Businesses that invest in their employees are set to have a pivotal 2026, finds new research from the MissionSquare Research Institute.
The institute’s annual “Trends to Watch” report predicted five developments for workforce benefits in the year ahead, from applying financial wellness as a strategic approach to the potential disruption of artificial intelligence (AI). The aim of each initiative is to ultimately better serve plan participants in the changing economic landscape.
“The trends we’re tracking for 2026 point to a pivotal year for employers and public service organizations,” said Gerald Young, senior researcher at MissionSquare Research Institute, in a statement. “The workforce is navigating rapid change. While innovation is essential, it is not sufficient on its own. Employers who intentionally invest in their people – through communication, training, and thoughtful program design – will be better equipped to strengthen their workforce and improve long-term outcomes for the communities they serve.”
Drawing on its research, the Institute recognized five central themes for employers to watch in 2026, including:
Financial wellness becomes strategic
Research from MissionSquare reports that 52% of employees have reported feeling financial stress. As a result, employers are implementing more personalized offerings, including hybrid models that connect human guidance with fintech strategies in order to better attract and keep employees.
Employers will likely emphasize on features like managing debt burden, childcare costs for families with young children, and gaps in financial sophistication.
Understanding guaranteed income
Plan sponsors will look at how annuity options could influence financial and retirement behavior among participants. Rather than considering the strategies as just streams of income throughout retirement, employers will see guaranteed lifetime income as tools that can shape saving, investing, and retirement income choices, notes MissionSquare Research.
“This includes accumulation and investment decisions, confidence about retirement, and the strategies participants use to generate sustainable income after leaving work,” the institute adds in its report.
Participants consider advice + technology for retirement decisions
Incoming findings from the institute show that human advice and technology are complimentary. As a result, employers will consider both strategies together when designing benefit plans, the research projects.
However, developments like robo-advisors and artificial intelligence (AI) technology highlight concerns over trust, oversight, and equity for plan sponsors. Throughout 2026, plan sponsors will move their focus from adding the technologies to understanding how to adopt them responsibly with guardrails, human review, and communications.
Staffing impacts with AI
Findings from the institute show that 20% of state and local government staff were “very or extremely concerned that AI would lead to either significant retraining requirements or replacement of their job function.”
Another 62% said they had not received any training from their employer on AI usage, 28% either rarely or had never seen AI-generated content overseen or reviewed by staff, and 15% were unsure whether employer policies had prohibited or limited AI usage.
MissionSquare Research notes that as employers implement the technology, concerns over staff training, communication, and development must be addressed.
Mental and emotional factors
The institute plans to release a study on the mental and emotional tolls job functions for public and private employees.
The institute observes that while workforces emphasize the right balance of education and skills for employees to retain a job, mental and emotional aspects are not as prioritized.
“It is not enough to know that a particular job requires the ability to lift objects of a certain weight or that the worker needs to have a commercial driver’s license,” the report read. “It is also important to know and plan for how the toll of the job and the situations encountered may lead to stress, burnout, and turnover. By the same token, for some employees, the psychological boost they get from doing meaningful work may outweigh the negatives.”
Yet, the research highlights that even if employers can grasp these impacts, workers may be hesitant to express it. “They should also pay attention to the fact that some employees will be reticent to discuss those issues with human resources or anyone else on staff, and that they may not seek assistance, even if there is a robust menu of support services provided,” MissionSquare’s report states.