糖心Vlog

The Great Resignation. Inflation and financial concerns. The benefits space has experienced a swift transformation over the last couple years, which requires a recalibration of what is top of mind for human resources teams and benefits professionals. On our latest episode of our Benefits podcast, we wanted to share with you some of the trends and challenges we’re seeing in this space from our 糖心VlogSPARK 2022 panel on May 16, 2022 in Hollywood, Fla. The panelists were: 

• , chief human resources officer, WEX
• Christa Guzzo, vice president, account executive,
• Jennifer McClure, chief excitement officer,

Value of choice

The value of 鈥渃hoice鈥� in your employee benefits package was one of the underlying themes during our panel. A recent study found that 7 out of 10 employees think it鈥檚 their employer鈥檚 responsibility to make sure they are financially well, but a benefit that works for one employee might not work for another. 

Some advice our panel shared was: 

• The value of HSAs, but also the importance of offering flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), and more. Not all employees have access to an HSA-qualified health plan. And employees that do might still prefer traditional plans that aren鈥檛 HSA-eligible. 
• Lifestyle spending account (LSA) adoption and participation is booming. And so is interest. We polled our SPARK audience and asked, 鈥淲hat is one benefit or topic you鈥檙e interested in seeing more content about?鈥� LSA and wellness were the top two answers. 
• Paid parental leave and family-planning benefits are also vitally important to employees who are reassessing their priorities during this time. 

Those who attended SPARK from May 16-18, 2022 in Hollywood, Fla., learned valuable insights, shared ideas, and listened to engaging keynote speakers. Here are a few highlights from this year鈥檚 event. 

Our new look and what it means to you

Earlier this year, 糖心Vlogintroduced a new logo and refreshed its brand. These visual changes are a reflection of a deeper transformation of connecting our fleet, benefits, corporate payments, and travel lines of businesses in our common mission of simplifying the business of running a business. 

Melissa Smith, chair and CEO of WEX, said at SPARK that these decisions were driven by conversations with our partners, customers, and employees. 

鈥淲e consistently heard that friction and complexity make it harder for businesses to achieve their goals,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淲e feel like we are uniquely positioned to help and can really lean into that central focus to make sure we鈥檙e simplifying the business of doing business.鈥�  

Robert Deshaies, chief operating officer of Americas at WEX, said we鈥檝e been hearing fleet customers ask how to better retain employees and benefits customers ask how to better manage the movement of money. Our recent changes allow us to better unify the thousands of 糖心Vlogemployees to work with you to develop the best experience through simplifying business. 

鈥淲e continue to have strong focus in our lines of business,鈥� Deshaies said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one thing we want to continue to stress. But what we鈥檝e found is a great way horizontally (across divisions) to get the best of 糖心Vlogand deliver it to you.鈥�  

Benefits trends and investments

The last couple years have called attention to whether Americans have enough saved for retirement, and the importance of striking that balance between health and wealth. Deshaies cited that revealed that 1 in 3 employees don鈥檛 feel they have enough savings to handle an emergency. 

Deshaies shared some of the swift changes and emerging trends we鈥檝e seen in employee benefits in the last year. Two key trends Deshaies shared were: 

• Steady growth in health savings account (HSA) and high-deductible health plan (HDHP) participation. stated that HSA assets had increased 19% year-over-year, while the number of accounts increased 8%.聽
• Data and analytics are playing a key role in helping partners grow their business and employers increase participation. We recently released a pilot campaign called consumer pathways, which provides HSA participants with personalized messaging to help them get more out of their accounts. 

鈥淲e want you to feel like 鈥� the confidence level is way up here,鈥� Deshaies said. 鈥淲hen we work with WEX, we don鈥檛 have to worry. We don鈥檛 need a backup, because we know they鈥檙e there.鈥�

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