As employers finalize their 2026 budgets, rising healthcare costs are forcing tougher decisions in financial planning and employee benefits.

Medical and prescription drug expenses are projected to increase by 8.4% next year, with pharmaceutical costs climbing even higher, according to HUB International’s 2026 Benefits Cost Trends Report. That’s up .26 percentage points from this year.

Effective mental health support needs to go beyond counseling and therapy apps and include safeguards and training for when employees may be at risk of a crisis.   

With healthcare costs on the rise, benefit leaders are being confronted with how to keep their employees healthy while staying mindful of budgets. Advances in medical technology are helping them accomplish both.  

Men and women often respond differently when witnessing sexual harassment in the workplace, with women consistently reporting higher empathy toward harassment targets, according to a study by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law on July 4, 2025, impacting a wide range of issues, including several provisions that will affect employee benefit plans. The following summary covers the provisions enacted under the Act and their impact on employees.

Companies often confuse perks with benefits. Ping-pong tables, kombucha taps, and snack bars make for great recruiting photos. Still, they don’t replace what supports people: mental health care, parental leave, fertility support, financial planning resources, and development opportunities.

When benefits are treated as perks, they tend to be managed reactively and transactionally. But when treated as strategic investments—and as a direct expression of company culture—they become one of the most powerful ways an organization can demonstrate what it truly values.

Managing mental health and wellness — from everyday stressors to more serious conditions — is a challenge for many employees today. Without inclusive benefits, major demographics within the workforce are left without support. 

This is the case for too many BIPOC employees in the workplace, when their benefit offerings fail to provide access to mental health and wellness professionals or resources that resonate with their unique experiences, language, culture, or other factors.