Looking for creative ways to communicate employee benefits to increase engagement? Discover ten fun and innovative employee benefits communication strategies.
Did you know that two-thirds (66%) of American workers wish their employer would help them understand their benefits better?
Even though companies invest considerable resources into creating comprehensive benefits packages, they fall short if employees don’t know how to make the most of them. This highlights the huge gap between the employer’s benefits offerings and the employees’ understanding and utilization of these benefits.
Therefore, the challenge for employers is not just about offering more and better benefits. Rather, how well they communicate benefits to their employees.
Before jumping into the “hottest tactics” to creatively communicate employee benefits, let’s review some fundamentals first.
Here are some of the basics of benefits communication.
You may know the best ways to communicate with employees, but you’re not communicating your offerings effectively. Therefore, the first step you’ll need to take is identifying the diverse healthcare needs of your team. You can gain this understanding by conducting employee surveys, feedback sessions, and one-on-one conversations. Then, you can use the insights you learn to tailor your benefits package to your employees.
Identify your employees’ communication style and align your approach with it. If the majority of your employees communicate digitally, sending them long-form brochures about your benefits catalog could be overwhelming. Aligning your communication style with your employees’ will save you (and them) a lot more time and resources.
When a company fosters open communication, it creates an environment where employees feel comfortable asking for help understanding their benefits. This will also maximize the effectiveness of your upcoming strategies. Cultivating a supportive environment will make your employees more receptive and engaged.
In the end, understanding and implementing these communication fundamentals will launch you past 99% of other employers who think they can cut corners with “trendy strategies” to maximize employee benefits engagement.
Once you have the basics down, you can start testing these 10 creative ways to communicate employee benefits.
Disclaimer: You might have heard of the basic ways of communicating employee benefits, such as:
So we’re not going in-depth into those. You might have implemented these already, and if they did well, you’re probably not reading this article.
You’re here because you want to get “creative” ideas for communicating employee benefits – so here’s 10 new ways you can communicate with employees:
Ever heard of the Myers-Briggs personality test? Essentially, it’s a quiz where the test taker will answer a series of hypothetical questions that works to determine their personality type.
This idea is like that. But instead of identifying whether the employee is INFP, ENFJ, etc…
You’ll give them personalized benefits recommendations based on their lifestyle, health, and wellness preferences. It’s important to categorize the healthcare needs of your people and align them with the full range of options and services available.
We’d recommend incorporating situational-based questions that would directly affect employee benefit decisions. Some questions you could ask could be:
Depending on their answers, you can direct them to different benefits offerings that would fit with their lifestyle.
Pro tip: Consider using a benefits navigation platform such as Healthee which uses AI to suggest the most appropriate benefits for employees.
Another creative way to communicate employee benefits could be creating a series of comic strips (digitally or physically) that feature stories of different people utilizing their benefits. Once you create your own comics, you can hang them around the office, post them on social media, or include them in the company newsletter.
Just make sure that these comics are not only entertaining but also educational. You can achieve this by highlighting the practical uses and advantages of your various benefit offers in every story.
Some people retain visual and auditory information more effectively than text. So, you could start a podcast or video series where your employees share their stories about situations where they’ve used their benefits in transformative ways. Hearing real stories from peers can motivate employees to explore and engage with their benefits.
The great thing about podcasts or video interviews is you can go deeper into a subject without having to read a wall of text. Listeners tend to engage with short podcasts (around 10 minutes or less) the same way they appreciate longer ones (up to over 60 minutes). Most people consume podcasts while waiting in line, working out, or commuting to work, and this is perfect for breaking down how your offers work and the tangible impact it’s had on an employee’s life.
If your company doesn’t have a newsletter already, consider creating one that features, among other things, your benefit offerings. You can share tips on how your employees can maximize their benefits, introduce a new benefit, or give seasonal guides (e.g. during open enrollment).
The key to creating a successful newsletter is to write it with a more personal tone. Because the quickest way to make your employees skip the newsletter is by sending a boring, generic, “memo-looking” email message that they’ve likely seen a thousand times already.
