Briefing Document: Aon Global Benefits Trends Study 2025

The Aon 2025 Global Benefits Trends Study, based on a survey of 518 global benefits professionals across 45 countries, reveals significant shifts in the strategic priorities of multinational companies. While cost management remains the top priority, there's a notable surge in focus on employee value and a renewed emphasis on global governance.

Companies are grappling with balancing cost containment amidst economic uncertainty with the need to attract and retain talent through valued and competitive benefits. The study highlights that while basic, short-term cost mitigation strategies are prevalent, many opportunities remain untapped, and effective global governance is a key differentiator for "leading" multinationals.

iPMI Global Analyst Christopher Knight comments, "The 2025 Global Benefits Trends Study highlights that while cost management, particularly driven by high medical inflation, is the top strategic priority for multinational companies, there's a risk of having "blinders on," as the disproportionate focus on medical costs may overlook other exponentially higher benefit spends like pension programs. The core challenge lies in balancing this cost imperative with delivering and enhancing employee value through personalized benefits and improved communication, all while navigating complex dynamics and striving for effective global governance to truly unlock potential and drive sustainable growth."

Key Themes and Important Ideas

1. Employee Value Has Surged to the Top of the Strategic Agenda

• Balancing Cost and Value: "Ensuring efficient cost management" is the number one strategic priority globally, yet "ensuring that employee benefits are highly valued" rose from outside the top four in 2024 to number three in 2025. For "leading companies," these two priorities are tied for number one. This underscores the challenge of managing significant benefits spend while ensuring its appreciation by employees.
• The Desire for Personalization: 65% of multinational (MNC) employees are willing to "sacrifice some current benefits for a better choice of benefits." However, only 14% of multinationals provide global guidelines for introducing personalization, with 43% being silent on the topic. In contrast, "leading multinationals are over two times more likely (32 percent) to say they have global guidelines in place requiring that local markets introduce benefit choice."
• Areas of Personalization: Where personalization is allowed, it generally focuses on medical programs, defined contribution plans, risk benefits, preventative programs, and wellbeing.
• Employee-Valued Benefits: Employees value medical coverage, annual leave/PTO, work-life balance, retirement savings, and career development. The study identifies opportunities for employers to offer more flexibility in annual leave and integrate career development programs into their benefits packages.
• Advancing Transparency and New Technology: Communication Strategies: Traditional methods like emails (77% company approach, 76% employee preference), company intranet (76% company approach, 66% employee preference), and benefit handbooks (66% company approach, 40% employee preference) remain prevalent.
• Total Rewards Statements: There's an increase in multinationals utilizing total rewards statements (35% in 2025, up from 27% in 2024). "One out of two leading multinationals has total reward statements in place," which "correlates clearly with higher level of understanding and appreciation of benefits."
• Leveraging AI: "Leading multinationals, together with companies in the tech industry, were more likely to be early adopters of AI," using it for employee queries, benefit selection, and personalized wellbeing recommendations. While only 1 in 6 multinationals currently use AI for benefits design and delivery, this is "expected to nearly triple to 48 percent by 2027."
• Embracing Equity: Global Minimum Standards: "Implementing global minimum standards to drive global equity" is a top 5 global strategic priority. "Multinational companies with captives are twice as likely to be focusing on implementing global minimum standards."
• DEIB Programs: "Ensuring benefits support the diverse needs of employees around the world" has fallen dramatically as a priority (from 5th in 2024 to 8th in 2025), likely due to U.S. policy rollbacks. Despite this, 40% of US-headquartered companies and 41% of non-US-headquartered companies plan to increase inclusive benefits offerings, while "almost two-thirds of leading companies are planning to increase inclusive benefits offerings."
• Focus of Inclusive Benefits: These programs primarily support families (54%), aging populations (39%), gender-specific needs (39%), and lower-income employees (39%).

