As we step into 2025, the pace of change and technological innovation is faster than ever. From the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the growing emphasis on employee health and wellbeing, the trends shaping HR this year reflect the changing priorities of both organizations and employees. We asked our clients what they thought were the top HR trends of 2024, shedding light on the innovations and challenges that are reshaping the industry.
Trends in 2024: Targeted Health Programs
One of our clients, a large energy company, focused on heart health in 2024.
"The biggest benefits and wellness priority for us was highlighting the importance of heart health. Several individuals experienced heart attacks, others had heart-related conditions, and unfortunately there were a few deaths. It impacted our organization not just at a personal level but also financially. We did a big push with our communications partner to get the message out there for those who could be more at risk, about how to mitigate the risks associated with high blood pressure," according to the energy company.
Another client, a large manufacturing firm, focused on expanding its wellbeing programs, including tobacco cessation and wellness screenings.
According to the manufacturing firm, "In 2024 and even before that, we put a lot of focus on wellbeing. We introduced a tobacco medical rate a couple of years ago. Recently, we launched a wellness premium reduction for employees who complete both a health survey and a wellness activity, like a physical screening."
SmartFHR™ enables employers to offer wellness programs and empower employees to track their engagement with benefits. Through in-app notifications, text messages, and more, employers encourage their population to complete important health assessments and access important health information.
Priorities for 2025
Our clients have several priorities and goals for 2025.
According to the energy company, "First, working in conjunction with the HR team, we want to improve mental wellness and to decrease the stigma for asking and getting assistance with our population. This means having managers proactively lookout for signs and continue to speak about it openly. It is something we are taking a stronger approach to in 2025.
"Secondly, we are emphasizing urgent care versus emergency room care. Finally, we are focusing on musculoskeletal injury prevention to reduce our claims and our short-term disability cases or at least shortening their length helping people get healthier sooner and back to work."
This organization plans to continue to leverage digital channels, with educational popups in SmartFHR™, as well as "old school" approaches, like targeted specialty mailings, to make lifestyle changes to achieve their goals.
With rising healthcare costs, one client - a specialty retailer - aims to prioritize healthy outcomes and lowering costs for employees and the organization. Certain conditions - diabetes, cardiovascular, cancers and digestive conditions - tend to be the highest drivers of costs, so this employer will be promoting several targeted programs to address these issues.
According to a large retailer client, "We have been utilizing our partnership with Green Circle Life on the preventative front, offering employees incentives for completing their annual physicals and complete preventative screenings, such as for mammograms or colonoscopies. We also offer a wellness assessment questionnaire through the app to check on employees' general state of wellbeing, including mental, physical, financial and spiritual, and offer them guidance along with incentives to make healthy choices."
A client who is a manufacturing firm will focus on holistic wellness this year. "In 2025, we are putting more emphasis on chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Being in the manufacturing industry, we have a high claim volume in that area. Focusing on women's health care, such as the maternity side and menopause is also a top priority. Finally, we are launching an emergency savings program in the first quarter of 2025 to incentivize employees to save through payroll deduction. We want to help employees grow emergency savings because we know that is an issue in our industry."
The Role of SmartFHR
Digital HR technology makes an enormous difference for organizations. SmartFHR™ is a proven employee engagement platform designed to enhance workplace wellness, employee productivity and employee happiness. The platform centralizes benefits, health management and HR tools in one intuitive app, enabling employees and their families to access resources, track progress, and communicate effectively for a healthier, more connected workforce.
"We offer all these great employee benefits, but every benefit has their own app, and we cannot inundate employees with everything all the time," according to the manufacturing firm. "SmartFHR™ is very beneficial for us because it provides a one-stop shop. The platform enables us to send emails, notifications, and text messages to targeted populations. Even from an inclement weather perspective, we can easily notify the targeted groups within that platform."
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