Making Health and Wellness Benefits Perform: What Modern Card Infrastructure Changes

The performance of a benefits program hinges on its underlying infrastructure, not just training. A modern benefit card system ensures eligibility is checked, balances are displayed, and administration occurs in real time. When a transaction is correct, it clears instantly; when it's incorrect, it doesn't clear at all.

Before investing in new technology, finance leaders should quantify the benefits by considering four key elements: compliance, employee use, staff capacity, and the ability to add new programs. Instead of relying on industry averages, organizations should use their own data to determine the value a more advanced system would deliver.

Employers spend, on average, $46.60 per hour worked in benefits costs, with 30.1% of that amount, or $14.01 per hour worked, allocated to health coverage, retirement contributions, paid leave, and other programs. This means roughly one-third of an organization's total compensation expenses on its workforce is directed toward benefits.

Benefits programs, whether they're employer-sponsored health savings accounts (HSAs), government-funded assistance, or wellness stipends, aim to support the employees who use them. The effectiveness of these programs depends on three factors provided by the payment system: real-time controls, automatic eligibility checks, and a clear view of the funds for the participant. When these elements are missing, the consequences become evident in the numbers.

According to NFP's 2025 U.S. Benefits Trend Report, fewer than one-third of employees fully utilize their supplemental benefits, and 13% are unaware they even have them. When all three factors are present, the same budget can reach more employees in need.

Benefits represent a growing proportion of the cost of employing someone and act as a daily point of contact between an organization and its workforce. Therefore, managing benefits consistently throughout the year, not just during open enrollment, is crucial. Most HR leaders are aware of modern platforms' existence, but the real challenge lies in quantifying the potential benefits: better compliance, funds that are actually used, recovered administrative hours, and faster program launches. This analysis should be performed at the beginning of the decision process, not after.

There are four primary areas where a benefits program can generate value: total private-industry compensation costs, benefits versus wages, the stages of benefit processing, and the implementation of real-time controls and eligibility checks.

The premium line of a benefits program only showcases a portion of the value it controls and the potential savings it can generate. Modern systems optimize value at each step of the benefit process, from enrollment to reconciliation, resulting in significant savings that often go unnoticed in the premium line.

By implementing real-time controls and eligibility checks, organizations can eliminate errors and streamline the benefits process, leading to substantial cost savings and improved employee satisfaction.