2. Companies Place Hyperfocus on Cost Containment, But Do We Have Blinders On?

• Cost Management as Priority #1: "Cost management" is the primary strategic priority for 70% of companies across all segments.
• Primary Cost Driver: Medical Inflation: "Overwhelmingly, Global Benefits professionals point to high medical inflation as the primary driver of benefit costs, with 70 percent of participants saying it has a “high” impact." Global average medical trend rate is projected at 10.0% in 2025.
• Basic Cost Mitigation Strategies: Strategies remain "basic and short-term," primarily focusing on "hard negotiations with insurance carriers and other vendors." 77% plan to negotiate with existing vendors, and 67% plan to go to RFP.
• Untapped Opportunities: Reducing Less Valued Benefits: Only 25% of multinationals consider reducing less-valued benefits, suggesting a disconnect in understanding employee priorities.
• Wellbeing Initiatives: Only 37% are considering implementing global and local wellbeing initiatives, despite their potential long-term impact.
• Broader Benefit Scope: Global Benefits professionals' remit typically includes risk benefits (94%), health benefits (92%), leave policies (75%), wellbeing programs (74%), and defined contribution (73%). However, the disproportionate focus on medical costs overlooks other, potentially much larger, spend areas like pension programs and annual leave. "Annual spend on retirement can be 300% to 400% higher than medical."
• Role of Global Financing: Organizations are increasingly exploring new financing solutions.
• Employee Benefits Captives: Interest remains strong, with 31% considering this approach (up from 26% in 2024). Key drivers include "better access to claims data, ability to keep benefit costs stable and better response to medical inflation risk."
• Hybrid Pooling: New to the survey, hybrid pools are gaining traction, nearly as prevalent as global underwriting programs.
• Multinational Pooling: Remains a favoured existing solution and the "usual entry point" for companies without a global benefits financing strategy.
• AI's Underutilized Role: While there's optimism for AI in employee experience, Global Benefits professionals are not widely using it for their own strategic purposes like forecasting and addressing long-term cost trends, largely due to a "continued struggle for data."

3. Stop Talking. Start Doing. Global Governance is Back in Vogue.

• Ambitious Strategies, Struggling Execution: Close to 50% of companies have a global benefits strategy, and 1 in 5 are developing one. However, "executing on an ambitious global benefits strategy is still a struggle for most multinational companies, as is ensuring that the governance framework is effective."
• Low Adherence and Efficacy: Only 6% of companies with a documented global benefits strategy report full adherence by local markets, and only 12% say their governance structure fully meets objectives. This challenge exists across all industries and company sizes.
• Leading Multinationals Excel in Governance: "Leading multinationals" (less than 5% of respondents) are:
• 3x more likely to have formal governance committees, leading to greater accountability.
• 3x more likely to have their global benefits strategy and governance reviewed and endorsed by senior management, fostering greater buy-in.
• 3x more likely to have their global benefits strategy and governance "known and well understood by the various functions and by the regions and local markets."
• More than 2.5x more likely to have global benefit guidelines outlining preferred design, financing, and risk management.
• 2x more likely to require annual and ongoing reporting on alignment to the global benefits strategy.
• 72% more likely to carry out periodic compliance audits.
• Twice as likely to include defined benefit and defined contribution plans in their governance models.
• Role of Global Benefits Teams: Centres of Excellence (COEs): Leading multinationals are "67 percent more likely to have Global Benefits Centres of Excellence (COEs)."
• Diverse Teams & Training: Leading companies are "two times more likely to hire externally" for diverse backgrounds and support various training approaches.
• Outsourcing: Leading multinationals are "almost twice as likely to outsource management of insured benefits and pension programs and to have looked into and/or implemented multi-country solutions." This contrasts with many other multinationals who have not explored outsourcing in these areas.

Conclusion

The 2025 Global Benefits Trends Study provides a roadmap for multinationals to navigate a complex landscape. To succeed, organizations must:

• Define and Deliver Value: Understand what employees truly value, expand personalization, enhance communication through technology (including AI), and prioritize strategic equity.
• Rethink Cost Containment: Look beyond medical inflation to the entire benefits continuum, explore other high-spend areas like pensions, and consider new global financing strategies.
• Strengthen Global Governance: Learn from leading multinationals by revitalizing strategies, scrutinizing governance models, and ensuring robust adherence, communication, and accountability from senior leadership down to local markets.

Download a complete copy of the report here: https://www.aon.com/en/insights/reports/global-benefits-trends-study