For decades, group life insurance has centered on a single promise: giving employees peace of mind that, when the worst happens, their families will have security. Yet for today’s employers and employees, this on its own is no longer enough.
Based on new research from Empathy, workplace benefits are being redefined around a different question: Who stands with you when life falls apart? Serious life events like bereavement, illness, caregiving, and pregnancy loss have become the real test of whether benefits work in practice, not just on paper. And group life carriers are uniquely positioned at the center of these moments.
This article previews those findings. For the complete data and insights, access the Empathy’s 2026 Workplace Benefits Report.
Benefits at an inflection point
In 2026, workplace benefits are under more scrutiny than ever. Employers are facing AI disruption, rising healthcare costs, burnout, and turnover — and in that environment, every benefit has to prove its value in real life, not just in plan documents. They’re asking for clearer ROI, stronger differentiation, and support that genuinely helps employees through life’s hardest moments.
Our research shows nearly 80% of employers expect benefits budgets to grow from 2025 to 2026, but that growth comes with sharper expectations. Employers are prioritizing programs that drive employee wellbeing, engagement, and retention.
Yet a significant alignment gap persists: only 2 in 5 employers believe their benefits fully match what employees need, and fewer than half of employees agree. That gap widens during major life events, when the expectation to truly show up is highest.
For group life carriers, this is both a risk and an opportunity. Misaligned benefits can drive churn and erode trust. Solutions that are easy to access and grounded in real-life needs build loyalty — and differentiate carriers in a crowded market.
Building a benefits ecosystem for life-event support
Major life disruptions are no longer exceptions; nearly half of employees globally have faced a significant life disruption in the past two years, and 30% of employers rank supporting employees through these moments among their top 2026 challenges, on par with rising healthcare costs.
Employers increasingly want carriers as strategic partners in these moments, not just product providers. Bereavement is the clearest test case:
95% of employees say bereavement-related benefits are valuable.
84% of employers plan to expand bereavement support in 2026 — including 91% of C-suite leaders.
Priority offerings include paid leave, grief support, and structured support for navigating the practical aftermath of a loss.
When carriers integrate this support where need—and visibility—are highest, group life transforms from a transactional payout into a genuine experience of care. Done well, this builds loyalty with both beneficiaries and employer clients and creates a replicable model for other life events.
What Group Life carriers can do next
For carriers, moving from payout to partnership means reshaping how Group Life is designed and experienced.
Position Group Life as the backbone of life-event support. Reframe it as the anchor of an employer’s life-event ecosystem, starting with bereavement, where expectations are highest.
Embed grief and navigation support into the core journey. Integrate emotional, practical, and administrative support directly into the claims and beneficiary experience. Technology partners like Empathy can help deliver this.
Make support easy to find, use, and measure. Create simple, branded entry points connecting employees, beneficiaries, and HR to all available resources.
Why this matters now
Carriers that move first — by embedding scalable, human‑centered support into Group Life benefit offerings and partnering with solutions like Empathy to deliver it — will be better positioned to:
Differentiate in RFPs on experience and outcomes, not just rate
Deepen broker and employer relationships with visible, high‑impact services
Demonstrate clear value through utilization, satisfaction, and time‑saved metrics
The next era of Group Life benefits belongs to carriers that treat payout as part of the relationship, not the core of it. By building around the full experience of loss — financial, practical, and emotional — Group Life can become the backbone of an employer’s life‑event strategy.