March 27, 2025
Kimberly George, Global Chief Brand Officer, is back in the podcast booth, this time speaking with David Setzkorn, MBA, CPCU, Senior Vice President Workforce Absence & Disability Practice Leader.
Their conversation focused on employee benefits in 2025 and the importance of going beyond what is expected from a company’s benefits to attract and retain the best employees.
Some key takeaways from the discussion include:
- The evolution of Paid Leave:
- Statutory disability benefits have been around since the 1940s, but only five states – California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island – offer that leave policy. Over the past few years, companies across all 50 states have begun offering some combination of Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Paid Parental Leave (PPL), Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML), but employers recognize that that isn’t enough anymore.
- Rather than just having benefits that focus on bonding with a new child, employees are looking for parental leave to be able to care for aging parents. As a result, an evolution of parental leave is becoming more evident as it shifts to either becoming paid family leave or a separate family care benefit being offered in the market.
- Understanding generational differences and needs in your employees:
- For employers, it’s important to understand the demographics of their workforce and adjust benefits accordingly. While younger demographics may want family leave to bond with a new child as they begin their families, older employees may prefer family leave to care for aging parents.
- The emergence of voluntary benefits
- Benefits, like various forms of parental and/or family leave, have come to be expected by employees over the past several years. But what will really help set a company apart as a workplace are the types of voluntary benefits offered. What’s on the rise? Pet insurance, legal assistance for setting up wills, and financial planning assistance to help set up 529 education plans.
- Mental health-related benefits are critical
- The majority of employers today are offering some kind of Employee Assistance Program to help employees deal with mental health challenges. In Sedgwick’s book of business, mental health is the number two claim type behind pregnancy, and it continues to outpace other claims.
The full episode can be found here
