Bridging employees' total rewards knowledge gap
If mentioning total rewards elicits a confused frown or a blank stare, it’s likely your employees don’t understand or are unaware of the full extent of their benefits package beyond their salary and pension.
And they’re not alone.
A recent survey by Group Risk Development (GRiD) – the industry body for the group risk sector – revealed that a staggering one-third of employers said their staff had little or no awareness or understanding of all their benefits, and only 44% of their employees believed they understood all elements of their rewards package.
Inspire and motivate is key
Total rewards should bring smiles to faces and cause nods of approval in people at all levels, from entry up to the C-suite. They should be something that inspire candidates to join you and motivate the best talent to perform and stay with you.
But if the raft of exciting and well thought-out monetary and non-monetary benefits you’re offering aren’t getting the reactions and responses you expect, what should you do?
Perhaps it’s time to consider if the way you’re presenting your total rewards has enough heart and passion. Do you need to totally transform how you convey your total rewards? What impact could simplification of your messages and the addition of an emotional element to your rewards communications have?
But first, let’s align
Before we look at ways you can give your rewards a much-needed heartbeat, it’s vital that you ensure all leaders within your business are totally aligned with your go-forward total rewards strategy.
Senior executives need to be champions of total rewards, advocating for the benefits they bring to the reputation and culture of the business. They should also be determined to promote the rewards in ways employees can easily understand and relate to.
Rewards with feeling
Right message, right time. That’s how best to communicate the benefits of your total rewards programme. Many employers realise they need to change the way they communicate their benefits, with 39%* vowing to increase the encouragement they give employees to use their benefits in the next year. And doing this needn’t be complicated.
For example, when you want to get across your festive season benefits to employees - perhaps extra days off, discount schemes, or a gym membership, spending a little time thinking about when you send these messages to land in your employee’s inboxes can result in a better response.
You’ll likely get greater engagement levels to gym membership announcements if you send communications in early December with a follow-up just after New Year, as January is the time these memberships spike. It’s also a good chance for you to be seen to be helping employees stick to their New Year’s resolution to get fit.
Drive employee engagement
The benefits that a well thought out total rewards communications programme generates will be felt by your business too. Because total rewards that engage and inform employees will have the knock-on effect of improving business performance and ultimately results.
Always on, never a one-off
Often, the reason for a lack of understanding among employees about total rewards is down to their limited exposure to them.
The benefits are an ongoing feature of employment with your organisation and should be communicated as such. Make them part of your recruitment campaigns at the hiring stage and the onboarding process. But don’t stop there. Ensure regular communications across different media keep total rewards fresh and front of mind for all employees at every stage of their career with you, without inundating people with communications, of course.
Just a gentle nudge here and there will suffice. Remember - right message, right time.
Consistent, not complicated
Producing engaging rewards communications needn’t be time consuming or expensive. A short, simple email can often be enough to share news of a benefit. Your communications can also take the form of elaborate statements or unique online experiences. Much depends on the time and budget available, but the purpose of all messaging ought to be consistent – reaffirming the recipient is a valued employee.
Many employers have work to do to ensure their total rewards play a full part in inspiring talent to join their organisation and motivating people to stay. Having employees not knowing or not understanding the full range of benefits serves no one’s best interests.
This blog contains contributions from Nikolas Nawaaz, associate and senior employee engagement consultant at DrumRoll.
*GRiD Research among 500 HR decision-makers and 1,210 employees at UK businesses, January 2024
In partnership with Barnett Waddingham
Everything we stand for at Barnett Waddingham is embedded in our promise – to do the right thing. We’ve applied this meaningful principle across all aspects of our business with continued success.
