Retirement plan sponsors are the first, and most important, line of defense in providing employees with well-managed retirement savings plans.
As a business leader, you spend a lot of time and effort—not to mention expense—to provide the best possible benefits for your employees. After all, ensuring that the members of your workforce are happy and healthy helps ensure that they are effective and productive at work. According to a recent study, “Satisfied and workers who feel well provide better customer service and are more productive each day, leading to a 12% spike in productivity for your business and higher profits.”1
With all the resources you’re expending on employee benefits, it would be a shame for your efforts to fall flat due to a failure of communication. You could have the best benefits program on the market, but if your employees don’t know what they have access to or how to navigate their plans, you won’t be getting the maximum benefit from your program.
Fortunately, there are multiple ways to communicate employee benefits with your workforce. In this blog post, we’ll discuss crucial benefits communication strategies that will help your business get the most from its benefits program.
Review the Details of Your Benefits Program
In order to effectively communicate with those in and around your organization, it’s important that you fully understand the ins and outs of your program. Consider the following strategies for organizing your communication efforts:
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Create lists or guides for yourself that include key dates, administrative information, and key contacts from your plan.
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Create a matrix that compares the benefits costs and features for each plan that you offer.
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When creating your communication plan and documents, think about the different audiences that will receive them such as your employees, your company attorney, your employees’ beneficiaries, etc.
Use Language That Is Easy to Understand
There’s no getting around it—accessing health insurance and other benefits is complicated! Each plan has its own rules about which doctors are in-network, which services are covered and in what amount, and what your co-pay and deductible will be. There is also a lot of healthcare jargon that you must be familiar with to fully understand your benefits—terms like HSA, primary care, in-network provider, co-insurance, deductible, and reimbursements are complex industry concepts that your employees may not be familiar with.
Consider developing an easily accessible guide to health benefits for your employees. Include information like a glossary of terms and helpful infographics to make the information more digestible.
Related Reading: Benefits Communication 101
Establish Multiple Communication Touch-Points
Unfortunately, companies often fail to communicate the value of their programs so that employees are aware of their benefits and options within plans. Too often, companies limit their communication efforts to specific times of the year, like recruitment and onboarding, and fail to follow up with informational updates or changes to benefits plans, or useful information about wellness programs.
In order for your benefits program to reach maximum efficacy, communication with multiple touch-points is key! You’ll want to ensure that there is ongoing communication with your employees about their benefits throughout the course of their employment. If there are updates or changes to their benefits, make sure that you notify your employees and explain the changes in language that is easy to understand.
Leverage Digital Communication Channels
In today’s world, we expect a lot of our daily communication to take place via digital channels such as email, text message, and mobile apps. Consider writing a seasonal email newsletter that informs your employees about different ways to stay healthy throughout the year. Many wellness programs are now connected to digital apps that let employees track their daily fitness levels. Digital communications can help you get topical and relevant benefits information out to your employees throughout the year.
Implementing or improving a benefits plan that supports and reaches all of your employees can be a daunting task, and many business owners and/or smaller HR departments simply don't have the time to find the right program and make it successful. Allow us to conduct a no-cost, comprehensive review of your existing benefits program. Click the banner below to get started!
1 https://www.fastcompany.com/3048751/happy-employees-are-12-more-productive-at-work
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