All employees have different needs when it comes to health, wellness, and financial benefits. When organizations provide easy-to-understand and ‘digestible’ benefits communications, employees have a better chance of understanding what company-sponsored benefits entail and will be able to make the best selections for themselves.Â
Open enrollmentOpens a new window can be one of the most stressful times of the year, and as an HR or benefits practitioner, I’m guessing you’ve heard at least one of the following questions from the employees at your organization:
- “Why are my benefits changing? Could you please help explain the new choices available?â€
- “I receive all of this new benefits information every year – where do I begin?â€
- “There are far too many acronyms from HSA to FSA. I don’t understand what they are or how to use them. Could you enlighten me?Â
- “Now that I understand the options being offered, how do I choose the best plan for me and my family?â€
- “What do you mean by financial wellness?â€
It All Starts With Communication
I totally get it. Your “to-do†list begins long before employees start choosing their benefits packages for the year. But, when the time comes to engage with your employees, the first step is to help them understand current benefits offerings by developing a thoughtful communications program with clear, concise, and compelling materials — aka: speak in layman’s terms and don’t overcomplicate the details. Remember that employees do not use the same nomenclature as practitioners.
With the rising prevalence of fully remote and hybrid workplace models, it’s important to recognize that not all employees within an organization are working virtually. Many organizations have a workforce that is “unplugged†— in industries like hospitality, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, automotive, construction, etc. Successful communications strategies in these workplaces include small groups, information posted on bulletin boards or in breakrooms, and even mailers or postcards that can be sent to the home. Sharing information via websites and employee news portals so that on-site workers can access this information from a tablet or personal device also works well.Â
See More: Effective Communication in the Workplace: How and Why?
Tips to Get You Started…
1. Empower
Consumerism is the name of the game in today’s benefits landscape. That means employers need to help their employees to become better healthcare consumers. Employees have more choices in their health care options, which can be both a blessing and a curse. With that control comes an obligation and opportunity for employers to provide informative tools to help employees determine the best plans for themselves and their families.Â
- Take a look at methods, such as decision support tools, calculators, personas, testimonials, short videos, side-by-side comparisons, infographics, etc.
2. Diversify
Understand that one (communication) size does not fit all because even one employee population is made up of a variety of folks that vary by everything from gender to age to generational / communications preferences, among many others. Benefits communications should consistently highlight the choices offered by your organization’s benefits program(s) to each of the audiences within your employee population.
- Change it up with different delivery methods: Email, social posts, videos, podcasts, webinars, in-person or virtual manager meetings, benefits fairs, etc.Â
- Make it visual. Even if you can’t hit all of the deliverables above, it’s key to make your messages easily digestible by adding things like call-out boxes or checklists with important action items for employees.
- Reaching an unplugged / deskless workforce: Although you’d think many employees prefer digital-only, print items are appreciated by those who aren’t behind a desk all day. Maybe they are not issued a company email address or do not sit behind a desk all day. Further, print is particularly important if the audience you are trying to reach is an employee’s spouse or partner.
3. Create change champions
Having a familiar face or local contact for employees to direct questions to is vital. But not every organization has a team of HR business partners or field support to saturate the entire population.Â
- Establish a change champion network at the local level to serve as a front-line resource for general inquiries (e.g., “where can I access the system?†“has open enrollment started?†“How can I ask a question about X?â€Â
- Leverage the network to send thoughts to HR so they can respond, clarify, or repeat communications as needed.Â
- Try it out: Explore different social collaboration tools.
4. Quantify results
It’s imperative to evaluate your communications campaign’s performance so that you can quantify the results to senior management, make adjustments to the plan, and duplicate what worked next year. Utilizing specific metrics will help senior leaders understand the key insights and learnings gleaned from the campaign.
- Metrics matter: Highlight data-driven metrics like enrollment, annual surveys, and program participation. Also, make sure to track additional insights through casual conversations and focus groups.
Benefits represent a huge chunk of an employee’s total compensation, and they should have a solid understanding of the options available to them. To ensure they are satisfied, plan to communicate with them regularly and not just when enrollment time comes.Â
How are you planning your communications campaigns around open enrollment to help employees maximize their benefits? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .