Employee benefits fatigue is costing employers more than they think

The numbers back that up. Accident coverage jumped from 30 percent of employers offering it in 2024 to 41 percent in 2025, according to Alera’s benchmarking data. That is a single supplemental product added in one year, across more than a third of employer plans, on top of menus employees were already struggling to navigate.

The complexity problem HR has created

At many mid-to-large employers, workers are now choosing between as many as four medical plan options, multiple dental tiers, and an array of voluntary coverages. Each product was designed to fill a specific gap. Together, they have created a selection experience that many employees simply opt out of. Research from Prudential Financial found that 89 percent of employers believe their benefits package shows they care about employees, but only 66 percent of workers agree, a 23-point gap that points less to plan design and more to a communication breakdown.

“We’ve added such complexity that I don’t know if we’re supporting it well enough on the back end with education to really help the employee make a truly informed decision,” Negvesky said. “Historically, we’ve seen very low utilization of supplemental plans. We’ve got to figure out a way, if we’re spending money on these benefits, to make sure employees understand them.”

Why open enrollment is no longer enough

Most HR teams still operate on a single annual touchpoint: a presentation, a guide in an inbox, an enrollment window. That model was built for simpler plans. A March 2026 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Lincoln Financial found that administrative complexity and gaps in employee education, not disinterest or cost, are the main barriers between a voluntary benefit and actual usage.

“It can’t be one time,” Negvesky said. “It has to be continual education, concise, clear, and frequent. People need to hear something eight or nine times before they commit it to memory. If we’re just teeing that up at open enrollment time, we’re doing them a disservice.”