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14 Nov 2017

Four quick wins to increase benefits engagement

We all want our benefits programme to play a critical role in increasing employee engagement and retaining talent. But most struggle to effectively communicate what's on offer. With the rise of the technology-savvy generation entering the workforce, it may be time to rethink the way you communicate to maximise this opportunity and truly engage your employees with their benefits.

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In fact, our research found that employees who said "my benefits meet my needs" are 31% more likely to be accessing benefits through an online portal.

With this in mind, here are four quick wins to increase benefits engagement:

1) Use all available tools

It is important to use a variety of different methods when communicating with your employees. Our research found that when employers adopt a multi-channel approach, with four or more different methods of communication, 59% of employees are engaged with their benefits and 68% are engaged with the organisation as a whole.

In comparison to this, those employers providing only one method found that only 20% of employees were engaged with their benefits and only 27% with the organisation as a whole. Multi-channel methods can include social media, online animations and videos. Try to use something a bit different to grab employees' attention to help them understand and engage with their benefits.

And don't forget the power of the mobile device. We found that employers who use mobile apps to communicate about their benefits programme are 6x more likely to have employees who are highly engaged with their organisation.

2) Communicate little and often

If you can take a little and often approach to communicating with your employees, they are more likely to value their benefits and have a better understanding of what is available to them. For example, rather than just communicating with them during annual selection windows, why not take a monthly communication approach?

By doing this, you are empowering your people to be able to make more informed decisions when selecting which benefits to engage with. We find that clients who communicate on an ongoing basis have a greater uptake of benefits and receive fewer queries from employees regarding these benefits.

3) Be timely and relevant

Ensure you are timely with your communications. Consider tying in the benefits you offer with employees' life events. Employees will feel a lot more value from their benefits if they relate to them personally. Our research found that 66% of employees would like communications about their benefits at key workplace milestones, yet only 25% of employers currently provide this.

By directing communications to different workplace groups, such as disengaged employees, or those interested in wellness, you are more likely to have a greater uptake in particular benefits. For example, you could target these employees with a gym membership offer in January to tie in with New Year resolutions of getting fit and healthy after Christmas. Or perhaps offer childcare vouchers to an employee who has just had a baby. Keeping up to date with milestones in your employees lives will help them to feel more valued within your organisation.

4) Measure and improve

Monitoring your communications with a digital approach, and in turn generating engagement data, enables you to plan your next communications campaign with even greater impact. Also, receiving direct feedback from your employees is a great and easy way to monitor and regulate your benefits communications.

Sporadic emails and intermittent desk drops are no longer enough to encourage employees to interact with their benefits, nor will they feel connected to your organisation. Employees are expressing a clear desire for better communications. And technology brings a great opportunity for you to make it easy and convenient for them to choose the benefits that they really want. Although there is no easy way to make this happen, these quick wins will set you on the right path.

This article was provided by Thomson Employee Benefits. 

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