Benefits Communications: Room for Improvement

Improving benefits communications helps both clients and employees. After all, employees are unlikely to appreciate and make use of a benefits program if they aren't aware of it or understand their options. MetLife's study shows that there is significant room for improvement – more than half (55 percent) of all employees do not find their benefits materials to be clear and comprehensive, and only about one- third (36 percent) feel their benefits communications are very effective in helping educate them on options to best meet their needs.

Better communications could not only ensure that workers thoroughly comprehend program availability and benefits, but the study found that most employees (65 percent) who work for organizations that improved communications during the past year felt their employer was loyal to them compared to 33 percent of employees overall.  However, the study also found that a third of employers said that changing employee communications is not a current priority.

Employees Want Non-Medical Benefits

Improving benefits participation levels for programs such as life insurance can also improve employee loyalty, as workers place much higher values on benefits such as life and disability insurance than many employers realize. For example, more than half (59 percent) of all employees say they consider non-medical benefits very important loyalty drivers, yet only 37 percent of employers recognize this.

Suggestions for Improvement

Given both the opportunity to improve communications and the increased need to help employees close the underinsurance gap, there are several tips to provide clients with respect to improving upcoming open enrollment communications.

1. Communicate the broad purpose of life insurance.  Emphasize the importance of life insurance as an income replacement means and way to ensure more financial security for family members.

1. Use Methods Employees Prefer.  Employees participating in the MetLife study said they would like to see their benefits communications improved by having:  access to benefits information on the internet (44 percent); information tailored to their life events and life stages (39 percent); access to a person who can tell them about their benefits (36 percent); and more frequent communication about their benefits (34 percent).

1. Address employees' purchase barriers. Emphasize points around the affordability of obtaining coverage through the workplace; the ease of choosing and buying life insurance coverage; the financial security that it can provide for families; and the peace of mind it can provide for the purchaser.

1. Provide tools and guidance.  Underscore the tools and education that are provided to make selecting the right type and amount of life insurance a simple process. Only 42% of working men and 30 percent of working women feel very confident in their ability to make the right financial decisions for themselves and their families.  Not surprisingly then, more than half of all employees (51 percent) say they are very interested in having their employer provide access to online tools to help them make decisions about their financial needs.

1. Include features that add value. In addition to providing access to supplemental coverage above the core offering, items like in-person will preparation and help with estate resolution for beneficiaries are all valuable add-ons to make the group life insurance program more robust.

Communications and Loyalty

Employees have an interest in more voluntary benefits.  According to MetLife's study, 52% of U.S. workers say they are interested in a wider array of voluntary benefits that they can choose and pay for on their own.  Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of employees say that they value voluntary plans as a way to obtain benefits that meet their personal needs. 

So once your client provides access to supplemental life insurance coverage, follow up with effective benefits communications to make the difference between benefits that are understood and valued, versus those that are overlooked and underutilized.

One additional return on investment for undertaking efforts to improve communications – the MetLife study found that employees who say that their company has effective benefits communications, or who recognize that their employer has improved communications, are more than twice as likely to say they are loyal to their employer and are also more likely to be satisfied with their benefits and jobs.