When a loved one dies, a pregnancy is lost, or a serious diagnosis lands, most employees uncover the true value of their workplace benefits—not in the enrollment brochure, but during the worst week of their lives.
Increasingly, they’re finding those benefits don’t measure up.
Research from Empathy’s 2026 Workplace Benefits Report, shared exclusively with Fortune, underscores a “clear gap” between what workers need during major life disruptions and what employers actually provide. Their study shows 95% of employees say bereavement-related benefits are valuable to them, but fewer employers plan to expand that support this year.
“Our new research shows workplace benefits are falling short during life’s most disruptive moments,” Ron Gura, cofounder and CEO of Empathy, told Fortune. “It spotlights a critical shift: Benefits success is now defined by support during major life events, with bereavement support as the clearest, most urgent opportunity.”
Empathy, a workplace benefits tech company, surveyed more than 5,500 employees and benefits decision-makers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
The vast majority of employees now say they expect their companies to show up when life falls apart, and not just in routine ways like offering gym benefits or standard health insurance. Yet, many benefits packages are still built for what companies deem as a standard lifestyle, the study shows.
“For decades, benefits have been designed around work and life as if they were not interconnected,” Gura said. “Employers offered health insurance, retirement plans, and wellbeing benefits—tools meant to address predictable needs.”
But now employees want to get down to the nitty gritty: They want benefits addressing family support, financial stability, and emotional health, according to the study. This trend is evident in a recent example of how an employee called for their workplace to offer a benefit they could actually use in their everyday life, but would make a real difference in their mental health and family life.
Christina Le, the head of marketing at social media content creation platform Slate, had posted generally on LinkedIn about mental health, burnout, and work-life balance, and offered a suggestion for a workplace benefit employees could actually use: home-cleaning services.
“If companies are refreshing benefits this year, here’s a free idea: Add a cleaning service stipend,” she wrote.
The next day, human resources at her company heeded her call. The company now offers employees a $200 home cleaning benefit once per month, and the funds are added to a Ramp card for them to use, or employees can request reimbursement for the expense.
“Many wellness benefits are framed as adding more to your schedule—go to the gym, book a class, make time for therapy,” Le told Fortune. “Those things matter, but they don’t remove the everyday mental load people are carrying. Your house is still messy. Dinner still needs to happen. Childcare logistics don’t disappear.”
“When you take something off people’s plates, you give them real breathing room,” Le added.
A new employee-employer compact on benefits
Expectations for life-event support are rising, with nearly half of employees expecting formal employer support during major disruptions. But despite the nearly unanimous percentage of employees saying they value bereavement-related benefits, the study says not nearly enough employers are planning to expand that support in the coming year.
And the need is growing: Empathy finds a 50% increase in employees globally who have experienced a major life disruption in the past two years, while MetLife data shows one in four employees each year are dealing with an immediate loss.
Gura suggests it would take more than offering a few days off to satisfy employees with bereavement benefits. Rather, it would include adequate time off, access to emotional and logistical support, supportive managers, and policies that recognize diverse family structures.
And while about 80% of employers expect benefits budgets to increase this year, incremental investment won’t resolve the underlying problem that employees aren’t satisfied with their workplace benefits.
There’s also been a push from employees to make bereavement policies more inclusive—recognizing chosen family, nontraditional relationships, and different cultural practices around mourning. That inclusivity reflects a broader shift in how companies think about benefits: less as a static menu of perks, and more as a dynamic expression of care that evolves with employees’ lives.
“Bereavement care should not be thought about as a splurge or a perk,” Gura said. “It is an important tool for improving employee well-being and supporting employees at work.”
By actually boosting benefits where employees need them most, employers can improve employee engagement, retention, and overall performance, Gura added.
But to get there, it will also take clearer, more accessible policies and processes. The Empathy study shows ultilization and understanding of benefits remain a challenge, with about one-fourth of employees citing difficulty understanding benefits, accessing information, and navigating benefits complexity. This shows “where benefits often fail at the moment of need,” according to the study.
