What Brokers Need From Benefits Benchmarking Data to Help Employers Understand Market Norms

Employers often want to know how their benefits compare with the market before making a change. Benchmarking can give brokers a starting point, but the value of that comparison depends on how relevant and detailed the underlying data is. 

The most useful benchmarking data for employee benefits gives brokers enough information to understand where an employer stands and what may be driving the difference. A single market average rarely provides the detail needed, but brokers can look at plan design, contributions and other relevant factors to put market norms into context.

Market norms provide context for an employer’s own workforce and business priorities. Brokers can use that context to determine where a change makes sense and where maintaining the current approach may be appropriate.

What Employers Want to Learn From Benchmarking

A benchmarking request usually comes up when an employer wants to see how its benefits compare with the market before making a decision. The right data gives them a better picture of what other employers are doing and where their own approach fits. 

Are We Offering the Benefits Employees Expect?

Employers may want to know which ancillary benefits are common among comparable organizations. That information can show whether their current package aligns with prevailing employee benefit expectations or leaves gaps they may want to evaluate.

Those expectations can vary by employer size, industry and workforce. A benchmark that reflects those characteristics gives employers a more relevant basis for evaluating their benefits strategy.

How Are Comparable Employers Sharing Costs?

Contribution data puts that decision in context. An employer may offer a benefit that is common in its market but take a very different approach to funding it, which can affect employee cost and the overall competitiveness of the package.

How Do Our Plans Compare?

Two employers can both offer dental, vision or supplemental health coverage while providing very different levels of coverage.

Plan-design data can show differences in coverage amounts, plan features, eligibility and cost-sharing that aren’t visible when the comparison stops at whether a benefit is offered. For an employer reviewing its current package, those details help provide a clear picture of how its plans compare with the plans employees may see elsewhere.

Does the Market Look the Same for Every Employer?

Market norms can look very different depending on the employers included in the comparison. A large employer in one industry may have a very different benefits strategy from a smaller organization with a different workforce.

Breaking the data down by factors such as employer size, industry, geography and workforce characteristics can show whether a pattern applies broadly or is concentrated among a particular group of employers.

Is the Market Moving?

A benchmark gives employers a view of where the market stands. Looking at the same measures across multiple periods can show whether benefit offerings, plan designs or contribution approaches are changing.

For example, 67% of employers said life insurance would be an important benefit five years from now, up 14 percentage points from 2021, according to LIMRA. For a broker, tracking changes like this can help put an employer’s current offering in context and inform whether a recommendation should focus on catching up with the market or getting ahead of an emerging trend. 

What Makes Benchmarking Data Useful?

Useful benchmarking data has four qualities: a peer group that reflects the employer’s characteristics; current market information; enough plan design and contribution detail to explain differences; and clear results that support a recommendation. 

Data that meets those four tests gives brokers something to act on rather than another dataset to interpret.

A Relevant Peer Group

A benchmark is only as useful as the employers included in the comparison. Brokers should be able to see how the peer group was defined and whether the data reflects the employer’s size, industry, geography and workforce characteristics.

Current Information

Market norms can change as employers respond to costs, workforce expectations and business priorities.

Sources such as SHRM’s Employee Benefits Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employer Costs for Employee Compensation give brokers different views of the market. For example, BLS reported that benefits accounted for 30.1% of private-industry compensation costs in March 2026. Brokers should consider when data was collected, who it represents and how frequently it’s updated before using it to support a recommendation. 

Enough Detail to Explain Differences

A benchmark should provide enough detail for brokers to understand why two employers that appear similar may have different approaches. Coverage levels, plan features and contribution approaches can all affect how an employer compares with its peers.

That information lets brokers determine whether a difference warrants attention or reflects how plans are structured or funded.

Clear, Interpretable Results

Brokers should be able to understand the key findings without extensive manual analysis.

The results should make comparisons easy to interpret and highlight the findings that warrant a closer look. That gives the broker a starting point for an employer recommendation and turns the data into something actionable.

Generic Benchmarking	Useful Benchmarking	Decision-Ready Benchmarking
Broad market averages	Relevant market comparisons	Current data tied to a clearly defined peer group and the employer’s relevant characteristics
Limited information about the employers represented	Some plan and contribution detail	Enough detail to understand differences in benefit offerings, plan design and contribution approaches
Shows where the broader market sits	Helps show where the employer sits	Shows where the employer differs from comparable peers and provides context for what may be driving those differences
Provides a reference point	Supports an employer discussion	Gives brokers information they can use to evaluate options, explain tradeoffs and support a recommendation

What to Look For in a Carrier’s Benchmarking Support

The quality of benchmarking depends not only on the data itself, but also on the resources a carrier gives brokers to put that information to work. When evaluating a carrier’s benchmarking support, brokers should consider:

• Tools for comparison: Can brokers compare plan approaches, evaluate potential changes or examine differences across relevant employer segments?
• Client-ready analysis: Does the carrier give brokers ways to organize, filter or present benchmarking findings for a specific employer conversation?
• Expert support: Is knowledgeable support available when the benchmark doesn’t fully answer an employer’s question or a client’s situation doesn’t fit neatly into the available data?
• Connection to decisions: Does the carrier help brokers connect market information to practical considerations such as cost, competitiveness, workforce needs and the employer’s broader benefits strategy?
• Employer-specific analysis: Does the carrier offer analysis based on the employer’s own data, such as a claims-based review of what coverage could have paid for that group?

Frequently Asked Questions

What benchmarking data can Renaissance provide to help brokers understand market norms?

Renaissance provides brokers with benchmarking resources they can use to compare an employer’s benefits strategy with relevant market data and understand where it aligns with broader trends. This information can help brokers evaluate benefit offerings in the context of factors such as employer size, workforce characteristics and competitive pressures, giving them a more relevant basis for employer conversations and recommendations.

What tools does Renaissance provide to help brokers model plan changes and their impact on costs?

Renaissance’s Claims Incidence Analysis uses an employer’s historical medical claims data to estimate what RenSecureHealth would have paid if the coverage had been in place during the period being analyzed. It identifies qualifying diagnosed conditions and estimates the associated cash benefits, giving brokers employer-specific numbers they can use to evaluate a recommendation, compare the potential value of coverage and explain the financial impact to HR, finance and leadership teams. It can help with prospect discovery, new recommendations and discussions around renewal by giving brokers employer-specific evidence to evaluate the potential value of RenSecureHealth.

How does Renaissance help brokers compare plan options across different employer segments?

Brokers can combine Renaissance’s benchmarking resources and account-level data to compare plan options across relevant employer segments. BrokerX, accessed through MyRenXperience, gives brokers access to group and employee information, claims history, billing details, rosters, plan documents and commissions. Together, these resources can help brokers evaluate workforce needs, funding approaches, plan structure and budget and apply that information to employer-specific recommendations.

How can Renaissance help brokers demonstrate the value or ROI of ancillary benefits to CFOs and finance teams?

Employer-specific numbers can make the CFO conversation more concrete than category averages. Claims Incidence Analysis gives brokers employer-specific evidence they can use to connect coverage decisions to financial considerations, showing what RenSecureHealth would have paid based on the employer’s own claims. For the full framework, see our guide on how brokers can demonstrate ancillary benefits ROI to CFOs and finance teams.

Use Benchmarking to Guide Better Decisions

Benchmarking gives brokers another source of evidence to bring into employer conversations, helping clients evaluate their benefits against relevant market information with more context than broad averages alone.

The value comes from putting that information in context and using it alongside the employer’s workforce needs, budget and benefits strategy.

Want to learn more about how Renaissance supports brokers and their employer clients? Connect with our team to get started.