Understanding Portable Benefits in 2025: Don’t Let Your Business Fall Behind
Our benefits system in the U.S. is built for an era when people had one or two jobs over the course of a 40-year career. In that model, having benefits tied so closely to the company you work for might have made sense, but that isn’t how things work anymore. Whether someone is earning their living in the gig economy, as a solo entrepreneur, or is employed through a small business that doesn’t offer any benefits, they can be left out in the cold when it comes to getting the coverage they need.
Enter portable benefits. The ecosystem for new ways to offer benefits to your workforce is evolving rapidly. Many companies don’t even realize they have an option to get their workers the protections they need. If your business utilizes 1099 contractors, part-time W2 workers, or any kind of flexible workforce model — portable benefits is the model you’ve been looking for.
In this article, I’ll break down what portable benefits are, where the model stands today, what’s changing on the policy front, and why now is the right time to start thinking about portable benefits as part of your workforce strategy. Let’s dive in!
What Are Portable Benefits?
Portable benefits are workplace benefits that stay with workers regardless of where or how they work. Unlike traditional benefits tied to a single employer, portable benefits are a set of protections that move with the individual. These benefits typically include:
Access to health insurance (including ACA health plans)
Dental and vision insurance coverage
Other protections like life insurance
Retirement savings
High-yield benefit savings accounts for things like paid time off, childcare, emergency savings, etc.
Whether your business is large or small, there are likely a portion of your workers who aren’t given access to these same types of benefits that a traditional W2 worker has regular access to. They need help finding these benefits, evaluating them, enrolling, and uncovering savings where they can.
Companies are increasingly recognizing this gap as these portions of their workforce increase in size. They not only want to provide this access to portable benefits, but the most innovative companies out there increasingly want the ability to contribute dollars toward these portable benefits.
Innovative Programs and Real-World Impact
Several leading companies have already embraced the concept of contributing real dollars in service of portable benefits by contributing 4-7% of worker earnings on a recurring basis. These funds are deposited into a workers’ “benefits savings account” facilitated by Stride as the administrator. Workers can save the dollars in a high-yield savings account for things like emergency savings, paid time off, sick leave, or long-term savings, OR spend those dollars on premiums for health or other types of insurance coverage.
Stride administers these programs for our partners across multiple states and continues to expand with more launching over the course of 2025. Stride is currently administering programs for DoorDash in both Pennsylvania and Georgia for qualified Dashers, Shipt (a Target company) in Utah, as well as Lyft in Utah (who is contributing a competitive 7% of earnings for qualified drivers).
Each program is designed and administered specifically for that company’s needs and goals, and can support various regulatory structures. These programs not only provide much needed flexibility for workers, but also enable companies to customize them for their specific objectives.
The majority of contributed dollars are being saved by workers for critical benefits, and spent on critical things like pharmacy visits, hospital bills, or other crucial expenses. Initial results of current programs are proving out the value of portable benefits as workers actively invest in their health and work-related benefits. 89% of participants in the DoorDash program in Pennsylvania found the program to be beneficial overall, and for many it improved their overall financial security.
According to Jonathan Gruber, Professor of Economics and Chairman of the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this behavior is a strong indicator that companies' funds are being saved toward the right things and that the programs are working as intended in service of workers' financial security.
State-Level Progress and Federal Momentum
Both State and Federal policymakers are also moving quickly to support this portable benefits movement. The programs that have launched in Utah, Pennsylvania, and Georgia are serving as practical models for how businesses and policymakers can support the non-traditional workforce. And the momentum continues to build – with Georgia, Ohio, Florida, Montana, Nevada, Alabama, and Tennessee either passing recent legislation or advancing bills over the past year.
At the federal level, the Modern Workers Security Act was introduced February 13, 2025. It would establish a federal safe harbor that allows companies to voluntarily provide portable benefits to independent contractors. These efforts will allow companies to contribute to workers' benefits without negatively impacting the workers' flexibility as an independent contractor.
Today’s 60M+ individuals across all sectors of the economy are embracing independent work, valuing the flexibility and autonomy it offers. And today’s broad workforce may move between multiple employers or have periods of self-employment. No matter how they choose to work, they all still deserve a safety net to protect their health, financial stability, and overall well-being.
Why This Matters for Businesses Right Now (and Not Just 1099 Workforces)
For businesses operating with 1099 workers, non-benefitted W2 workers, or hybrid workforce models, several factors make 2025 the optimal time for implementation:
Your workers increasingly expect it. Workers increasingly expect access to benefits support, and workers with access to benefits show increased loyalty and longer-term engagement with companies that support their financial security.
Give them a reason to work for you and not someone else. Early adopters can establish themselves as leading, preferred platforms for workers. In a market where talented professionals increasingly choose independent work, offering portable benefits enables you to better compete for the best talent.
The tech is here now. At Stride, we have refined our portable benefit solutions through partnerships with over 130 companies, making it feasible (and flexible) for companies to offer customizable programs that suit both their business needs and workforce expectations.
The regulatory environment is finally catching up. State programs have established clear precedents for successful implementation, and we expect many more to follow.