Are Your Employee Benefits Communications Effective?

By Mickey Matran / February 10, 2015 / Uncategorized No Comments

There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to employee benefits communication. Even though communication is seen as a strong driver in helping employers meet employee benefits goals, the 2014 Inside Benefits Communication Survey found most communications are forgettable.

I want to share some of the top insights from the research done by Benz Communications and the National Business Coalition on Health. Is your company’s benefits communication strategy incorporating them?

Communicating Value is Key

According to the study, employers dedicate the most time to communicating the value of employee benefits and to improving employees’ understanding of their benefits. They spend less time on lowering health care plan costs and compliance.

This communication is seen as a strong driver in helping companies meet their benefits goals, with more than 8 out of 10 companies saying they reached some or all of their benefits goals last year. Almost 75 percent say that benefits communication helped them reach those goals.

Communications Need More Customization

The research found it’s difficult for employers to keep employees engaged with benefits communications throughout the year. Connecting through customized communications may help employers reach employees on a personal level.

And there’s plenty of room for growth in that area — almost 90 percent of employers said they don’t personalize their communications to employee or demographic groups. More than two-thirds also said they don’t target partners and families with benefits communications.

HR Needs a Bigger Budget

Some of the challenges in benefits communication stem from cuts to HR budgets. Many organization have been operating lean since the Great Recession, and budgets haven’t recovered. The majority of survey respondents said their annual benefits communication budgets are $25,000 or less, and 75 percent say that amount hasn’t grown in the past year.

Technology Can Help

Advances in technology — particularly mobile technology — have changed the way companies educate employees about benefits. In 2012, only 13 percent of companies optimized their benefits information for mobile viewing. In 2014, that number jumped to 40 percent. The vast majority of respondents said they put benefits information online.

New options, such as videos, text messages and apps are also gaining in popularity. According to the research, employees are leaning toward preferring electronic forms of communication, and employers are looking for ways to meet that interest.

Employers are still figuring out how to use social media to communicate about employee benefits, with half of them using Facebook, about 30 percent using Twitter and 12 percent using Pinterest. However, these employers are in the minority — 85 percent said they aren’t don’t use social media. Their reasons include not believing that social media is effective, a lack of buy-in from leadership, and a lack of time or resources to maintain social media communications.

Need help with your employee benefits communications? Contact us to see what we can do for your organization.

HR Solutions is a human resources outsourcing firm based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We eliminate human resources headaches for businesses with 10 to 1,000 employees by handling their payroll, employee benefits, regulatory compliance and other staffing needs. Contact us to learn how we can streamline your company’s human resources function to save money and reduce risk.

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