HR professionals are getting ready for one of their busiest times of the year: benefits open enrollment season. This is the time of year where employees can make changes to their employee benefits plans and where employers roll out changes to their benefits. Benefits can have a big impact on employee wellbeing since the benefits plan affects access to medical, dental, and vision care as well as other necessities such as retirement planning. Despite all the work that goes into preparing for benefits season, many employees seem to miss the memo about how important benefits are. Some employees don’t bother to read or even open benefits communications. So, what can HR do to get employees excited about benefits?
How To Get Employees Excited about Benefits
If you want to get your employees excited about benefits, there are several things you can do.
- Give them a reason to care
Don’t send a link to a long description of benefits details and expect employees to get excited (or even to click on the link). You need to give your employees a reason to care about benefits by showing them how the benefits you’re offering will directly improve their lives.
- 401(k) plans
- Disability benefits
- Maternity incentive program
- Telemedicine appointments
2. Communicate the important parts first
People have short attention spans so make a bullet point list of the most important things you want to communicate about open enrollment. For example, if you’ve got some exciting new changes coming to your benefits offerings, communicate that news up front. Next, tell them any dates they need to know for enrollment and how they can get their questions answered. At the bottom, include a link with the details to your benefits options for those who want to review the details themselves.
3. Choose the right communication medium
There are so many different options for communication today that we have the luxury of choosing the medium that will best reach our audience. If your employees range in age, it will be important to provide information in ways that best reach everyone. Generally, older employees prefer more formal communication compared to younger workers who are more comfortable with casual communication. For example, studies have shown that Baby Boomers prefer in-person meetings, Gen X prefers email, Generation Y prefers a combination of email and text, and Generation Z responds best to either text or face-to-face meetings. If your workforce is remote, consider a live-streamed presentation for Boomers and Generation Z workers.
4. Personalize the message
The more that HR can personalize benefits messages to individual life events, the better employees will respond to the message. For example, workers who are getting ready to have a baby will be interested to learn about the company’s maternity benefits. Young employees who are starting out their working life, may be interested to hear about the 401(k) matching program and seniors may be excited about the free flu vaccines.
5. Provide answers to questions
Not only should there be a company resource such as an intranet with general information and FAQs about the benefits plans, it should be easy for workers to ask specific questions about their needs. Make sure HR is available through phone and/or email to help employees sign up for their benefits or choose the right benefit options.
By taking the time to roll out your benefits right, you can get employees excited to sign up and knowledgeable about all the ways the company benefits improve their lives. The more excited employees are about their benefits, the more likely they are to be loyal to your business and to let others know what a great place it is to work.
Need HR support for employee benefits? We’ve got you covered through HR outsourcing! When you partner with Makai HR you can get on with the business you are trying to grow while we take care of your employee needs from payroll to taxes, health insurance/benefits and worker’s compensation. You also gain peace of mind that you are compliant with all of Hawaii’s employer laws (if you’ve ever looked you know that the list is very long and changes happen). When choosing a PEO to partner with, there are many things to consider including cost, services, and technology solutions.
With the cost of doing business in Hawaii at record highs, we know how important it is to keep labor costs in line with revenue. Our plans are priced competitively and include value-added services like time-in/time-out systems. Our three tiers of PEO service plans are tailored to the size of your business and specific needs. We offer a 100% paperless solution which means that your employees can manage their needs through a computer, tablet, or phone. We can truly improve your employees’ work benefits while freeing you up to operate your business.
What are you waiting for? Companies that partner with a PEO benefit from 7-9% faster growth, 10-14% lower employee turnover; and they are 50% less likely to go out of business. Contact us today to get started!