2025 Recap: ExtensisHR’s Top 10 Broker Blogs of the Year
Quick look: 2025 brought new changes and opportunities in employee benefits and human resources (HR). Here we round up our 10 most-read broker blogs of the year, offering insights on tailoring benefits, enhancing company culture, and boosting retention; topics that will continue to carry value well into the new year.
2025 was a monumental year: half a decade beyond the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are still adapting to transformed employee expectations around well-being, work arrangements, and organizational culture. And brokers continue to play a crucial role in helping clients modernize their benefits, support engagement, and stay competitive.
Our top broker blogs of 2025 capture these shifts. From expert guidance on creating benefits strategies that resonate with today’s diverse workforce to tips on helping clients strengthen their company culture and retention, explore the 10 most popular below:
1. Brokers: 5 HR Trends to Guide Your 2025 Strategy
Our most popular broker blog of the year provided a forward-looking analysis of human resources (HR) trends slated to shape the industry in 2025. The post highlighted five data-backed insights brokers could share with clients as they kicked off the year:
- A growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology to simplify and automate HR processes
- The latest personalized benefits and compensation approaches
- Greater emphasis on leadership development through coaching, feedback, and empathetic guidance
- More strategic talent management, from recruitment and onboarding to internal mobility and succession planning
- Enhancing company culture through better communication, multigenerational engagement, and impactful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives
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2. Strengthening Your Clients’ Benefits Packages with Pet Insurance
Two-thirds of American households own a pet, and insurance for these furry family members is quickly becoming a common employee benefit. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), in 2025, 22% of employers offered coverage, up from 14% in 2022.
Our second most-read blog of the year explains pet insurance’s power as a voluntary benefit: it helps attract and retain talent, reduces employee financial stress about vet bills, and strengthens company culture by showing care for the whole family (pets included!).
3. Women’s History Month: Benefits That Matter Most to Women
While progress has been made, challenges remain for women in the workforce, such as pay gaps, caregiving responsibilities, and financial well-being. Our third most visited blog suggests how brokers can help clients offer benefits that solve those challenges, including:
- Providing tools to assess pay equality
- Assisting with the development of flexible work and leave policies
- Offering supportive benefits, like retirement savings plans, student loan repayment programs, comprehensive health insurance with flexible savings account (FSA) and health savings account (HSA) options, and employee assistance programs (EAPs)
4. 2025 Benefit Trends: What Brokers Need to Know to Stay Competitive in the Coming Year
Our fourth most popular blog, published in early 2025, highlighted key benefit trends for brokers to consider sharing with clients. Top suggestions included prioritizing financial wellness benefits, like 401(k) plans, student loan assistance, and financial education, and considering the cost-effective power of voluntary benefits such as supplemental health coverage, identity theft protection, and legal services.
5. 10 FSA Eligible Expenses Your Clients May Not Know About
Nearly half of FSA account holders collectively forfeit over $4 billion in funds each year. Our next blog shares 10 often-overlooked FSA expenses, from sunscreen and massage therapy to weight loss programs and travel for medical care. By sharing this knowledge, brokers can help their clients’ employees use pre-tax funds before they’re lost.
6. 4 Ways a PEO Helps Create Tailored Benefit Plans
Professional employer organizations (PEOs) offer tremendous value to benefits brokers. Our sixth-most-read article discusses how PEOs help brokers build customized benefit plans that closely align with staff’s needs. By leveraging data on geography, demographics, employee surveys, and industry trends, a PEO helps clients offer relevant, cost-effective benefits, improve participation and compliance, and educate workers on their options.
7. Bank of America Study Overview: What Benefits SMBs Need to Boost Employee Satisfaction
In our seventh most popular blog, we shared key takeaways from Bank of America’s 2025 Workplace Benefits Report. A central theme was that employees often feel financial stress and value financial wellness resources; however, some small businesses have yet to offer these plans. This is where brokers can have a positive impact by helping clients tailor benefits to improve satisfaction, retention, and overall well-being.
8. Helping Clients Build Welcoming Workplaces: Benefits That Better Support Black Employees
In February, to honor Black History Month, our eighth most viewed article discussed racial health and wealth disparities affecting Black workers and how brokers and PEOs can help employers close those gaps:
- Providing health insurance plans with diverse provider networks
- Offering HSAs to help pay for medical expenses and act as a long-term investment tool
- Supplying financial wellness support, like retirement savings accounts, access to 529 education savings plans, and personal finance training
- Leveraging workforce data to drive change, using a tool like ExtensisHR’s DEI Dashboard that monitors real-time information on pay equity, salary trends, employee turnover, promotions, and more across race and gender demographics
9. The Employee Benefits Landscape: Notable Changes in the Post-COVID Era
Our ninth most popular blog offered a bird’s-eye view of how the benefits industry has evolved in the five years since the COVID-19 pandemic began: employees now expect flexible work arrangements and customized, meaningful benefits plans. These changes aren’t going away, and the post shares how brokers can partner with PEOs to help SMBs stay competitive and retain talent in this new era.
10. 4 Eye-Opening Reasons SMBs Should Offer Vision Care Coverage
Vision care has the potential to help SMBs support preventive health, reduce overall healthcare costs, promote equity, and better attract and retain talent. Closing out the list, this blog explains that many adults need but lack coverage, and how brokers can improve access and understanding by pairing vision plans with broader PEO support.
Stay informed and grow your portfolio at the same time
As 2025 ends, and 2026 approaches, it’s an ideal time to assess your portfolio, evaluate partnerships, and explore ways to deliver even greater value to clients.
Partnering with a PEO like ExtensisHR can help you drive results through:
- Tailored employee benefits with planning, administration, and management support
- End-to-end HR solutions, including payroll, tax administration, talent management, training, and more
- Risk and compliance support to keep clients ahead of changing regulations
- Full-cycle recruiting services, included at no extra cost, from job postings to onboarding
- Unparalleled support, with clients receiving a dedicated Account Manager, HR Business Partner, Payroll Specialist, and Implementation Manager
- Fast, reliable worksite employee-level service from a team that answers phone calls in under 15 seconds
Additionally, ExtensisHR’s broker-friendly approach is designed to help you expand your offerings, differentiate from competitors, attract and retain clients, earn competitive commissions, navigate a smooth RFI process, and stay on top of emerging trends.
Looking to explore more industry news? Our broker resources library has you covered. Or, contact us to learn more about how an ExtensisHR partnership can strengthen your book of business.
