Benefits are a huge concern for companies who want to stay competitive. Today, the job market is candidate driven. Compensation is important, but so are benefits and how they reflect a company\u2019s values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s why an internal communication strategy around something like your women’s health and family building benefit is just as important as the benefit itself. Are you communicating your benefits during open enrollment and throughout the year? Are you encouraging engagement and building a better experience for your employees?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve ranked 4 strategies (low to high) that we commonly see and how they affect employees and the workforce. If you don\u2019t have a robust strategy around explaining your benefits, you may be losing more money than you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture this \u2013 you\u2019re discussing this year\u2019s new benefits and employee communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your organization typically updates and distributes open enrollment guides and hosts a few webinars that explain all employee benefits in (and often have little to no attendance). You aren\u2019t sure how effective this is, but \u201cwe\u2019ve always done it this way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sound familiar? If so, your company may not have an actual benefit communication strategy in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often times, we find that companies use this strategy when they don\u2019t have the time to create one. They don\u2019t usually know where to start to get the right info into their employees\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is how you talk about your benefits can have a big impact on your employees\u2019 decisions and your bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attributes of the strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Score: Low<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, your benefits may be great, the best in fact. But, if you don\u2019t communicate them effectively, will your employees know that? How often does your staff answer questions that could be answered on a self-serve portal? If you have great benefits, you need a strategy to match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If not, you\u2019re throwing money at benefits your employees don\u2019t know exist. That\u2019s the same as not having any. You\u2019re losing valuable employees to competitors who are publicizing their benefits package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After creating benefit resources for open enrollment, your company relies on employees to reach out to find any information on their benefits. In other words, there\u2019s no real outbound communication to employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to recent survey, 42% of employees say they devote less than an hour of time to researching and choosing their healthcare plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider that almost half of your workforce could be making uninformed decisions around their benefits \u2013 and what that could cost your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Attributes of the strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re creating resources that employees only find if they look hard enough, you\u2019re not providing benefits for all your employees, especially the ones that put in the hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impact on Employees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
2: The \u201cPassive Education\u201d Strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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