What the longevity dividend means for employee benefits 

The typical benefit program structure — with health and wealth in separate buckets — was established back when the average lifespan was generally shorter, and most employers still treat caregiving, preventive care and retirement as if they were separate concerns. A new report from the World Economic Forum and Marsh argues that this divide has real costs and no longer fits today’s workforce. 

While The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth is global in scope, its core point is highly relevant for US employers: health and financial well-being tend to move in sync and intersect over time. When employees step away to provide care, when they face health issues that may worsen with time, or when they encounter age-related and other late-career barriers, the effects can extend to retirement savings, workforce participation and long-term financial resilience.

Caregiving is not only a leave issue

The report finds that a five-year caregiving break early in a career can reduce retirement savings by 29%. Because women take on the majority of caregiving responsibilities, they are most affected.  In looking at the impact on women specifically, the study found that just one year of caregiving, combined with the gender pay gap, can reduce a woman’s retirement savings by an average of 24%.

Those findings matter because they show how quickly caregiving responsibilities can lead to long-term financial problems. Increasing longevity means more people will at some point in their lives be required to take on caregiving responsibilities not just for children, but for parents, other relatives, or even close friends. The report does not treat caregiving as a temporary disruption, but as a force that can reshape retirement security, labor force participation and financial resilience. It calls on employers to redesign employee benefits for the longevity economy, including dedicated leave for caregiving and doctor’s appointments and return-to-work opportunities for caregivers who have left the workforce.

For benefits leaders, the implication is clear: caregiving support belongs closer to the center of benefits strategy, not the margins.

Preventive care has a broader return

The report also makes a business case for preventive care. It focuses on three interventions: fall prevention, physical activity to reduce type 2 diabetes and hearing aid use to help delay dementia onset.

The value of those interventions, as the report frames it, is not limited to direct health effects. Preventing falls can reduce care needs and protect financial resilience. Physical activity can lower diabetes-related costs and support workforce participation. Wider hearing aid use can help delay dementia, easing pressure on families and caregivers. 

That is an important frame for employers. The report pushes decision-makers to look beyond short-term silos and consider the wider health and wealth effects of prevention. For benefits professionals, that is a useful reminder that preventive care can shape more than near-term medical spending. It can also affect caregiving burdens, productivity and the ability to remain active and independent for longer.

Older workers need better support

Another strong theme in the report is ageism. It links age-related workplace barriers to poorer health outcomes, longer unemployment for older adults and large productivity losses.

The report also points to what employers stand to gain from a more age-inclusive approach. It highlights the value of multigenerational teams, workplace flexibility and systems that support more gradual transitions later in working life.

Understanding the upsides that increasing longevity holds for businesses matters because a benefits strategy for a longer-lived workforce is more complex: Employees may need support at different points as health, work and family demands shift. It’s important to recognize that a strategy built around a short and linear working life may be less effective in a longevity economy.

Longevity is also an equity issue

The report is especially clear on the unequal effect of these pressures. Women are more likely to provide unpaid care both for children and other relatives or friends, more likely to earn less over time and more likely to face greater financial vulnerability in older age.

That makes longevity more than a demographic issue. It is also a benefits equity issue. Employers that look at caregiving, retirement savings and health support separately may miss how strongly those risks compound.

The takeaway for benefits leaders

The report’s message is straightforward: Longevity is not only about aging. It is about the long interaction between health, work and financial security.

For employers, that means benefits can no longer be designed as if caregiving, preventive care and retirement sit in separate lanes. The report argues for and demonstrates the financial benefits of a more connected approach, one that links health and financial support and reflects the realities of longer, more complex lives.

For benefits professionals, that is the real takeaway. Benefits built for shorter and simpler careers may not match the workforce ahead. The organizations that adjust earlier will be better positioned to support both employee well-being and long-term business performance.