Although sending emails to employees about their benefits isn’t exactly the most creative idea in this list, we decided to include it anyway. Why? Because emails can be made creatively (and be easily distributed). For example, consider creating an email series with fictional characters that represent your employees. The series can unfold with the characters learning new feature benefits in each email. It can be entertaining, fun — and, of course, educational.
For an example of some great email text you can copy, check out our post with open enrollment email template text.
Employees will love this one but, disclaimer, it might take some work to put together. Offer employees a series of interactive educational games or quizzes where they can learn about their benefits and get prizes for finishing them.
Prizes can be company swag because everyone loves swag.
And at the end of the day, employees will be happy they participated because not only will they have fun and get a prize, but they’ll also be empowered to get more out of their benefits.
Allocate a spot in a common workplace area where employees can pin a question for HR to answer on the same board. Putting up an interactive benefits Q&A wall like this will make it easy and engaging for employees and the HR team to talk to each other about benefits concerns.
Designing a visually appealing benefits wall in the lobby or cafeteria will help attract employees to view the board during their break or free time.
Organize a “benefits fair” and invite your benefits providers to attend. Each provider can have a designated booth where your employees can play games, draw raffles, and most importantly, learn more about what’s available. This fun and in-person interaction can make the whole benefits process more approachable for your employees. Plus, they’ll be able to learn valuable information from the providers themselves.
In today’s fast, digital age, who still has time to read brochures and flyers? That being said, with a tinkle of creativity, you can catch employees in a rare moment where they’re sitting in front of something other than their computer.
By putting benefits posters on the back of the bathroom doors employees can read them as they, you know, sit there. In these quiet pauses, employees are more likely to absorb information without distraction. Posters should be designed to be visually appealing, with clear, concise information that can be absorbed in a short time.
The right benefits navigation platform can be the strongest tool a company can leverage to communicate employee benefits effectively. A platform — such as Healthee, which also can be downloaded as a mobile app — increases accessibility, personalization, and cost savings. Healthee uses AI to provide immediate, personalized responses to employee queries about their health benefits.
This has the added advantage that you, and your people, can mostly skip over the entire process of communicating and learning about employee benefits — because they can easily figure most of it out for themselves. If employees have any questions, they can ask Healthee’s customer support team for clarification instead of turning to your HR team.
The highest priority for communicating benefits for remote workers is to make the information easily accessible and understandable, no matter where the employee is located. You can try posting short, engaging videos that highlight key benefits, hosting interactive webinars where employees can ask questions virtually, in real time. We might be biased, but a mobile app like Healthee, where employees can access information 24/7, can be even simpler for remote employees to use. If they have any questions, they can ask questions through the app and use Zoe, an AI virtual assistant, to answer common questions.
The best way to communicate upcoming changes in the company is to post the updates on a medium your employees regularly check. You can try sending SMS, emails or posting on social media since people tend to monitor these communication channels multiple times throughout the day. For more complex updates consider hosting team meetings, or host virtual webinars, for interactive discussions. Be clear, honest, and open about what the changes are, why they’re happening, and how they will impact everyone.
Set up an open enrollment email sequence that triggers during open-enrollment periods each year. Integrating health benefits navigation apps like Healthee can also alleviate HR workload during open enrollment by providing fast, accurate responses to employees’ benefits concerns 24/7. You can also try hosting a benefits fair to help your employees compare different options and pick the perfect plan for them.
User-friendliness is the first thing to consider before integrating a new technology without overwhelming your employees.
The biggest issue employees face when adapting to new technology is its usability. The advanced features have no use if nobody can easily navigate through the app. Healthee is a great example of an app designed specifically to simplify benefits navigation, even for employees who are less tech-savvy.
There are two types of metrics you need to take into consideration to assess the effectiveness of your strategies:
This approach helps you see initial reactions and long-term effects.
Keep up with employee feedback to decide whether your strategies are still effective and relevant. As a general rule of thumb, you want to change your communication strategy if employees won’t engage with it. Avoid changing and introducing new strategies in a short time frame, as this may overwhelm your team.
