Written by Vicki Bauer, Content Marketing Manager
Glassdoor has released its coveted list of ‘Best Places to Work’ for 2025, and what struck me as I scrolled down through the top companies was a recognisable similarity among so many of them: outstanding employee benefits programmes. “Great people, phenomenal benefits…” read one summary. “Flexible schedule, great benefits…” read another, and “Benefits are phenomenal…” rounded out the top three companies on the list. This tells me that while every employee is different, this reinforces just how powerful the right benefits can be in shaping employee satisfaction and retention. As organisations look to stay competitive, keeping up with emerging employee benefit trends can be truly valuable to today’s workforce.
10 trending employee benefits to consider for your organisation in 2025
While the term ‘employer benefits’ most often brings to mind things like pension contributions, private medical insurance, and annual leave, there are so many more ‘perks’ that you can offer your employee base. By diversifying the portfolio and the breadth of benefits that you make available to employees, your organisation will gain a competitive advantage when it comes to recruiting, retaining top talent, and reducing turnover.
Below are 10 considerations to help bolster your 2025 employee benefits programme offerings:
1. Carer benefits
As life expectancies have increased, so has the need for extended care for the older population. Many employees find themselves not only being a caregiver to their own children, but also to an ageing parent or family member. Juggling so many responsibilities and different demands can be overwhelming, so employers should consider offering programmes that ease this burden. Employers can also provide access to support groups to connect employees to other professionals who are facing similar demands within their personal lives. Including support for carers in your employee benefits programme aligns with growing trends in employee benefits that prioritise holistic well-being and family support.
2. Affordable childcare
Nearly half of parents in a survey reported that they don’t have enough assistance when it comes to taking care of their loved ones. And even if they are able to secure adequate help, that cost can eat into their earnings significantly – up to 40% of their total household income. In response to this, one of the most impactful trending employee benefits is assistance with childcare. This can include on-site nurseries, contributions towards care costs, or even resources to help locate reliable and safe childcare for working parents. When you read statistics that 90% of parents lose sleep and 71% experience health issues as a result of childcare accessibility and cost, it becomes clear why this is emerging as a key focus in current employee benefits trends.
3. Financial planning and literacy
Most employees are not happy with their financial situations, and the demand for employers to provide some sort of financial education or support for managing your finances is growing louder. National Employee Benefits Day in the US highlighted this particular employee benefit trend, which the US Chamber of Commerce describes as “any benefit that would provide knowledge or relief in money-related areas, such as retirement funds or budget counselling.”
Chances are, unless you’re a financial expert, you could use a little guidance when it comes to personal budgeting, student loan applications or repayment, pensions, and emergency fund savings. Some employers are even taking it as far as helping employees to secure a mortgage or access to discounted interest rates. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans is calling employers’ attention to this knowledge gap and urging them to revisit or implement new financial wellness programmes in their organisations.
4. Maternity and paternity leave
Depending on which country you reside, this may sound bizarre as maternity and paternity leave has been a part of many employee benefit programmes for years. However, policies and laws for certain countries still vary widely, leaving parents – particularly mothers who are physically recovering from childbirth – in a position where they have minimal or no paid time off after having a baby.
In line with evolving trends in employee benefits, offering enhanced parental leave – even if there is no legislation in place requiring it – demonstrates genuine care for your employees during one of the most pivotal times of their lives. It’s a strategic move that supports retention and positive company culture.
5. Focused Fridays
Also known as ‘meeting-free Fridays’ in some organisations, this initiative sets aside one day per week where meetings are prohibited or strongly discouraged. It’s part of a growing movement in trending employee benefits that focuses on improving productivity and reducing burnout.
It can be so difficult to have uninterrupted, productive time when you’re constantly jumping from one meeting or call to another, so consider adding this policy to your employee benefits programme to help employees focus and catch up on their to-do list. Meeting-free days give your employees the peace of mind that they will have at least one day in their work week where they can make progress on the deliverables that have been added to their plate from a full schedule of meetings the days prior.
6. Company-wide wellness days
There are always nationally recognised holidays which are determined by country, but if you’re a global organisation, they rarely align for the entire company to be off at the same time. While it’s a welcome treat to have some time away from the demands of the job, if your colleagues in other countries are still working, chances are you’re coming back to a full inbox. By implementing company-wide wellness day(s) into your employee benefits programme, you’re eliminating this problem and allowing employees to fully embrace their time off without fearing the volume of to-dos they will come back to the next day.
7. Support for single parents
The number of births to unmarried women has grown significantly since the 1940s and 50s when that number was less than 10%. Nowadays it’s closer to 40%, but most employee benefit programmes lean heavily in favour of two-parent households. This is why countries like Spain, Australia, and Norway are working to change that by embracing inclusive trends in employee benefits and increasing the amount of leave available to single parents – even to the point of giving them equal parental leave as households with two parents. Given the unique challenges that raising a child alone can present, employers can consider offering their own version of it in their employee benefit programmes to support these individuals, even if their country does not mandate it at this time.
8. Calculated decisions on returning to the office
Years after terms like ‘lockdown’ and ‘social distancing’ have become all but obsolete, the discussion about returning to the office rages on as companies like Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Dell are calling employees back to the office five days a week. Many employees had become accustomed to the benefits of either a remote or hybrid schedule and the level of flexibility those arrangements can provide.
While the decision to come back to the office in some capacity will differ depending on country, industry, company, and role, employers should ensure that a return to the office is truly for benefits like intentional collaboration and increased employee engagement, not simply a way to justify expensive office leases or promote a culture of employer mistrust of their employees. Therefore, it is no surprise that flexibility continues to be one of the top employee benefit trends for organisations to consider in 2025.
9. Menopause benefits
Similar to the uphill battle that the discussion about mental health has faced, menopause was not a term you heard thrown around the office. But just because it hasn’t been talked about doesn’t mean that it isn’t taking a toll on the women within your workforce. And while this is still a fairly new trend in employee benefits programmes, offering menopause benefits – such as providing access to specialists who can help manage symptoms – can allow your organisation to stand out from competitors while having a positive impact on the women within your workforce experiencing this major hormonal and life shift.
10. Support for starting a family
While technically a number of benefits from this list can fall under this category, I wanted to highlight some non-traditional benefit offerings that are trending in 2025 for employees looking to start or expand their family. This can look vastly different from one employee to the next. Some may struggle with fertility issues and may need to explore IVF or surrogate options. Others may be walking through the fostering or adoption journey. Still others may be looking for affordable genetic testing choices. No matter the situation, it’s an added perk that this support can be applied to both married and single individuals, broadening your offerings and enhancing an inclusive climate.
These benefits are a testament to the evolving understanding of what ‘family’ looks like today. Therefore, employers offering counselling, mental health resources, and financial assistance for those navigating these unique paths is becoming increasingly recognised as a key feature of modern employee benefits.
Keeping up with trends in employee benefits
These days, employee benefits can do so much more than provide the basic pension contributions and annual leave allowances. While those will always be important and serve as the foundation of any effective employee benefits programme, there are so many additional options that you can make available to your workforce.
This list of trending employee benefits just scratches the surface of what you can include in your organisation’s offerings. Some may seem minor and others a large investment, but either way they can make a world of difference to the employees in which they were designed to help. Clearly the employee benefit programmes of the top-ranking companies on Glassdoor’s list helped earn them a spot on this virtual podium, and they may just help do the same for you – earning your company recognition as a top place to work in the future.
