How New York Life’s Kristina Welke is meeting Gen Z’s evolving expectations about benefits
In this competitive talent market, few executives understand the evolving benefits landscape better than Kristina Welke, vp of strategy, solutions and marketing for New York Life Group Benefit Solutions (NYL GBS).
From her base in Chattanooga, Welke has a front-row seat to how companies are adapting their offerings to attract and retain a multigenerational workforce with vastly different expectations.
“The task for HR is figuring out how we appreciate and understand what different segments of employees need and care about, and then how do we allocate enough time and effort and dollars to each of them to really make a difference,” Welke said.
The data is compelling. While boomers still prioritize traditional retirement and medical benefits, Gen Z and millennial employees are driving demand for financial wellness programs, mental health resources, comprehensive leave policies and newer offerings like IVF treatment coverage.
The average employer now offers some 16 to 20 benefits, yet the average worker spends fewer than 20 minutes making enrollment decisions. “It’s like, I spend more time on Zappos purchasing shoes,” Welke commented, highlighting the disconnect between benefits complexity and the time employees dedicate to them.
That challenge is compounded by widespread confusion about benefits offerings. According to the 2024 BEAT Study by LIMRA and LOMA, 56% of employees are unsure whether supplemental health benefits are even offered by their employer.
It’s not just Gen Z that’s confused, however. Welke notes how digital transformation is benefitting all generations. New York Life’s portal usage has climbed to 50% of claimants year-over-year, spanning all age groups, according to Welke. “We’re all busier than ever, and those expectations have taken companies to really evolve the capabilities they have,” she said.
That evolution is underscored by NYL GBS’s expanding suite of digital tools. The company’s myBenefitsAssistant helps employees determine which benefits to consider based on their life stage and priorities. By answering a few short questions, the tool identifies benefits that align with specific needs—exactly the kind of personalized experience that resonates across generations.
Building on that foundation, Welke recently announced a groundbreaking partnership with Pasito, an AI-powered benefits platform that takes personalization to the next level. “This partnership further underscores our focus on providing planning and education tools to support employees, making benefits easier for all,” she said.
A partnership with Pasito represents a significant leap forward in benefits technology. The service offers a mobile-first, employer-branded portal that centralizes all benefits — medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability and voluntary — within a single interface. Key innovations include AI-powered setup that automatically builds benefit plans, creates content summaries and generates Spanish translations while providing personalized decision support through predictive analytics.
“When people understand their benefits, they make better choices for themselves and their families,” Welke said. “This partnership gives employers a powerful way to simplify the process and support smarter decisions—without adding more to their plate.”
The generational shift is most apparent in financial wellness offerings. Welke has observed growing demand for services that previous generations might have sought from family or personal advisors—among them, student loan assistance, first-time homebuyer programs and basic budgeting help.
That trend led New York Life to launch Balance Wellbeing, a financial wellness program that helps employees define their financial gaps, increase confidence and improve engagement in their benefits plans. Whether employees prefer self-directed learning or human guidance from New York Life’s diverse financial professional team, the offering provides flexible support options.
The conversation around mental health benefits has also evolved dramatically post-pandemic. Welke points to Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) data indicating that about 1 in 5 employers now offer designated paid mental health days. New York Life has expanded beyond traditional Employee Assistance Programs to include mental health coaching—a middle ground for employees who aren’t ready for counseling but could benefit from well-being support.
As for those HR executives struggling to communicate complex benefits information to their employees, Welke advocates for a multipronged approach. The Pasito relationship underscores the strategy, providing for targeted communications that deliver customized email and text alerts by employee segment, location and generation, providing year-round benefits education rather than limiting outreach to enrollment periods.
“Some of it’s generational, some of it’s just learning style and preference,” Welke said. “All of us learn differently.”
Welke challenges the traditional annual enrollment model, advocating for continuous benefits education and communication, particularly around major life events. “I think so many of us think about it like we spend 20 minutes on it once a year, and that’s wrong,” she said. “It should be ongoing.”
Pasito supports that by integrating with more than 200 HR systems, including ADP, Workday and UKG, enabling real-time census updates and streamlined onboarding for new hires throughout the year.
Welke’s strategic approach is grounded in practical business outcomes. As John Locy, Pasito’s executive VP and head of partnerships, notes: “Employers invest an average of $25,000 per full-time employee on benefits each year, yet without effective communication, that value is often lost.”
That resonates with Welke’s own philosophy that evolving benefits expectations should be viewed not as a burden but as an opportunity to create more engaged, productive and loyal workforces.
Ultimately, Welke’s advice to employers is simple: benefits managers should proactively ask employees what they need, benchmark against competitors, and invest in both technology and education to help employees make informed decisions. And most importantly, they should think of benefits communications as an ongoing conversation rather than an annual event.
Welke’s leadership in the benefits space shows how forward-thinking benefits strategies can drive both employee satisfaction and bottom-line results. As she sees it: “I think it’s really paving a path to offer those options that truly any generation could leverage—and to me, I think it’s very exciting, because I think we could all benefit from the improved experience.”