Healthcare costs are rising. Employee expectations are shifting. And the way organizations manage benefits is undergoing a fundamental reset.
In “Strategically Managing Health and Wellbeing Costs in 2025,” WTW makes a compelling case for a more strategic approach to benefits. The most effective leaders today aren’t reacting; they’re reimagining. They’re using benefits to drive engagement, retention, and organizational purpose.
At Brightside, we’ve seen that mindset in action, particularly from employers with large frontline populations who recognize that financial health is foundational to employee wellbeing.
Here’s how key findings from WTW’s report come to life in the real world, with lessons from Fortune 500 employers who offer Brightside.
Explore how these forward-thinking employers thought outside of the traditional financial wellness approach to reimagine financial health as a core business strategy – and why that shift in thinking has paid off.
1. Spend smarter by targeting root causes of cost
WTW advises that benefits leaders focus on ways to tackle cost drivers including mental health, chronic illness, and financial stress. With only 13% of frontline workers considered financially healthy, financial illness comes with a $3,000 – $4,000 price tag per employee each year and is a key driver of healthcare costs, turnover, and lost productivity.
Employers that have embraced this reality head-on have seen the meaningful impact that comes with treating root causes. For example, when a Fortune 10 employer began offering Brightside as a benefit for its distribution center workers, an employee who had been living in his car was able to secure safe housing in a few days. Once he found support for his most basic needs, he was then able to tackle other sources of financial stress and take continued steps toward stability.
It’s just one Brightside client story of many, but with this approach, the Fortune 10 employer saw positive ripple effects including retention improvements and fewer 401(k) hardship withdrawals.
2. Design benefits based on actual needs vs. assumptions
WTW highlights that the best benefits strategies are employee-centric, which requires a deep understanding of employees’ actual needs before making decisions about benefits.
Amazon offers a powerful example of how important this approach is for employees and benefits leaders. Rather than assume what their associates needed, Amazon’s HR team asked and listened. Through focused surveys and empathetic questions, including whether employees had to choose between using money to buy groceries or pay an electricity bill, they uncovered a truth many employers overlook: traditional financial wellness and retirement tools were missing the mark for financially ill employees.
Instead, its workforce needed help navigating everyday money problems, such as housing, transportation, and urgent expenses. With that insight, Amazon introduced Brightside to its frontline employees and has since expanded the benefit based on strong engagement and impact.
In 2024 alone, Brightside helped Amazonians build $12.2 million in emergency savings and put $27 million back into their pockets.
3. Go beyond financial literacy to Financial Care
The WTW report notes that benefits strategies should evolve from transactional to transformational, including connecting emotionally with employees and offering real-life support.
That’s exactly what Unum did. Even with financial education, webinars, and a 401(k) in place, financial stress remained a top employee concern. Recognizing the limits of traditional financial wellness solutions, Unum sought a human-first financial health partner that offered empathetic support from real people, didn’t sell products, and could integrate with its broader benefits ecosystem.
Brightside checked all of those boxes, offering personalized support for financial needs, from urgent situations to long-term financial goals. And it reinforced something that WTW affirms: employees engage most with benefits that address their real, lived experience.
4. Deliver flexibility, with guidance
As WTW predicts a doubling of benefit personalization by 2028, it’s clear that the future of benefits lies in flexibility, relevance, and smart navigation.
But flexibility without personalized support can overwhelm stressed employees to the point where they default to habitual behaviors and don’t make any decision, even when that makes their situation worse.
That’s why forward-thinking employers aren’t just providing options; they’re helping employees choose the right ones.
Whether it’s connecting employees with a safe employee loan to repair their car, helping them navigate their employer’s hardship fund, or quickly connecting employees with a no-fee cash advance and free resources during a crisis, Brightside’s Financial Assistants meet employees where they are in that moments that matter and help them navigate to real solutions that support their needs and financial health.
Importantly, they also apply the principles of behavioral science, including hope science, to help employees overcome barriers and make it easy for them to take action. This is a human extension of the very guidance WTW says is needed to get full value from benefits.
5. Tie benefits to organizational purpose
Finally, WTW encourages employers to align their benefits with their organizational values. This isn’t about optics; it’s about outcomes. Employees want to work for companies that care about and support their wellbeing in meaningful, tangible ways.
That’s what unites leaders like Amazon, Unum, and the Fortune 10 employer: a shared belief that supporting employee financial health is the right thing to do – and an investment that delivers mutual benefits. Employers who offer Brightside see, on average:
- 41% reduction in turnover
- 10% fewer workplace safety incidents
- 36 + increased hours worked per employee, per year
- 85+ Net Promoter Score from employees who use Brightside
Learn more about how Brightside Financial Care is the only benefit built to support working families and deliver ROI for employers.