From highly personalized benefits experiences to artificial intelligence, our industry evolved at a rapid pace in 2022. Through it all, Noyo was fortunate enough to work with outstanding clients and partners who helped us raise the bar not only for ourselves, but for the industry as a whole.

As we start the new year, I want to highlight the themes that will have an outsized impact on the benefits industry. Here they are in no particular order.

Four ways group benefits will change in 2023

A stronger emphasis on benefits 

The job market is expected to remain relatively strong in an otherwise volatile economy. While the unemployment rate is expected to jump from the current half-century low of 3.7% to 4.6% in 2023, due in part to the Federal Reserve’s rapid rate hikes, an increase of such magnitude would be the lowest of any downturn in history. 

Employee benefits will continue to be an important tool for attracting and retaining talent. In 2023, benefits design and delivery will involve more than the traditional HR leaders and their benefits design partners. I believe we’ll see a significant increase in participation by additional C-level leaders and even more attention paid to employee feedback and input. 

As employers focus on allocating tighter budgets to the highest impact areas, measuring the impact of benefits programs will be essential. Now is the time for industry stakeholders to make sure their value is measurable and clearly understood, supported by data that is as robust, complete, and accurate as possible.

Fewer one-size-fits-all benefits structures

Like it or not, the pandemic continues to reshape work in the U.S. and around the world. In 2022, the Pew Research Center reported 60% of workers want to work from home all or most of the time. And in 2023, employers may even have to deconstruct the very definition of working remotely, as employers see the rise of “digital nomads” and scheduling models such as “workcations” which allow employees to combine work with travel or time with family.

Benefits packages designed for locally based employees with similar lifestyles simply don’t cut it anymore. To attract and retain valuable talent, savvy employers will consider packages that allow coverage across multiple states and countries that best serve their increasingly distributed workforce.

Evolving demographics also make the case for more flexible benefits structures. Retiring baby boomers will increase the need for elder care benefits while younger generations now expect more support for mental health and financial planning. We’ll also see a rise in fertility-related benefits and pet insurance, among others.

A faster pace for the industry

Judging by the advancements seen in 2022, some of which I reference below, I think our industry will continue to accelerate its pace of change. Enabled by the transformation of the underlying infrastructure that drives productivity, we’ll see the time it takes to manage common benefits-related activities be significantly reduced. Our partners are already seeing this on top of the Noyo platform.

Employers who have invested in technology that supports seamless digital connectivity and unified, clean data will see big returns on investment when it comes to processes involving benefits administrators, employees, carriers, and benefits software vendors. Updating employees’ coverage during open enrollment or qualifying life events — activities that have traditionally relied on paper-based faxing, outdated technology, and manual data entry — will be counted in hours instead of weeks. While cleaner, faster data will unlock valuable savings and insights for many stakeholders, the real winners are consumers who will have more reliable access to their benefits.

Enhanced benefits experiences

We all know that happier employees mean happier customers. Investing in meaningful employee development, corporate culture, employee recognition and support, and creating a fun work environment are all components of creating what has been known as a great employee experience.

A top-notch benefits delivery model is a natural extension of delivering that employee experience. Fortunately, technology is standing by to actualize the same positive vibes employees commonly get from their favorite online retailers, financial institutions, and even ride-sharing applications. 

Imagine having an app that delivers all the key benefits details: which doctors are in-network, how much has been paid toward the deductible or co-pay, and exactly what services are covered across all benefits, including healthcare, dental, vision, and more. Innovations like these are only possible with easy-to-use, reliable data that can be safely shared across systems. As a result, the all-in-one portals that combine HRIS, payroll, and benefits will continue gaining traction in 2023 and beyond.

Building on past successes to address evolving trends

At Noyo, we are fortunate to work with innovative clients and partners who work every day to raise the bar for benefits.

Reflecting on some of Noyo’s accomplishments from 2022

1. Together with investors, Noyo announced our $45 million Series B funding round — a powerful validation of Noyo’s technology and mission to unite the group benefits ecosystem with trusted data and deliver modern, frictionless benefits experiences.
   
   

2. Thanks to deep integrations with partners across our network, we monitored health coverage for hundreds of thousands of families. In 2022, we enhanced our pioneering Sync technology, which monitors health coverage across multiple systems to detect potential issues before they become a problem. Last year alone, Noyo’s software proactively detected and resolved issues that could have negatively impacted the health coverage of tens of thousands of families.
   
   

3. We also launched several industry-first products including automated billing for insurance carriers, user-friendly tools to configure benefits plans, and faster connectivity across our robust network of insurance carriers.
   
   

4. Last year we delivered best-in-class open enrollment experiences, managing benefits renewals for 250,000+ policies that renewed during the peak of open enrollment while processing more than 95% of enrollment decisions in less than one day.
   
   

5. The Noyo team also grew in 2022. To best serve our rapidly growing customer base, we doubled our team and cultivated a diverse, dedicated, and distributed workforce with a presence across 28 states.
   
   

6. Our customers experienced substantial operational gains by automating workflows and benefitting from cleaner, actionable data. This included processing and verifying member changes in four days or less, as well as delivering substantially faster error resolution through proactive monitoring and turnkey reconciliation reports.

A renewed focus on better benefits for all

Reflecting on the last year is always rewarding, especially when so many of these achievements were due to the hard work of many people both inside and outside an organization. I am proud of the collaborative and creative group we work with every day.  

In 2023, our partners can count on us to continue to solve the most chronic and deep-seated problem in the benefits industry: a lack of unified, synced, and clean data, which impacts people’s ability to access benefits when they need them the most. Together, we’ll meet this challenge head on.