How many vendors are on hand at the 2023 HBLC?

100: Number of vendors exhibiting at the Health & Benefits Leadership Conference

As employee benefits become an increasingly pivotal tool in attracting and retaining top talent, the range of solutions available to HR and benefits leaders to help them meet their employees’ benefits needs continues to grow.

The Expo Hall at the Health & Benefits Leadership Conference is a prime example: On the opening morning of the conference, being held in Las Vegas through May 5, conference attendees perused the offerings of 100 vendors. The solutions showcased the diversity of the market: financial wellness tools, wellbeing solutions, coaching products, family-building assistance.

What this year’s HBLC vendors mean for HR leaders

Zilphia Taylor, CHRO of wellness resort operator Canyon Ranch, explored the Expo Hall Tuesday morning with two benefits colleagues, Pam Peterson and Janine Airhart.

The three picked up information on everything from backup daycare from Care.com to self-funded health plans from Imagine360. Ultimately, they were eager to learn more about the options available to help them navigate evolving benefits challenges.

See also: The science of employee happiness: Embrace both the ups and downs

In particular, amid rising benefits costs, the organization is moving to a shared-cost benefits strategy and facing employee satisfaction challenges. With 1,400 workers across several sites in the U.S., Canyon Ranch is also looking to meet diversifying needs of employees.

“I am a first-time CHRO and this is my first HBLC, so [attending the expo] is really a premise of learning for me,” says Taylor, who took the helm of the HR function two years ago.

Exhibitors have the ability to scan employee badges in order to share additional information after the conference, which Taylor says will be beneficial as Canyon Ranch continues to examine its benefits portfolio.

“in the context of learning,” she says, “being able to connect with someone [from an exhibitor] after the conference is going to be very helpful.”