Mission: Impossible? – Benefit Transparency, the Final Reckoning

Cue the theme song: ♫ Dun-dun dada dun-dun dada dun-dun dada dun dun dununnuuah… dununnuuah!♫

“Good morning, Benefits Manager. The well-being of your workforce and their families depend on your ability to navigate a labyrinth of healthcare options, compliance regulations and budget constraints – all before open enrollment starts.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: craft a benefits package that is cost-effective, compliant with IRS and DOL guidelines, and so attractive it boosts retention by at least 15%. You must negotiate with vendors, decode and compare highly complex carrier offerings, and make sense of a barrage of data points and statistics that don’t match up and never meet expectations.

Failure to deliver could result in disgruntled employees, high turnover, and endless HR tickets titled questioning the very solutions you struggled so hard to find, evaluate, propose and implement.

As always, if you or your team are caught miscommunicating plan changes, leadership will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck.”

♫ Dun-dun dada dun-dun dada dun-dun dada dun dun dununnuuah… dununnuuah!♫

Is benefit transparency a truly impossible mission?

The sequence emphasizes the imminent and high stakes nature of delivering an annual benefit package that does the impossible: lowers costs, delivers high-quality benefits that employees appreciate, and keep the HR department out of hot water. But Tom Cruise isn’t here to help. No biggie. You’ve done this before…

But, over the past few years, while employee benefits have evolved from operational necessities into strategic imperatives, the landscape has become ever more complex and mercurial.

Employers have invested heavily in platforms and partnerships designed to improve access, enhance well-being, and control costs.

But increasingly, many are stepping back and asking a deceptively simple question: What did we actually get?
And more often than not, the answer isn’t crystal clear.

This isn’t a one-off observation. It’s a widely shared sentiment. In its 2025 report on employer healthcare strategies, the Business Group on Health found that more than 70% of large employers are dissatisfied with their vendors’ transparency around pricing and performance outcomes.¹

In other words, this frustration isn’t personal. It’s systemic.

While vendors continue to offer dashboards and data, many employers report that the metrics they receive don’t meet their expectations — or worse, don’t reflect meaningful outcomes at all. Behind the numbers, there’s a growing disconnect between what’s promised and what’s delivered.

The quiet frustration behind the dashboards

Benefits leaders today navigate a vendor landscape that’s never been more crowded or complex. The average organization is juggling multiple programs, each with its own reports, engagement metrics, and performance decks.

Yet, despite all the reporting, basic questions often remain unanswered:

• Are our people healthier?

• Are these solutions making a measurable impact?

• Can we demonstrate value to our leadership team?

The same Business Group on Health report noted that a majority of employers plan to increase expectations for vendors to demonstrate improved outcomes and validate their performance claims — a signal that the era of general reporting is coming to a close.¹

Partnerships in this new era of employee benefits will be built on shared agreement and clarity about measurement, outcomes and real accountability.

What employers want now: transparency and accountability

The shift happening in the market isn’t about demanding perfection. It’s about building better partnerships. Employers want transparency not because they’re skeptical, but because they’re invested. They want to understand what’s working so they can do more of it.

We’re seeing this across the board:

• Clear pricing models that eliminate hidden fees and fine print.

• Outcome metrics that reflect real-world goals — not just activity or satisfaction.

• Shared accountability, where vendors help shape the targets, not just deliver the slides.

The ask isn’t outrageous it’s reasonable: Give us the tools to know what’s working, and the space to make it better together.

Vendors who lead with transparency are winning trust

Forward-thinking vendors aren’t resisting this shift. They’re embracing it.

They’re showing their work. They’re surfacing gaps early. They’re involving employers in co-designing success and making space for honest dialogue along the way.

They understand that long-term relationships are built on credibility, not convenience. And they know that trust comes from saying, “Here’s what we’re seeing, and here’s what we’re doing about it.”

In a competitive market, that kind of transparency is a differentiator. And more and more, it’s becoming non-negotiable.

A transparency checklist for employers

Want to know if your vendor relationships are built for transparency and accountability? Start here:

✅ Pricing is straightforward and fully explained in writing. No hidden fees or vague add-ons.
✅ Outcomes are clearly defined, and both sides agree on what success looks like.
✅ Reporting includes context, not just data, explaining the “why” behind the numbers.
✅ You have access to raw or real-time data, not just polished year-end decks.
✅ There’s room for feedback and iteration, not just renewal conversations.
✅ The vendor is proactive about discussing what’s not working and what they’re doing about it.
✅ Metrics reflect impact, not just activity (e.g., behavior change, reduced friction, improved well-being).

If you can’t check most of these boxes, you’re not alone, but it may be time to revisit what partnership really means.

The opportunity in front of us

Right now, benefits teams have a powerful opportunity to redefine what success looks like and to build relationships that prioritize clarity, honesty, and shared goals.

At Humankind, we believe transparency is one of the most human values there is. It signals trust. It invites partnership. And it keeps people at the center of every decision.

Because at the end of the day, we’re not just measuring programs. We’re measuring the lives we impact.

And that’s a responsibility worth taking seriously.

Our take: Benefits transparency is not an impossible mission

So, while difficult, we don’t think that the mission to solve transparency with employee benefit vendors is impossible, but it certainly requires purpose, resolve and a well thought-out plan to ensure you get regular access to meaningful metrics to ensure value for your employees and organization.

¹ Source: Business Group on Health. “2025 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy Survey.” Released 2024.