Employee benefits utilization is the extent to which employees actually understand, access, and use the benefits and resources available to them. Enrollment tells an employer who signed up; utilization shows whether those benefits are producing practical value after enrollment.
That distinction matters because a benefits package can look strong on paper while employees overlook preventive services, struggle to navigate available resources, or fail to use programs designed to support them. MetLife’s current benefits-cost framework emphasizes guided support, proactive assistance that removes employee friction, and benefits experiences that are more personalized and connected.
For employers, improving utilization does not necessarily mean adding more benefits. In many cases, the first question should be: Are employees getting enough value from the benefits we already offer?
What Is Benefits Utilization?
Benefits utilization measures whether eligible employees are actually using available benefits, services, and support resources—not simply whether they enrolled.
Utilization can look different depending on the benefit.
For example:
Benefit area | Possible utilization measure |
Health | Preventive visits, screenings or available care resources |
Dental | Preventive exams and cleanings |
Retirement | Participation or use of available education |
Employee assistance | Use of available support resources |
Leave | Ability to access and navigate available leave support |
Voluntary benefits | Enrollment plus actual use when a covered need occurs |
Benefits support | Employee use of navigation, guidance or assistance |
The objective is not to maximize every utilization number.
Some benefits are designed for infrequent events. Others may only be relevant to certain employee populations. The more useful question is whether employees who need a benefit know it exists, understand its value, and can access it when appropriate.
That is why employee benefits utilization should be reviewed as part of the overall value of a benefits program—not simply as an enrollment statistic. ESI has previously addressed this issue directly by asking whether employees are using benefits employers already pay for.
Why Enrollment Is Not the Same as Utilization
Enrollment is an administrative event. Utilization is an employee behavior.
An employee may enroll in a plan during open enrollment and still:
- forget which services are available;
- misunderstand how a benefit works;
- miss preventive-care opportunities;
- be unsure where to find help;
- overlook supplemental or voluntary resources;
- delay action because the process feels complicated; or
- learn about a benefit only after the point when it would have been most useful.
That gap between enrollment and use is important.
MetLife’s webinar describes a broader evolution in benefits from transactional models toward experiences built around education, guidance, support, personalized communication, and connection. For leave specifically, the presentation contrasts a process-oriented model with one centered on education, guidance, and support. Communications similarly move from static and transactional toward dynamic, personalized, and connected experiences.
This reinforces a simple principle:
Providing a benefit is not the same as making that benefit easy to understand and use.
Employers therefore need to look beyond enrollment counts when evaluating whether their benefits investment is reaching employees.
6 Reasons Benefits Go Unused
Benefits can be underused for many reasons. The MetLife materials supporting this article do not provide a definitive six-part list, so the framework below is a practical employer audit derived from the themes of guided support, access, proactive assistance, and connected employee experiences in the cited materials.
1. Employees Are Not Aware of the Benefit
Employees cannot use a benefit they do not remember or know exists.
Open enrollment may introduce employees to several plans, services, portals, and resources at once. Months later, much of that information may no longer be top of mind.
This is particularly relevant for benefits employees do not expect to need frequently.
Employers should ask:
If an employee needed this benefit tomorrow, would they remember that we offer it?
2. Access Creates Too Much Friction
Knowing a benefit exists is only the first step.
Employees may still struggle with logins, provider searches, eligibility questions, enrollment requirements, forms, or uncertainty about where to begin.
MetLife identifies proactive support that removes friction for employees as one factor capable of changing the cost trajectory.
Friction matters because each additional obstacle gives an employee another opportunity to postpone or abandon the process.
3. Employees Do Not Know How to Navigate the Benefit
Access answers where. Navigation answers what do I do next?
An employee may know a resource exists but still need help understanding:
- whether it applies to their situation;
- whom to contact;
- which step comes first;
- what documentation may be required;
- how different benefits work together; or
- what to expect after starting the process.
MetLife’s Broker Playbook identifies personalized guidance as a strategy for helping employees make better decisions when it matters most.
This is one reason strong benefits administration can matter. ESI’s benefits administration services include enrollment processing, benefits management, employee support, and related administrative functions intended to make benefits easier to manage.
4. Communication Comes at the Wrong Time
Employees may receive technically complete benefits information when they are least likely to use it.
A long open-enrollment guide sent once a year may not help an employee six months later when they suddenly need leave, legal assistance, or another resource.
MetLife’s modern-benefits framework specifically contrasts static and transactional communication with communication that is dynamic, personalized and connected.
That suggests employers should consider timing as part of their employee benefits communication strategy.
Instead of asking only, Did we send the information?, ask:
Did employees receive useful information at the time they were most likely to need it?
5. Employees Do Not Fully Understand the Benefit
Employees may recognize the name of a benefit without understanding what it actually does.
Terms that are familiar to HR or benefits professionals can still be confusing to employees.
If employees cannot quickly answer questions such as:
- What does this help me with?
- When would I use it?
- What will it cost me?
- Where do I start?
utilization can suffer.
Clear communication should therefore focus on practical situations and decisions—not simply plan terminology.
