Boosting the bandwidth of telecom employee health plans
Telecom employees face signal-disrupting health challenges. Employers can design benefits that cut through the noise and support a complex workforce.
The telecommunications industry keeps the world connected — running fiber, flipping switches, managing complex networks and keeping information flowing at the speed of light. And it’s huge, with revenues in 2024 topping $1.53T.1 But for these organizations and their HR leaders who support the people powering that infrastructure, the signal on employee health is increasingly complex. Catastrophic claims. Aging field workers. Families with higher-than-average health care needs. And a benefit ecosystem that may be adding noise instead of clarity.
Adding to that is that the telecommunications sector operates in a fast-paced environment. Companies face constant pressure to upgrade their technology and evolve their technologies to meet growing demands. This requires a highly skilled and dedicated workforce — from network engineers and field technicians to call center staff and corporate functions — that often work in challenging conditions.
Some work outdoors in extreme weather. Others spend hours at a desk monitoring network traffic. This demanding work takes a toll on their physical health.2
For employers in the telecom industry, designing a health plan that works as hard as their workforce requires more than a standard playbook. It demands an industry-specific approach — one that accounts for the full bandwidth of what employees in this industry are facing and what’s driving spend across like-organizations.
Supporting the workforce keeping America connected
To address these industry-specific pain points, employers in the telecommunications industry may consider implementing the following strategies when designing their employee benefits portfolio:
1. Focus on preventing high-cost claims
Given the telecom workforce’s elevated catastrophic claim risk,2 employers should consider prioritizing proactive complex care management. This means going beyond standard case management to support integrated clinical navigation and Centers of Excellence (COE) for high-cost conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and complex surgeries. Employees who engage consistently with their PCP for at least 3 years have an average catastrophic case cost that is 27% lower than employees who do not.3 That kind of proactive, PCP-anchored care model may help manage the risks driving costs in this sector.
2. Drive value with consumer-driven options
Telecom employees are well-educated and digitally engaged, and they expect their health benefits to reflect that. Moving beyond traditional high deductible health plans (HDHPs) toward more modern, consumer-driven options may help this population make more informed care decisions. Plans like Surest® with clear upfront copays and intuitive digital tools remove financial guesswork and may help drive utilization toward quality, more cost-conscious settings. Pairing transparency tools with clinical decision support and navigation-led incentives may help members choose higher-value care without reducing the benefit richness that makes telecom employers competitive in the talent market.
3. Simplify access to benefits
For employers who have built complex vendor ecosystems over time, streamlining is both a cost strategy and an employee experience strategy. Centralizing health and wellness offerings through a single platform — one that provides a single front door to all programs and benefits — may help reduce the confusion and complexity that multiple portals may cause. When employees know where to go and how to use what is available to them, engagement may go up and administrative overhead goes down. For CHROs and HR managers already managing competing priorities, simplification is not just a nice-to-have; it is a workforce productivity strategy.
4. Provide support for family-planning and maternity care
The telecom industry’s higher rate of dependent coverage and elevated neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) utilization signal a clear opportunity for more targeted family health support.2 Benefit strategies that include contraception coverage, fertility support, doula services, maternity programs and neonatal resources may help improve maternal and neonatal outcomes while managing the high maternity-related costs this sector sees. As employees navigate family planning and early parenthood, having access to these resources in a simple, connected way may help reduce unnecessary interventions and support healthier outcomes for families.
5. Prioritize digital-first benefits
Telecommunications employees often value tools that support proactive, tech-enabled health management.2 This is a workforce that leans into digital channels by nature. Virtual visit utilization in the telecom sector is notably high, with 78.1 virtual visits per 1,000 employees.3 That strong adoption signals readiness for digital-first benefit designs: wearables, condition-management apps, digital therapeutics and virtual health options that help employees monitor their health and access care on their own terms. For employers, digital-first strategies may also support the aging segment of the workforce, helping employees 55 and older manage chronic conditions proactively.
Choosing a carrier with the expertise to close the gaps
The challenges facing the telecommunications workforce are complex, but they are not insurmountable. It’s important and in an employer’s best interest to invest in a carrier that can help them design benefits packages that enable simpler, more affordable and supportive care for their employees. With decades of experience serving clients across a spectrum of industries, UnitedHealthcare has the insights and strategic expertise to help employers in the telecommunications industry get more value out of their health plan.
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