Once your employees select the health and wellness benefits for the next year, how do you make sure they will get the most of what they choose?
The Open Enrollment period might be the only time of year when the employees engage with their benefits. Creating a year-round engagement plan will help your employees make the most of their health and wellness benefits while making smart decisions on using them. This plan will also help you engage your employees more effectively and with no additional costs.
Use the following short guide to discover the key steps in developing a year-round employee benefits engagement.
Start with your Calendar
The communication about benefits should not happen just one month during the Open Enrollment. Make an annual communication calendar:
- Set the communication objectives and key messages you want to send out.
- Brainstorm for dedicated benefits content and spread the messages and events throughout the year.
- Include information and tips about offerings, programs, and tools that employees might need to use.
Communicate on time
9 out of 10 employees will choose the same benefits year after year. So if you make any changes to what you offer, give time to people to find out and digest the changes. Send initial information, details, and reminders, and avoid unwelcome surprises.
Explain, remind, and aim to excite
The majority of employees say they do not fully understand how benefits work, or they feel uncomfortable reading too wordy materials about these.
- Do not overwhelm employees with too many messages at once. Try to excite them and feel confident about the information they receive.
- Break your benefits-related messages up into bite-sized pieces of information. Prepare easily to read materials, infographics, or short videos.
- Create a resources section in the company’s newsletter, explaining benefit-by-benefit.
- Don’t hesitate to send reminders, repeating core messages several times during the year.
Use various communication channels
Sending emails might be very efficient for communicating with desk-job employees. However, keep everyone in mind! Consider alternative communication channels, such as text messages, face-to-face meetings, short gatherings, etc.
Share and lead by example
- Peer-to-peer communication is maybe the most effective one, as employees trust each other’s opinions and experiences.
- Encourage the employees who already use their benefits to share with others what they like and address any concerns with your HR department.
- Organize friendly competitions that could motivate employees, for instance, to try out a benefit they never used before.
- People also look to their leaders for direction. When managers use their benefits, employees might engage with more confidence.
As you try all these engagement methods, don’t forget to monitor and assess their success. However, when you run out of ideas and time, contact us for tailored communication campaigns that effectively engage your employees with their benefits.