6. Employers Are Not Gathering Enough Feedback
Employers may assume a benefit is working because few employees complain about it.
Silence is not necessarily evidence of success.
Employees may not use a resource because they do not know about it. They may abandon an attempt to access it without informing HR. Managers may repeatedly hear questions that never make their way into a formal benefits review.
Employee feedback can help employers identify where awareness, access, navigation, timing, or understanding is breaking down.
The goal is not to survey employees constantly. It is to create enough feedback to distinguish between a benefit employees do not value and a benefit they simply do not know how to use.
How Communication and Navigation Improve Use
Communication helps employees understand what is available. Navigation helps them understand what to do next.
Employers generally need both.
MetLife’s webinar describes world-class benefits as combining comprehensive solutions with guided support and technology, with the objective of making it easier to focus on meaningful outcomes.
Its cost-management framework also emphasizes early intervention, guided care, and proactive support that removes employee friction.
For employers, that can translate into a more intentional communication model:
Awareness → understanding → access → navigation → use → feedback
Awareness
Employees first need to know a benefit exists.
Communication throughout the year can remind employees about resources that may have faded from memory since enrollment.
Understanding
Employees need plain-language explanations of what the benefit does and when it may be useful.
A benefits communication should answer the employee’s practical question:
“Why would I use this?”
Access
Employees need a clear path to the benefit.
Too many portals, phone numbers, handoffs, or unclear instructions can make an otherwise valuable resource difficult to use.
Navigation
Employees may need help deciding what to do after they access the benefit.
That could include provider guidance, leave assistance, care navigation, claims help, or another form of employee support.
Timing
Information should appear when it is relevant.
Annual enrollment remains important, but year-round communication can make benefits more visible at moments when employees are more likely to take action.
Feedback
Employers need a way to identify recurring problems.
If HR repeatedly answers the same question, employees consistently struggle with one process, or a resource remains underused despite apparent demand, those patterns should inform the next benefits review.
A coordinated employee benefits approach can help employers examine plan design alongside administration, communication, and employee support rather than treating each as an isolated issue.
Benefits Utilization Audit Checklist
A benefits utilization audit can help employers determine whether low use reflects a lack of need or unnecessary barriers between employees and the benefits already available.
Use these six categories as the audit framework:
Audit area | Questions to review |
Awareness | Do employees know the benefit exists and remember it after enrollment? |
Access | Can employees quickly find the portal, provider, phone number, or resource they need? |
Navigation | Do employees understand what to do next and where to ask for help? |
Timing | Are benefits communicated when they become relevant—not only during enrollment? |
Understanding | Can employees explain what the benefit does and when they would use it? |
Feedback | Are HR, managers, and employees identifying recurring problems or points of confusion? |
Employers can also use a practical checklist:
- Identify the benefits with the lowest known utilization.
- Separate benefits designed for frequent use from those intended for occasional events.
- Review whether employees know each resource exists.
- Check how many steps employees must take to access support.
- Review employee-facing explanations for clarity.
- Identify benefits communicated only during open enrollment.
- Ask HR which benefits questions employees repeatedly raise.
- Review available utilization or participation reports.
- Look for services employees may already have but routinely seek elsewhere.
- Gather targeted employee feedback where appropriate.
- Identify one or two utilization barriers to address before adding new benefits.
- Revisit utilization after communication or navigation changes are made.
The audit should not assume every low-utilization benefit is a poor investment.
Instead, it should answer a more useful question:
Is the benefit underused because employees do not need it—or because awareness, access, navigation, timing, or understanding is getting in the way?
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Increase Employee Benefits Utilization?
Employers can work to increase employee benefits utilization by improving awareness, access, navigation, timing, understanding, and feedback.
Start by identifying which benefits are underused. Then determine whether employees know the benefit exists, understand when to use it, can access it easily, and know where to get help.
MetLife’s benefits framework supports this approach by emphasizing guided support, personalized assistance, and proactive efforts to remove friction rather than relying only on transactional communication.
Why Are Employee Benefits Underused?
Employee benefits may be underused because employees are unaware of them, have difficulty accessing them, do not understand how they work, receive information at the wrong time, or lack guidance when they need to take action.
Low utilization should therefore be investigated before an employer assumes that employees do not value the benefit.
How Do You Measure Benefits Utilization?
Benefits utilization can be measured using the data appropriate to each benefit, such as participation, preventive-care use, employee-assistance use, retirement participation, leave-navigation activity, or use of available support resources.
Employers should interpret those numbers in context. A benefit designed for an uncommon event should not be expected to produce the same utilization rate as a routine preventive service.
Utilization data becomes more useful when combined with employee feedback and HR observations about awareness, access, and navigation.
Is Low Benefits Utilization Always a Problem?
No. Some benefits are intentionally designed for situations that occur infrequently, so low use may be normal.
Low utilization becomes more concerning when employees appear to need a resource but are not using it because they do not know it exists, cannot access it, or do not understand how it works.
Request a Benefits Utilization Review
Before adding another benefit to the budget, ESI can help employers examine their current benefits, communication, administration, and employee experience to identify where existing resources may be underused and where better awareness or navigation could improve value.
