Building a Transparent Benefits Communication Strategy

By simplifying language, presenting details in clear formats, and providing ongoing guidance, organizations can eliminate common communication pitfalls. This approach not only helps employees make better decisions but also boosts satisfaction and maximizes the value of your investment in employee benefits.

As one of the highest work-centered cultures in the world, it’s no wonder that Americans crave a clear work-life balance. To do this, employees need to be well-informed and supported through clear communication of benefits and resources available to them at work. This article addresses practical strategies for HR teams to create transparency and foster a stronger connection between employees and their benefits, thus enhancing retention and engagement.

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Common Gaps in Benefits Communication

A common mistake employers make is assuming employees know more than they do when it comes to their benefits. As a good rule of thumb, plan your communication regarding benefits as if you’re speaking to someone who has never even heard of them before. 

A recent and surprising poll determined that nearly 43% of Americans don’t even know what a 401(k) retirement plan is. Trying to explain the details of your plan to someone who has never had one may be like explaining how to make cheese to someone who’s never tried it. With that in mind, here are some of the reasons employees don’t grasp their own benefit details:

1. Complex Jargon and Technological Language: Retirement, health, and insurance benefits are riddled with jargon and technical terms. Make sure to define words such as premium, deductible, coinsurance, HSA/FSA/HRA, formulary, etc.
   
   To introduce employees to complex language, you can provide financial wellness education prior to enrollment. 
2. Limited Access to Information: It’s common for existing employees to get forgotten in the shuffle of onboarding and open enrollment—without regular updates, they might not even know what added benefits or existing benefit changes have happened since they joined the company.
   
   A great way to avoid this is by first establishing a benefits wiki, or a comprehensive library of benefit information, through a portal, printed resources, or digital library. Second, make sure to update that wiki regularly. After updating the benefits, send out an announcement highlighting those changes.
3. Information Overload: It’s not uncommon for companies to provide a whole lot of information right before open enrollment deadlines. This makes employees feel overwhelmed and creates a need for them to skim or ignore important details.
   
   To combat information overload, break the information down into smaller, more digestible portions. Implement a communication strategy that prioritizes key concepts and then build off that. Offer docs, tutorials, training sessions, or videos that go more in-depth into different topics that employees can view and absorb on an individual basis.
4. Limited Attention to Non-Core Benefits: Retirement, health care, and paid time off are important but so are other axillary benefits: a stocked kitchen, wellness programs, employee assistant programs, and more. Those perks shine just as much as the core benefits and deserve to have a spotlight too. This is another way that creating a wiki for your benefits helps display all those perks, big or small.
5. Lack of Personalized Information: Having an overarching discussion about benefits for the whole group might be a good place to start don’t stop there. Opportunities for employees to discuss their needs in personalized sit-downs or digital chats are a must.
   
   For example, younger employees are most likely interested in a different array of benefits than the older ones are. One might need to look more into tuition reimbursement or career development opportunities while the other might need to work through a retirement plan.
6. Assuming Employees Know What to Ask: Many employees simply don’t know the right questions to ask when it comes to figuring out their benefits—or they might feel too shy to speak up. If the communication doesn’t address common pain points or FAQs, employees might not engage or reach out for clarification.
   
   Aside from encouraging employees to ask questions, consider hosting a regular Q&A hour where they can drop in and get answers to their benefit-related inquiries. Additionally, Pendant offers a feature that allows employees to ask questions directly within their library of benefit documents. This makes it easy for them to get clarification in real time without the need for face-to-face conversations, and ensures that their inquiries won’t get buried in busy email inboxes. With this approach, your team can address questions as they come in, creating a seamless and more accessible communication channel for everyone.

Best Practices for Clear Benefits Communication

Improving benefits communication involves simplifying language, providing information in accessible formats, and offering ongoing support to help employees make informed decisions. By addressing these pitfalls, organizations can increase satisfaction and ensure their investment in employee benefits pays off.

Do you have a collection of questions you get from employees? If not, check out our blog 15 Common Questions Employees Ask HR Professionals to understand what’s top of mind for employees. Will you offer training and checklists for new and existing hires—both individually and as a group to help your employees understand each aspect of their benefits before the need to know the details for open enrollment? Maybe your style is to send out surveys for employees to let you know what issues they’re having while accessing benefits. Or would you rather draft timely announcements letting people know what's changed and how they can access any new or existing benefits? Whatever you do, make sure to educate employees on benefit specifics clearly and often 

The Role of Technology in Clear Communication

HR tech solutions, like Pendant, will make benefits communication more interactive and tailored to your employee needs​. Pendant is a system specifically designed for employees to glean deeper insights into how your employees use their benefits. Not only does the innovative chat feature offer 24-hour support to answer employee questions, but Pendant helps organizations discover how well employees understand their benefits and how much they use and like them. An added bonus: this platform is not limited to existing employees; it can also be provided in a simplified form to job seekers interested in a position at your company. This can boost interest in a job posting by increasing transparency about your company’s benefits, with no extra effort.

There’s no doubt your company provides benefits designed to support employees in achieving a healthy work-life balance, even in today’s demanding work environment. With an easy-to-access  application of an employee benefits portal, you’re able to communicate a lot more with a lot less. Don’t believe us? Take a quick tour today.