SHRM's 2026 Survey: Health, Leave and AI-Tool Benefit Gains
SHRM released its 2026 Employee Benefits Survey findings on June 17, 2026, based on 5,472 responses collected from HR professionals between January and March 2026. The survey found gains in paid parental leave and employer-sponsored AI tool subscriptions, alongside a decline in employers offering prescription drug coverage bundled with health insurance.
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Key takeaways
Employer-sponsored AI tool subscriptions jumped 17 percentage points to 33% in 2026.
Paid parental leave grew to 46% of employers, and paid maternity leave beyond legal minimums reached 44%.
Bundled prescription drug coverage fell 16 points to 77%, while third-party pharmacy management programs grew to 23%.
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SHRM released findings from its 2026 Employee Benefits Survey on June 17, 2026, at its annual conference in Orlando. The survey, which SHRM has run annually since 1996, drew 5,472 responses from HR professionals collected between January 28 and March 23, 2026, according to SHRM.
What the survey found
SHRM reported that 88% of employers rated health benefits as very or extremely important, and 82% said the same of retirement and leave benefits. The portion of employers offering fully insured health plans slipped from 70% to 67%, while self-insured plans grew from 27% to 29%, per SHRM.
Employer-sponsored AI tool subscriptions climbed to 33% of employers, up 17 percentage points from 2025, SHRM said. Paid parental leave reached 46% of employers, up 7 points; paid maternity leave beyond legal minimums hit 44%, up 6 points; and paid family leave rose to 36%, up 5 points, according to SHRM's figures.
On cost, SHRM found that bundled prescription drug coverage within health plans fell from 93% to 77% of employers, while third-party pharmacy management programs rose from 18% to 23%. Flextime during core hours dropped six points and hybrid work fell three points, while 27% of employers began offering limited-time work-from-anywhere arrangements, SHRM reported.
Separate reporting on the survey
Employee Benefit News, covering the same SHRM survey, reported that employers still rank healthcare, flexibility, financial wellness, caregiving support and skill development as priorities, and noted gaps remain in caregiving and well-being support. The publication did not quantify those gaps in the portion of its coverage available without a subscription.
SHRM's survey page states the 2026 edition tracks more than 230 individual benefits and added questions this year on GLP-1 medication coverage, per-plan health insurance costs, and flexible arrangements such as limited-time remote work policies.
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