6 ways to show your employees the benefit of your benefits

I’m so excited. The team’s worked for months to design an absolutely fabulous new benefit that I’m confident our employees will love. We listened to what they wanted, went out and found a provider that would help us deliver it, and today is the big day that it’s being launched.

So here I go, I press the button to send out a company-wide email to announce the exciting news, and watch and wait to see what happens. Afraid to leave my desk in case someone has a question, I sit there as the hours pass by until I suddenly realise that the cleaning person is emptying the bins and turning out the lights in the building. What in the world did I do wrong?!

Has this ever happened to you with either a new benefit or a re-launch of an existing one? Go on, you know it has! We try to get it right, but sometimes we just miss the mark. Why? Well to put it simply - we haven’t shown our employees the benefit of our benefit!

No worries, I’m here to share with you six tips to help you turn around your most reticent employees.

1) Stop relying on email

We all love emails, they’re easy to write and send, and we just “know” that our employees read them. But do they really? The average person receives somewhere in the neighbourhood of 100 emails each day. Do the math - if it takes you three minutes to read an email and three minutes to respond, it would take you a total of 10 hours each day to manage these. Not possible, right? The only option we have is to either make our emails stand out, use other methods to get through to our employees, or preferably, do both!

2) Make your messages stand out

If you want your messages to be seen, heard and actioned, rising above the other 99 emails your employees receive each day, you need to have them stand out, having them jump off the page. Make them so intriguing that your employees just have to see what it’s all about, turning it into a FOMO (fear of missing out) event.
● Wrong: Open enrolment begins today with two new benefits
● Right: Check out your fantastic two new benefits - don’t let them slip away!

3) Avoid biz-blab

Have you ever heard the word ‘biz-blab’? I love this marketing term, which means to talk carelessly or too much, and is often exactly what we do when we explain our benefit programmes to employees. We go on and on, using benefits jargon and way too many words, which either puts our workforce to sleep or makes them never want to read anything coming from us again. So next time you write your benefit communications, ask yourself, am
I biz-blabbing? And if you are . . . stop yourself - get out your red pen and cross out any unnecessary or confusing words.
● Wrong: You are eligible to join the company’s defined-contribution pension scheme, which is a scheme where you and the company make contributions so you can save for your retirement. You will need to select your investment fund, which can be the default lifestyle fund or others which range from high to low risk investments.
● Right: Want to save for the future so you can do everything on your bucket list? The company’s retirement savings plan will help you do just that, and all you have to decide is what kind of saver you are - do you like a little bit of risk, a lot of risk, or do you want us to decide for you? It’s that easy!

4) Keep the list of benefits short

Most people can only hold two or three thoughts at one time in their short-term memory, long lists just cause confusion. So although you probably have a long list of why your benefits are right for your employees, pick the top two or three that will matter most to them and sum up the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) best.
● Wrong: The new employee discount benefit has discounts at department stores, coffee shops, restaurants, cinemas, home improvement stores and many more. You can save with instant discounts, instant vouchers, or cashback offers. You’ll need to go online to register and then select the discount that you want.
● Right: Want to save money at over 1,000 of your favourite retailers? Go onto our new employee discount benefit platform and check out all the ways you can save money. Start saving today!

5) Create variety

You should never rely on one source or way of communicating to get your messages across, it just won’t work. If you want to engage with your employees you first need to connect with them, and you can’t do this if they don’t take notice of your messages. The best way to do this is to repeat your messages numerous times over numerous communication channels. Not verbatim, but with a consistent and targeted theme and branding. Use a combination to drive home your messages to each and every one of your
workforce.

6) Get them talking

These days you don’t have to do all the talking yourself, for with social media you can use the power of your people. Set up social pages and let your employees be your marketers, your cheerleaders and your ambassadors to get others excited and engaged.

So next time you’re sitting in the dark wondering what happened with your flat benefits launch, get out your torch, start reading these tips and get out and do things differently! You have the power to turn around even the most reticent employees, helping them to see the benefit of your benefits.

Debra Corey is group reward director at Reward Gateway.

This article was provided by Reward Gateway.