This article first appeared in BenefitsPro on April 16, 2026.
Employers are juggling more benefits options, vendors and compliance requirements than ever. The Hartford's 2026 Future of Benefits Study captures this complexity, with 64% of employers reporting that managing multiple carriers is a challenge.1
As HR and benefits teams navigate rising healthcare costs, changing employee expectations and limited resources, many organizations are prioritizing more connected benefits strategies, including how they evaluate absence and supplemental health products and carriers.2
The focus on more connected benefits solutions has strategic implications in three crucial areas: enhanced financial protection for employees, simplified benefits experiences and added value for employers.
Prioritizing Employee Financial Protection
With connected absence and supplemental health benefits, employers can create and design a more complete financial safety net for employees.
This approach can reduce gaps that emerge when benefits operate independently during an employee's life event such as a serious illness, injury or caregiving needs. It can also help replace income more consistently, offset unexpected expenses and minimize financial disruption.
In turn, employees can stay more financially protected when it matters most.
“Employers are looking for benefits solutions that promote holistic financial wellness,” says Kim Rudeen, head of absence products at The Hartford. “When absence and supplemental health coverages are aligned, they help address protection gaps while delivering a more streamlined employee experience.”
Working with a single carrier across absence and supplemental health benefits allows for coordination of plan designs, service, claims and technology. Two in three employers say simplicity and cost are their top drivers when selecting a single non-medical carrier.1
Making Benefits Easier To Understand and Use
When benefits are fragmented across multiple vendors and platforms, employees may struggle to navigate different portals and claims processes — and may even miss opportunities to use certain benefits because they don't understand what's covered or how coverages work together.
Connected absence and supplemental health benefits can make it easier for employees to understand and use their benefits. For example, integrating disability and critical illness claim intake means employees don't have to juggle multiple claims processes for different coverages.
A more streamlined process can save time, remove guesswork and give employees the chance to better understand their holistic coverage when speaking to a claims professional.
Recognizing that 65% of employers report that access to knowledgeable, compassionate human support is critical, simplified experiences can be designed to provide the human touch at the right time.1
“Some employees tell us they want to talk to a human at the start of their leave claim,” Rudeen says. “We combine thoughtful technology with personal support, using tools like AI to streamline tasks like medical record summarization. Helping free time for claims analysts who can focus on caring for employees throughout their leave.”
More Impact, Less Strain on HR Teams
More than seven in 10 HR professionals report that their workload has increased. At the same time, most agree that compliance requirements and state leave laws add complexity to their jobs.1
As a result, employers are turning to benefits advisors and carrier partners for relief.
“At The Hartford, we're focused on reducing the administrative load HR teams carry every day,” Rudeen says. “By bringing absence and supplemental health benefits together, we're creating a more connected experience that's easier for HR to manage and more intuitive for employees.”
As benefits complexity grows, employers that prioritize integration stand to gain on multiple fronts — delivering more complete financial protection, improving employee understanding and utilization of benefits, and reducing the administrative and compliance pressures facing HR and benefits teams.
Ann Clifford is a freelance writer who translates her background in financial services marketing into specialized content focused on employee benefits and small business topics.
1 The Hartford’s 2026 Future of Benefits Study, viewed April 2026.
2 Supplemental health products (Accident, Critical Illness and Hospital Indemnity) are independent and do not coordinate with any other health coverage.
