Cost containment has jumped to the top of the list of multinationals’ employee benefits priorities. “But delivering employee value has surged to the forefront of the strategic agenda, now ranking among the top three objectives for benefits leaders,” say authors of the 2025 Global Benefits Trends Study from Aon plc.

The report says companies are struggling to meet the rising demand for personalized benefits, despite the fact that 65 per cent of employees at multinational companies would trade current benefits for more choice. Only 14 per cent of the companies surveyed had global guidelines in place to support personalization. Only one in four said they would consider reducing benefits that are less valued by employees as a means of managing costs. 

“Multinational companies are under mounting pressure to offer personalized, inclusive benefits – yet most lack the governance, tools or frameworks to deliver at scale,” Aon adds in a statement about the study’s publication.

They say cost management is the top priority for 70 per cent of the 518 multinational companies surveyed. The report warns that the focus can create blind spots and a disproportionate focus on factors like medical inflation.

Michael Pedel, head of global benefits at Aon, says while employee expectations have risen, the tools and governance structures to meet them haven’t kept pace. “To deliver real value, organizations must think beyond cost containment,” he says.

Leading companies in the survey – those with a global benefits strategy that meets their objectives and access to comprehensive data in most countries – were more than twice as likely to use technology to enable personalized experiences. “Only one in six benefits teams currently use artificial intelligence (AI) to support benefits design or delivery. That figure is expected to nearly triple by 2027, but adoption is still limited by legacy systems, governance challenges and organizational readiness,” they write. 

While ensuring efficient cost management was the number one strategic priority across all segments and regions, up from number three in the 2024 global survey conducted by Aon’s researchers, ensuring that employee benefits are highly valued, which did not appear in the 2024 survey, came in at number three this year. “For leading companies, this is the number one strategic priority.”