Dedicated team members plus technology addressing benefits programs will allow HR to remain compliant and strategic at the same time.
By Leslie Bostic
The administrative burden of benefits work has quietly become one of the biggest drains on HR departments. This compliance work carries hard deadlines and regulatory consequences. It has to get addressed first. What gets pushed aside is everything else: the career development conversations, the benefits education that helps employees understand their total compensation, and the engagement work that actually retains people.
Especially in highly regulated industries, benefits administration intersects constantly with compliance obligations, audit preparation, and multi-state coordination. For organizations with shift workers, it’s even more complex, including factors like eligibility tracking, coverage changes, and compliance requirements that create a volume of detailed work where mistakes have real consequences for employees’ healthcare access.
The fear of missing something critical becomes pervasive. Even the most diligent administrators carry that stress, knowing that one overlooked detail could affect someone’s coverage or trigger a compliance issue.
With workplace engagement declining from 88% in 2025 to 64%, according to DHR Global, organizations desperately need HR teams focused on retention and culture building. But HR teams are stuck addressing compliance-driven benefits work instead. They’d prefer to educate employees about benefits structures that differ from industry norms, like pension plans that offset 401(k) contributions, which offer significant value but require explanation. They’d like to promote tuition reimbursement programs, develop management training, or have career conversations. Instead, holiday appreciation programs disappear and recognition initiatives get dropped.
Restructuring the Work
Budget constraints make adding headcount difficult, but there are ways to restructure benefits operations without a major investment.
Dedicated staffing for the most compliance-intensive work can prevent bottlenecks. Organizations with non-exempt employees working varied schedules need someone focused specifically on eligibility and compliance tracking. Splitting that responsibility with other tasks creates too much risk. This frees senior team members to handle work that requires more judgment and experience.
Junior HR staff can manage much of the employee engagement work that’s currently falling through the cracks. Holiday programs, new-hire welcomes, and benefits enrollment support don’t require senior strategic expertise, but they do provide critical touchpoints that keep employees connected. This approach creates development opportunities for less experienced staff while reducing the burden on senior administrators.
Technology offers longer-term relief, though implementation takes time. AI tools can handle tactical work like data entry, eligibility tracking, and basic employee inquiries, substantially reducing administrative load once properly integrated. While the investment is significant, the payoff in reclaimed time can be substantial.
There’s also an emerging education opportunity. Many organizations are hiring employees who remain covered under their parents’ health insurance and genuinely don’t understand employer-sponsored health benefits when they become eligible. Interestingly, these same employees demonstrate strong knowledge about 401(k)s and retirement savings. This gap creates an opening for HR to provide real value through targeted education—if they can find the time.
HR: The Shoemaker’s Children
Some HR departments are resonating with the old proverb about how the shoemaker’s children have no shoes. They spend all their time supporting everyone else’s development and well-being while their own needs go unaddressed. But this isn’t just about helping HR teams. When benefits administration consumes so much capacity that strategic work becomes impossible, it undermines HR’s ability to support the broader organization.
The work will always require significant attention, particularly in regulated industries. But organizations need to examine whether their current structure allows HR teams to do both compliance and strategy, or whether they’ve inadvertently built a system that allows only one.
When HR has capacity for both, everyone wins. Employees understand their compensation better, see clearer paths forward, and feel more valued. HR professionals experience less burnout and can focus on work that actually drives retention. Organizations perform better because they’re not constantly losing talent to competitors who’ve figured out how to make employees feel supported. Restructuring benefits operations to give HR time back has a trickle-down effect that improves business performance at every level of the organization.
Leslie Bostic is senior vice president of HR at Amalgamated Life Insurance Company.
