Wendy: Yeah, no, I think you’re right on. Yes, this is a very unpredictable, for sure environment that we’re in, and we know that that typically sort of leads to insecurity, you know, with employees with people in general, which I think leads us to our first prediction because insecurity can kind of go either two ways, either you, you create a sense of belonging around this and create that sort of turmoil into an empathetic situation where a manager can support employees with what’s going on, and so for sure we’re going to see employers learn or lean more into, into the manager and manager training and upskilling managers to be able to support employees during this very difficult period of uncertainty. Or the other side of insecurity is the fact that it does create divisiveness, some, you know, issues from a work environment perspective, microaggressions unfortunately, we're kind of seeing some of that already, right, with not just with that external environment but with, you know, some, perhaps ill feelings of employees about having to come back full time, a soft labor market, all those things sort of creating some difficulty from a workplace environment perspective. So again, leaning into managers and supporting them and how they can create psychological safety in the workplace, I think it’s going to be another, you know, big area of action in 2025.
Regina: Yeah, I totally agree with you. It’s definitely one area we're hearing employers looking at. In fact, we expect employers will continue to you know, really rethink their wellbeing model, not so much the basics of the framework, physical, emotional, social and financial, but really what is prioritized and making smarter connections through career flex work, even digital wellbeing. And with all the headwinds on DEI, I think we’ll continue to see employers integrate their people priorities of wellbeing and DEI through a number of different pillars, such as women’s health issues and physical health, burnout and mental health, even caregiving as part of the social wellbeing tactics. What else do you think is going on, Wendy?
Wendy: Yeah, Regina, the, the talk about pillars, I think has to include something about financial wellbeing, right? We had great results from our wellbeing diagnostic survey last year, and there was also a really interesting corollary piece of research that we did with employee attitudes. So, when you look at both what employers are prioritizing and what employees’ needs were, we saw a big gap there, right? If you remember on financial wellbeing and so I can’t help but think 2025 is going to be a year where employers really double down on financial wellbeing. So both understanding more about the current state through some analytics, we can do some great analytics right around, you know, the financial state of employees, but also, you know, moving into more areas of support around basic, you know, financial, you know, coaching, education, awareness, debt management and continue all the way through, you know, the retirement savings. Some of the data showed, you know, employees don’t feel like they’re saving enough for retirement. So those are sort of pretty key areas of concern, I think for employers, this year in 2025 to help support employees to, to, to get better in that financial wellbeing realm.
Regina: Definitely, you know, if I think about technology and physical health, right, and maybe just evolution, you know, wellbeing is going to be a big part of the wellbeing equation in 2025 as these breakthroughs in healthcare happen. We have, and I’ll start with kind of the number one which is like life-changing pharmaceutical breakthroughs. You know, 2024 was the year of the GLP one, right? We'll continue to see, you know, where that goes to, not just, you know, how it addresses those that have diabetes and weight loss, but now, like how it will solve other issues and challenges that people have, like heart disease, sleep apnea, right? Other conditions will start to like unravel, but 2025, I think is going to be the big year of AI and wellbeing, right? And how is that AI experience going to help members navigate care, and also really support the medical professionals themselves and how they leverage for diagnosis and treatment. So, you’ve got research and technology kind of at this piece all coming together and how it’s going to impact employees hopefully for better health, better treatment. It may come with more costs, though unfortunately in the short term. What else are you hearing, Wendy?
Wendy: Yeah, I think, you know, that that makes me think a lot about the vendor space, right? And I think we’ve already seen some shifts in those vendor point solutions and the funding of them. So, if you don’t have, as you said, if you don't have AI in your vendor proposition, there’s probably not going to be as much funding. I think we’ve seen already some movement in that vendor space, some exiting completely, just can't make it work, others combining, you know, or acquisitions and mergers happening. So, I think that space is going to again be one to watch in 2025. I think employers are ready to optimize some of those, those vendors, you know, having 2030, 40 vendors is really a challenge to manage, you know, both understanding the services and how they're evolving, as well as all the contractual stuff, you know, privacy, confidentiality, data breaches, I think we're going to see M&A heat up in 2025 as well with our clients. And so, when you see two companies coming together with both with 20 or 30 vendors each, I think it's time for some optimization.
Regina: Yeah, I love that word optimization. I think that could wrap up our final predictions here. I mean, if we could finally emphasize measurement in 2025, what’s really working for employers and employees? Cost is a huge concern this year for both sides of that equation, and so we're going to really need to figure out what are we tracking, what's effective, what's not. I mean, the C-suite is asking for more questions about wellness, which is good, but they often want to see the proof points and we've seen a lot more organizations, including wellbeing and their sustainability reports, and that’s going to create a demand for more facts and figures. Great for an actuary like me, Wendy,
Wendy: Right? Great for not an actuary like me, too. So, all sorts of ways to address measurement, but that's great. No, thanks for your inputs. Thanks for listening to us. I think it's going to be a big year in wellbeing this year, Regina.
Regina: Yeah, I agree. Change is a constant, and we're constantly staying up on the trends. So, check back to our wtwco.com for frequent updates on our research, trends and solutions.
