New research from US-based startup Cascade AI has found a healthy appetite among US workers to engage AI agents during Open Enrolment (OE) last year.

The report canvassed US workers whose employers implemented Cascade’s AI agents for OE during 2024 and the subsequent January rollout, to aid in navigating the selection of health plans and benefits.

Cascade found a significant increase (9x) in the volume of employees using the AI agent to field questions compared to the previous year when no agent was available.

These questions were often variants of “how to” or “what is”, illustrating the need for a confidential space for employees to feel free to ask questions without fear or hesitancy.

Speaking exclusively to UNLEASH, Cascade CEO Ana-Maria Constantin says the most important takeaway from the findings is a “massive disconnect in terms of company resources that HR provides and employees’ understanding of those resources.”

“What we’re seeing from employees is that there’s a really big opportunity to improve literacy when it comes to how medical plans work, how benefits work, and what are the solutions available.”

She adds that agentic AI is also helping employees cut through the complexity of which health and financial plans are available and of best fit for them.

The report noted a “high percentage” of requests for direct plan-to-plan comparisons, such as breakdowns of monthly costs and network coverage.

“We know that health insurance plans are complex, that’s something that’s widely accepted. What’s been fascinating to see is the sheer demand from employees in understanding how these programs actually work, as well as other potentially very powerful benefits, like access to a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA),” Constantin says.

These are powerful and often underutilized financial instruments that would give great opportunities to employees to save on health care costs, to invest and use those funds more wisely in the future.”

AI agents can lighten the load for over-worked HR

While there is a clear need to provide employees with more access to information regarding their health and benefits options for OE, Constantin highlights that the adoption of AI agents in this space can help ease the burden on HR departments during a particularly busy period.

“By leaning into AI agents for delivering this information to employees, HR can achieve remarkable results and that’s what we’re seeing live with our customers,” Constantin tells UNLEASH.

Referencing a recent McKinsey report, which states there is an average ratio of “one people function employee to roughly every 80 employees” in the US, Constantin highlights that high burnout levels among HR professionals can leave departments in a “reactive” state in addressing elements that have business risks to an organization.

This is particularly relevant during specific times of the year, when HR are “busiest exactly when employees need the most” in the lead-up to OE.

“When the team is in that mindset, it’s very challenging to step back from day-to-day admin or high-urgency factors to focus on improving literacy,” she explains.

“AI provides a very light touch and scalable way for HR to really scale themselves in communicating these very powerful, complex and often underutilized programs to employees, which can mutually help the organization and employees.”

HR leaders must identify the AI agents right for their needs

Trust in the efficacy and security of enterprise AI has often been cited as a significant obstacle to employee usage.

Cascade’s report found that workers were not just using AI agents for queries on plans, but also to get information on sensitive issues, such as financial hardships, family leave, weight loss and specific medical conditions.

“It’s extremely important when scaling AI in HR to run on trust and build a solution that respects the privacy of employees, that assists employees in a confidential manner,” Constantin states.

She says that one of the biggest surprises after going live with employees is that “people actually prefer” having a private space to ask questions, with a marked uptick in engagement from employees asking sensitive, health-related questions.

“Across the board, we’re seeing and hearing that people are navigating pregnancy benefits in Cascade, they’re navigating questions about prescription drugs, questions about weight loss drugs, which is a hot area of interest right now that causes a lot of strain from a cost perspective on employers,” Constantin says.

“Providing a confidential space for employees to navigate these solutions has dramatically increased the capacity and the volume of questions where we’re seeing from employees.”

While the report shows a clear desire for this level of privacy and accessibility among employees, concerns over ethical use of sensitive information must still be addressed and Constantin highlights that HR leaders need to analyze which solution best fit their specific needs.

“My call for HR leaders is to identify tools that are built for their use case and for their needs. It’s widely known in the market that oftentimes employees can start using some of the tools in the consumer domain, which can have business risk or compliance risk for the organization,” she details.

From our perspective, it’s not a question of acceptance from employees in using the tools. In fact, there’s a very strong demand and there is a need to bring the capability of Large Language models in a safe and compliant manner to the world of enterprise, so that we can equip employees with the tools they need to be more productive.”

Want to learn more about how Agentic and Generative AI will help shape the future of work?

UNLEASH America 2025, taking place 6-8 May in Las Vegas, is the place to be, packed with HR experts and thought leaders sharing exclusive insights into the role of HR in the AI era.

Make sure you’re involved in the conversations and book your place for the International Festive of HR!