10 ways tech made business better in 2024

December 20, 2024 4:20 PM

Group of employees working with laptop and tablet

Technology plays a huge role in workplace and employee benefits evolution, and from professional development to healthcare innovation to digital wellness options, technology was an integral part of 2024.

Businesses are using tech to their advantage internally, withAI and Chat GPT lightening workloads, modifying the hiring process and enhancing mentoring programs. The positive effects on employers and employees alike are seen in data such as a tech.co report showing 59% of employees who use AI experience greater job satisfaction, and Zippia finding that 35-45% of companies use AI to hire talent.

But technology's reach goes beyond an employees' experience while they're at work — it also improves their benefits. Access to telemedicine, innovative physical, mental and financial wellness offerings and the ability to work with more flexibility are all thanks to recent tech advancements. Statista reports that more than 1.3 billion people will access some type of digital health solution this year, and in a study from the National Endowment for Financial Education, 72% of participants said fintech tools improved their financial confidence.

Here are 10 of EBN's top tech articles from the past year.

More holistic mental health support

Telehealth visits for mental health accounted for almost 37% of visits since 2020, according to an analysis of healthcare visits from Epic Systems. This is notable when overall telehealth visits made up less than 6% of overall medical appointments, meaning that people are getting accustomed to, and might even prefer, telehealth visits for mental health.

"The pandemic also coincided with a growing global mental health crisis largely driven by a shortage of quality mental health providers," says Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer at Headspace, a mental health platform. "For mental healthcare specifically, the growth of virtual care has provided a level of access and affordability that wasn't previously available and I don't see that changing as we move forward."

Read the article:

The impact of tech on mental healthcare

Improving the odds in women’s health

According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in her life. An even bigger risk is heart disease, which kills one in five women in the U.S.

Preventative care is critical for early detection and intervention of both these conditions, and a new partnership between CureMetrix and SimonMed Imaging (SMI) that brings advanced AI readings to mammograms is enhancing the process.

Read the article:

AI is helping fight two of the biggest health risks to women

Adding Gen AI to development efforts

Seventy-percent of Gen Zers believe that personalized learning aided by generative AI would significantly improve their learning experience, according to a recent survey from software company Salesforce, with more than half saying they trust the technology to help them make informed decisions. And it's up to employers to provide them with those experiences if they want to recruit and retain them.

"Gen Z is having trouble adapting to the culture of work because they entered into the workplace at a time of high volatility, coming out of the pandemic with offices shifting between different work models," says John Scott, head of learning and design at workplace educational platform MasterClass at Work. "Adding generative AI to learning and development strategies opens up a lot of possibilities for support."

Read the article:

Masterclass at Work's advice: Add Gen AI to learning and development strategies

Increasing engagement with hybrid wellness options

Wellhub's newly released annual trends report found that workers who used a combination of in-person and digital wellness options had double the engagement rate of those who did not. The corporate wellness platform looked at 500 million cumulative check-ins — a member's use of a service — from global users across a variety of areas, including fitness, mindfulness, nutrition, therapy and sleep. Those who participated in both digital and in-person offerings had an average of 18 check-ins per month, while folks going in-person only had nine and digital-only users had eight.

"This shows that it's a virtuous cycle; that the more you take care of yourself, the more you want to take care of yourself, improve what you're doing, and complement with other types of wellness solutions," says Livia Martini, Wellhub's chief people officer. "It is our responsibility to help guide people and get them on this positive flywheel of well-being."

Read the article:

Wellhub study finds workers prefer a hybrid approach to wellness

Enhancing emotional intelligence

Ahead, an app that helps users improve their emotional intelligence through bad habit-breaking exercises, could be one more tool in the mental health toolbox, filling the gap between therapy and meditation-driven solutions. Inspired by his own need for self-improvement, Kai Koch, co-founder of Ahead, knew he needed a tool that pushed him not just to be aware of certain behaviors but to change them.

"I went through a breakup, which made me realize I had certain recurring behavioral [challenges] in my life that led to relationships failing," says Koch. "I realized that most of the things we do to self-improve are focused on passive content consumption — we read, listen and watch, but we never really interactively work on our skills."

