21-07-2025
To Retain Top Talent, Treat Benefits As Culture—And Vice Versa
Andy Watts is the Chief Financial Officer for Brown & Brown, Inc.—ensuring financial discipline, value creation and operational excellence.
Salary might get talent in the door, but it rarely keeps them.
Increasingly, employees are evaluating companies based on the relevance and impact of their benefits. And rightly so, as they directly affect our quality of life, financial stability and sense of being valued at work.
That's why at my company, we see benefits strategy as a business imperative. As a CFO, it's not just about managing costs or checking compliance boxes. It's about building a workplace that attracts, supports and retains great people.
Like any strategic investment, benefits require more than annual budgeting. They demand ongoing evaluation, smart allocation and a feedback loop that connects employee needs with financial discipline.
So what does that look like in practice?
Here's a framework that blends financial oversight with cultural alignment—and ensures benefits work as hard for the business as they do for our people.
Prioritize impact over volume.
Start by asking your teammates what matters to them. Each year, we run an employee survey to gather honest feedback. One of the first things we heard was the need for better mental health support, so we acted on that. After that came more requests for IVF, adoption and surrogacy benefits, all within a couple of years.
We also gather input through employee resource groups (ERGs), which can be a powerful feedback loop. When culture fosters open dialogue, you gain the insights necessary to make high-impact decisions. And when you invest in benefits people truly value and use, you can focus resources where they'll deliver the greatest return on investment (ROI) for your team and your bottom line.
Benchmark for relevance, not just cost.
Benchmarking will help you understand which benefits matter, not just how much others spend. Understanding how our benefits compare in terms of relevance, creativity and optionality means looking at larger companies, but also smaller and more entrepreneurial ones that are trying out bold new ideas.
Less of a formula and more of an art, the gold is in finding the right mix of benefits that align with your company values, support your teammates and drive business value simultaneously. Data can guide you, but ultimately, it comes down to judgment and a clear understanding of where your investment yields the most strategic ROI.
Use plan design to influence behavior.
You'll want your benefits to support the right behaviors, like getting preventative care or staying in-network. Design can drive that. But I've been surprised by how often great benefits go unused. Nearly 30% of total compensation in the U.S. goes toward employee benefits, yet much of that investment goes underutilized and underappreciated.
For example, many skip their annual checkups even when they're covered. As leaders, it's incumbent on us to do more than simply offer benefits—we have to equip people to use them wisely. When we do, better health outcomes and reduced downstream costs, like avoidable emergency room visits or chronic condition escalations, are the result.
Adapt in real time—not just at renewal.
You won't always get it right. We rolled out plans we thought were well-designed, only to discover that we missed the mark on certain components. Once, we tried a single-plan model to simplify selection. Ultimately, that lasted one year. People did, in fact, want more choice, even if the feedback initially did not indicate that. While it may be impossible to reroute midyear, that feedback can fuel a better strategy next year.
Beyond a once-a-year conversation, we continually examine our benefits strategy. Claims data, cost trends, teammate feedback—it all feeds into how we optimize in real time, not just at annual renewal. This agility helps us identify inefficiencies early, reallocate spending where it's working and avoid surprises at year-end.
Communicate like it's a benefit.
You can have the best-designed plan in the world, but it's not a true benefit if no one understands it.
We've started building persona-based communications—videos and messages tailored to meet the generations in our workforce where they are. Tying messages to life events makes it easy for people to engage and connect with the offering in a way that feels personal. With clarity, not complexity, as our goal, we try to avoid unutilized benefits from becoming a missed opportunity and a sunk cost.
Build benefits like you build culture.
Your benefits reflect how much you care about your people. They're your culture in action. And culture fuels retention.
Finance leaders can and should bring discipline to benefits strategy, but we also need to bring curiosity, creativity and a people-first mindset. When we treat benefits like an investment and manage them accordingly, building something far more valuable than a spreadsheet is possible: a workplace that people want to be part of.
The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
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