In recent years, the balance of power has shifted from employer to employee. As a result, many employers are relying heavily on benefits packages to attract and retain talent.
Unfortunately, the process of understanding benefits is often difficult. Employees generally have a difficult time wading through all the information about their various benefits, and making sense of their plans—particularly health benefits.
As a result, even the best benefits may go unused, or underused. Findings demonstrate that two thirds of employees want employers to help them better understand their benefits. Unfortunately, grasping everything benefits-related can also be overwhelming for leadership. So when devising a communication plan, it’s important to connect with your broker to round out a benefits education strategy.
When leadership provides the necessary support and knowledge that employees need, it changes the organizational dynamics for the better. Highly engaged leaders realize, on average, a 55 percent decrease in turnover and more than 40 percent lower absentee rates.
There are a variety of things organizations and HR leaders can do to flip the script on employee benefits comprehension.
- Provide educational meetings, webinars, and other on-demand resources for them to access at their convenience.
- Remember to cater to your specific demographic and workforce; if you have a large portion of remote or hybrid workers, they won’t see the printed materials in the office break room.
- Consider implementing email sequences to reach your employees.
- Host live virtual events where leaders and your broker can provide information, guidance, and support, as well as a Q&A session.
- It’s also important to remember that some employees have a privacy preference and might prefer to meet one-on-one with HR and/or the broker, so providing that opportunity is crucial to your communication and education strategy.
You may not have the capacity to put all the above in place all at once. But chances are your organization may be able to pick one idea, and start there. Doing so could make all the difference between retaining valued team members, or losing them to another company.