Read the article:

This app has gamified improving your emotional intelligence

Reducing healthcare costs

MSK conditions are currently the top driver of healthcare costs for the majority of employers, and can also negatively impact employee attendance and productivity. Employer-sponsored MSK benefits can not only help workers heal, but lead to dramatic healthcare cost savings as well.

"There's a practical relationship here," says Sword Health CEO Virgilio Bento. "By fixing the physical pain, which is the root cause of the problem, we see a massive impact on mental health."

Read the article:

How employers can save $3000 per employee on MSK care

Making healthcare easier to understand

Benefits brokerage Nava Benefits and Open AI have teamed up to launch Nava's AI benefits assistant, a tool that offers guidance on individual health plans and real-time updates on deductible and out-of-pocket maximum usage. While Nava's users have access to human benefits advocates (someone who can answer questions regarding their plan and resolve any claims or billing issues), this new AI tool featured on the Nava Benefits App is aimed at resolving comprehension-based questions and determining which problems need to be addressed by a Nava advocate.

However, it's not lost on Nava that AI isn't a one-stop solution, especially when dealing with something as (needlessly) complicated as employee health plans.

"AI is really good at assessing that initial [problem]," says Brandon Weber, co-founder and CEO of Nava Benefits. "But to take action because we have an error that needs to be fixed by the [healthcare] provider or insurance carrier, that's where the human advocate has the experience. They're getting on the phone, connecting with the member and carrier."

Read the article:

Nava Benefits and Open AI partnered up to make healthcare easier to understand

Creating more impactful mentoring

With U.S. employee engagement at a disturbing low of 32%, according to Gallup, many employers are looking at professional growth opportunities as a way to increase worker satisfaction. This is a high priority for T-Mobile, which has around 67,000 workers worldwide. In 2019, the company partnered with mentoring and employee resource group management platform Chronus and have since seen a noticeable boost in employee satisfaction.

"We want a very connected workforce; we want people to share their experiences, their knowledge, and do that across the business." says Cathy Nelson, T-Mobile's senior manager of talent management. "We're very dispersed, so we were really looking for a way to help people connect beyond their retail store, call center, or office. But when everyone was working from home during COVID, the priority of mentoring rose to the top even more."

Read the article:

How Chronus helps T-Mobile connect and engage its workforce

AI’s role in hiring

A.Team, a members-only network of freelance product builders, recently rolled out a new feature called Team Formation AI, which matches applicants to companies within minutes, and then enables organizations to hire them within days, using generative AI for the entire process. Leaders have access to a pool of 11,000 potential freelancers who have already been vetted by the platform.

"We always talk about talent being the biggest piece of our bottom line," says AJ Thomas, chief experience officer in residence at A.Team. "But there's still a lot of time that is lost trying to find the skills and expertise you need. This [tool] is the convergence of not just talent building, but also tech building, and we're coming together to find how those two things can work together."

Read the article:

From resume to first day: This AI tool takes over the recruiting process

Providing financial wellness at people’s fingertips

FinFit's financial wellness platform, which is currently available as a benefit to more than 7 million employees, gives access to products like credit lines and loans, financial education and coaching resources.

Teaming up with emergency savings platform Sunny Day Fund allows them to provide a more holistic financial safety net to workers whose traditional options for banking are either insufficient or too expensive, says Michael Woodhead, chief commercial officer at FinFit. All FinFit members will be able to seamlessly direct money from their paychecks to both credit and loan payments as well as into a Sunny Day Fund savings account. These accounts earn 4.06% APY interest from Portage Bank — 10 times the national average.

"We use technology to provide access to affordable emergency credit solutions for working Americans who otherwise have only terrible options and unfair options," he says. "But no one would agree that credit is the answer to long-term enduring financial wellness and financial resilience, so we needed to partner with someone who could provide an emergency savings solution that is high yield, that is push-button easy, and that has affordable fees for American workers and for employers who are providing that service to their workforce."

Read the article:

FinFit rounds out its financial offerings with Sunny Day Fund partnership