Employees are expecting updated benefits from their employers in 2026, and more than that, they are willing to restart their job search if they don’t receive them. Their priorities include customizable benefits coverage, wellness programs, remote work benefits, culturally supportive workplaces, cost-effective plans, and more.
Business owners, HR leaders, and other organizational decision-makers can follow the trends of employee expectations, but rising premiums and compliance changes present new challenges. Factoring in Hawaiʻi’s regulations makes careful planning essential to help employers maintain employee satisfaction while keeping finances and compliance on track.
In this article, business leaders will learn about the 5 most prominent employee benefits trends in Hawaiʻi, including actionable strategies that are innovative, maximize retention, and help manage costs in 2026 and beyond.
Trend 1: Employee Wellness Programs
Employee wellness is a core trend in commercial health benefits from the perspectives of both employees and employers. For employees, 87% of whom reported being open to leaving an organization that did not invest in their well-being, wellness programs are a source of loyalty, work-life balance, and productivity.
For employers, wellness programs can provide cost savings in the long run by reducing healthcare plan usage and increasing worker satisfaction. Recent Gallup data shows that 75% of medical costs are due to preventable conditions, and 15-20% of payroll costs are a result of voluntary turnovers, often due to burnout. By investing in employee wellness programs, employers can make their benefits plans more competitive, innovative, and cost-efficient.
Hawaiʻi-Specific Strategy: Many employers across the U.S. offer smoking cessation programs, but Hawaiʻi ranks among the ten lowest states for tobacco use, so this benefit may not always be needed, depending on the workforce. Instead, employees in Hawaiʻi are much more receptive to on-site and remote fitness classes and other active workplace health promotion activities.
Trend 2: Flexible Work Arrangements
Like many states, Hawaiʻi experienced a large increase in remote workers during the pandemic, with the period from 2019 to 2021 approximately doubling the number of workers using at-home work models in Hawaiʻi. This suggests a rising need for flexibility in the benefits that employees offer, including:
- More plentiful remote wellness programs
- More relaxed scheduling systems
- Clearer remote communication pipelines
- More adaptive feedback channels
- Better customization of work-life balance
Hawaiʻi-Specific Strategy: Despite nationwide increases in remote work, Hawaiʻi ranks among the lowest states in the country in terms of full remote work (6.4%) and among the highest in terms of full on-site work (87.2%). Leaders in Hawaiʻi can customize this benefit to attract diverse workforce talent in their area, based on their projected need for remote talent.
Trend 3: Personalized Benefits Packages
Individual employee needs have become a focus of employee benefits trends and retention strategies. Studies show that over half of employees desire personalized benefits recommendations. Personalized benefits, including more flexible wellness plans, personal work-life and wellness programs, and diverse work model options, help employers retain valuable employees by enhancing job satisfaction and loyalty scores.
Personalized benefits can also include cost-effective supplemental benefits. Organization leaders can choose between HRAs, FSAs, LSA’s and offer a variety of supplemental and non-traditional benefits to increase the flexibility of their benefits offerings and personalize their cost management strategies. Local brokers and consultants experienced with unique benefits planning strategies can help organization leaders create the right package for their workforce.
Hawaiʻi-Specific Strategy: Innovative employee benefits can attract and retain talent, especially if they are customized to the distinct needs of workers in Hawaiʻi. For example, Hawaiʻi has the 7th highest average student borrower debt in the U.S. ($38,929). Employer-funded student loan assistance programs can provide a desirable benefit that attracts high-value talent.
Trend 4: Emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Diverse heritages and cultures are a bedrock of the corporate structure of Hawaiʻi, which makes DEI a workforce fundamental rather than an add-on. In a market where the workforce reflects generations of immigration, intermarriage, and multiple cultural traditions held in parallel, inclusion is not a program to be layered on top of an existing culture. It is a baseline expectation of how workplaces should function, and workers notice when the baseline is missing.
In modern businesses, this means recommitting to a workplace culture of inclusion with clear reporting pipelines for issues, individualized mental health support systems, and sensitivity training programs. In a time when over half of employees report that DEI at work is “a good thing,” these principles can help make workplaces more accepting as well as more desirable.
Hawaiʻi-Specific Strategy: Employers and leaders can build relationships with local DEI organizations, such as the LGBT Legacy Foundation, to align their workplace practices with community standards. Working alongside local community organizations demonstrates the kind of long-term investment employees notice when comparing offers.
Trend 5: Sustainable and Green Benefits
Over time, employees nationwide have shown a higher interest in their employer’s sustainability practices. Deloitte reported several years ago that 69% of employees desired greater investments from their employer in green energy, carbon reduction, and waste removal. The response was stronger among employees aged 18-34, and since that demographic now makes up more of the workforce, sustainability will continue to be a higher priority moving forward, including in the benefits that employers offer.
Hawaiʻi-Specific Strategy: The employees and customers of Hawaiʻi care deeply about their natural environment. Hawaiʻi consistently ranks highly in national environmental scores and continues to update legislation surrounding the issue of sustainability. Businesses invested in green benefits, such as transportation subsidies or renewable energy incentives, can attract environmentally-conscious employees in a competitive labor market, satisfy compliance rules, and improve their public image.
Experienced Local Brokers Help Employers in Hawaiʻi Customize Employee Benefits
At Atlas Insurance Agency, A Marsh Agency LLC Company, our team of experienced brokers helps business leaders in Hawaiʻi improve their employee satisfaction and retention ratings with innovative, custom benefits packages. Our goal is to help businesses remain competitive with HR trends, improving their cost projections, and offering employees the benefits they desire in 2026 and beyond.
Contact our local team to learn how personalized benefits can help your business keep employees satisfied while controlling costs.