in Benefits
Several professionals say that, with the growing recognition of how interlinked Benefits and Health & Wellbeing are, they are increasingly looking to collaborate better in 2026.
For some, this will be the year when benefits is placed in the people team, and as one professionals whose company already does this says:
“I look at Benefits as a neighbour of Health & Wellbeing and we work incredibly closely together. That’s partly why I now oversee both in the people team. We have meetings together. We know what each other’s agendas are.”
2. Communicate the value of Benefits to other functions better
As one professional tells us, the best practice in Benefits happens when “siloes are knocked down between functions in a way that not only gets the best deal but transforms culture”.
To do that, Benefits needs to make clear its strategic, not only tactical, purpose.
As another says: “I’ve been a CPO before, so I understand the breadth of HR and how things connect together and it’s really important that we, in Benefits, see that vision and are able to say ‘this is how we fit into that vision’ and are able to articulate it really clearly. It takes a creative mind.”
An important part of this piece is ensuring senior management hears the message too. One says she is constantly on the look out for opportunities to “tap into leadership teams and present what we offer”. She adds she ensures she always “brings out the cultural aspect” and “says the same thing, so everyone gets a consistent message”.
Another says that “if you are a Benefits expert, it’s important you come across as an expert, but also collaborate with, and educate, your stakeholders and colleagues, as well as engaging line managers in the journey, too”.
3.Communicate the value of Benefits to employees better
A key challenge of the role going forward is how to engage different generations through internal communications.
There are specific challenges to overcome here, like how to appeal to the younger generations in particular. One professional says:
“However much we’ve tried, 22 year olds going into an organisation don’t want to think about their pension, or critical illness or life insurance. You just can’t make these benefits sexy. You might have this massive swathe of benefits you’re providing, but the appreciation level is not always there.”
Another says that, to address challenges like this, she’ll be looking at innovative ways to communicate, using “multiple touchpoints” such as roadshows. Another says, despite the challenge, financial education of all employees so they understand the value of financial wellbeing is essential in 2026.
Language is another consideration. Some say they are using different words now to talk about the Health and Wellbeing agenda, such as “empowerment” and “high performance”.
As one explains:
“We always talk about high performance. And if your people are not well, they’re not going to perform. But it’s a very fine line because if you’re talking about pushing for high performance, that can actually produce quite a lot of anxiety in employees too. So you need to get the balance of performance and health and wellbeing right.”
Transparency is also mentioned by some as a priority tackled through clear communications and showing employees they are getting a good deal with what they are being offered, compared to their peers.
4. Personalise
Technology has opened up so many more opportunities to personalise the Benefits experience, and will continue to with AI. Consequently, being proactive on this front is a priority especially because, historically, employees have often complained about finding the benefits offering overwhelming and difficult to navigate.
Related to the communications challenge, one says “we can use that creativity to enhance how people connect and the ease with which they can access what they are interested in”.
One shares how she will be approaching this priority in 2026:
“I imagine sitting down as an employee and I ask myself – what do I want to see? How would I want to connect with these benefits? I’m always thinking if we can connect with it in a different way to what we have done in the past. It’s not just about benefits, it’s about how our people really connect with benefits.”
5. Make budget go further
All interviewees cite this, unsurprisingly in today’s current market and the existing focus on price in the benefits industry.
One adds:
“Clearly we have to look at price all the time, but we also have to look at the generational characteristics and how they interlink with benefits and what their needs are.”
6. Get the most out of renewals
Renewing policies to ensure that they are “fit for purpose”, and getting the best deal as well as performing effectively, continues to be an annual challenge, even more important this year given the economic climate.
Some employers say they are even moving to more of a culture of ‘test and learn’ rather than wait for a wholescale annual review.
“Reviews are not always about adding new benefits. What you have is probably sufficient. It’s about getting better value for money and understanding what your policy covers,” says another, adding her priority is preventative solutions like screening.
7. Keep up with legislation
As with all disciplines, this is an ongoing issue. There is much legislation that touches on benefits which professionals need to be on top of, from pay transparency to the employee rights bill.
8. Make sure benefits work on a global scale
Benefits roles, especially for larger companies, are often global roles meaning one professional can be responsible for implementing a strategy across multiple countries, bringing added language challenges.
One professional says her priority is to find one broker she can work with globally to manage costs, consolidate and be most efficient. Another priority here is looking at what each country’s state already provides so you’re not duplicating that, but building on it.
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