Mental health and the financial wellbeing of employees are top benefit priorities for employers in Ireland
Employers across Ireland are focusing now, and in the coming years, on employee well-being and maximizing the value of the benefits they provide via their employee benefits offering. The findings are part of the latest Benefit Trends Survey by WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. The global research is conducted every two years across 105 markets, including Ireland.
With cost issues intensifying, employers in Ireland are recalibrating spend to maximise value with 39% focused on reallocating spend to get more value from current investments. Furthermore, 56% are now focused on getting more value from vendors or potentially switching service providers. Overall, the 2025 Benefits Trends Survey shows that increasing benefit costs are a key business issue for 61% of employers in Ireland.
In terms of maximizing value with their benefits portfolio, 61% of employers in Ireland are looking to expand benefit choice over the next three years. With regard to costs, over half (56%) plan to enhance value or switch to better-value vendors across health, retirement and risk benefits and 15% plan to increase employee contributions to retirement plans. Employers in Ireland also plan to get greater value from their own benefits teams, through a focus on total rewards (53%) and 35% upskilling their benefits teams across analytics, data, legislation etc. Finally, 49% plan to use cost forecasting and risk analytics over the next three years, an increase from 21% today.
Commenting on the research findings, Orlagh Farrington, Head of Health of Benefits at WTW in Ireland said; “Issues concerning cost are impacting businesses across Ireland, which is certainly evident in the way they are approaching the costing and value gained from employee benefits. It is interesting to note however that the latest Benefit Trends Survey clearly shows a recognition among employers for a need to balance prudent expenditure with ensuring an offering that can attract and retain talent.
“As such, the research shows that employers in Ireland are becoming more aware of purpose and values, and wellbeing, in shaping their benefits packages. For example, in 2025, 27% of businesses would describe their employee benefits as values driven, 29% as employee wellbeing focused, and 44% as market competitive. In the next three years, this is set to evolve, with 41% focused on values, 44% on well-being and only 15% on market competitive. Overall, this evolution is one that indicates a strategic focus not only cost but also on future competitiveness.”
The 2025 Benefit Trends research also looked at the benefits priority areas for businesses in Ireland over the next three years. Providing additional commentary, Orlagh Farrington noted; “The research shows that employers in Ireland are very much focused on tangible benefits, with a desire to help employees get the most value from their core benefits. For example, 46% of employers in Ireland see mental health benefits as a priority area, 34% for retirement benefits, 29% for financial well-being and 27% have cited health benefits as an area of priority. It is worth noting that employers are taking a strategic view, one that focuses on these benefits and others, over the next three years. Overall, this combination of tangible impact and longer-term sustainability, is an approach we at WTW would advocate to provide certainty to employers and impactful benefits for employees.”
About the survey
The 2025 Benefit Trends Survey was conducted from early March to mid-April. Respondents include 41 employers in Ireland, representing over 41,000 employees across a broad range of industries in both the private and public sector.
