4,000 employers: SHRM benchmarks turn benefits into a year-round contract discipline for 2026

SHRM points employers toward 2026 plan design discussions using benchmarking drawn from more than 4,000 U.S. organizations.

For HR and operations executives, the premise is straightforward: benchmarks can support a decision, but execution depends on vendor contracts and internal eligibility rules.

Benchmarks are becoming the benefit design change-control process

SHRM’s 2025 survey framing points to a set of practical, execution-focused changes rather than a shift in philosophy. SHRM’s session description says the webinar agenda includes moving away from high-deductible health plans, putting controls around both the cost and use of GLP-1 medications and specialty drugs, and integrating wellbeing, training and absence management strategies.

That list matters because each item forces a different internal workflow. Plan design and vendor changes can affect payroll deductions and employee communications. They can also require coordination across benefits, legal, procurement and HR operations, including how eligibility events are handled across vendors.

SHRM’s Better Workplaces Virtual Retreat, which hosts the benchmarking session on demand, is positioned around “stronger, more resilient workplaces in 2026 and beyond,” and promotes evidence-based conversations that challenge “outdated thinking,” according to SHRM’s event page.

GLP-1 cost control is pushing employers into PBM fine print

SHRM’s session description highlights benefits benchmarking based on data from 4,000+ employers nationwide, including benchmarks for medical, pharmacy and voluntary benefits, according to a SHRM affiliate event listing.

A local SHRM affiliate agenda reinforces that this is trickling into practitioner programming. The Anderson Area SHRM chapter’s September 2025 meeting description says it would cover “benchmarks for medical, pharmacy and voluntary benefits,” alongside “data analysis” from the benefits survey of 4,000+ employers nationwide, and a separate “US 2025 Workforce Trends Report” to be presented by a Gallagher speaker, according to the affiliate event listing.

Voluntary benefits and absence management are being treated as one portfolio

According to SHRM, its benchmarking data covers a Benefits Strategy and Benchmarking Survey from 4,000+ employers nationwide and includes benchmarks for medical, pharmacy and voluntary benefits, as well as well-being initiatives and absence management strategies. For employers, that kind of third-party baseline can help frame benefits decisions and the vendor conversations that follow.

The point for benefits leaders is not the age of any single metric, it is the mechanism: use benchmarks to lock decisions into workflows, timelines and vendor terms that can be audited. That is the thread running from SHRM’s workforce benchmarking mindset to PBM language, eligibility rules and the data governance needed to run plans year-round.

Where to press your vendors before the next plan year

• Medical plan design: Confirm what internal systems and teams will be affected if leadership is considering a plan design change.
• Voluntary benefits: Confirm how eligibility and enrollment files will be managed across vendors.
• Absence and wellbeing integration: Confirm what data can be exchanged and what processes are used to manage access.