Do your employees have compensation FOMO? Try highlighting the value of benefits.

Considering just how much employers spend on benefits, you’d think they’d tout this value at any given opportunity. After all, benefits are an employer’s biggest investment in their employees.

Throughout my career in benefits consulting, I couldn’t help but notice that employers often bury the lede on the true value of their employee benefits. Even at the most opportune times to bring out the humblebrag on health care or other perks, it’s crickets.

Well, if there was ever an opportunity to highlight the value of your benefits, it’s right now. Maybe you’ve heard of a little something called the Great Resignation. Nearly half of all workers across industries are actively looking to make big career shifts as we speak. Although the reasons behind these departures vary, many employees are looking for greater support from their employers, especially in the form of better compensation. About half of exiting workers cite comp as a key driver for their decision.

But if they’re focusing only on their take-home pay, they’re missing a huge part of the big picture — their health care and benefits. Because of the way our health care system is set up, most employees are unaware of just how pricey health care can be for employers. They may see what’s taken out of their paycheck each month for their own contributions, but, of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when employers often cover at least 70-80% of premiums.

Don’t wait for your employees to leave in search of greener pastures before you begin highlighting just how green your benefits are. As you kick off your annual performance and compensation review cycle, consider this your green light to revamp your benefits messaging. Here’s where to start right now.

Share how your team came to benefits decisions

When an employer makes a big change to its benefits offering, employees deserve to know why. Not only does this help promote transparency, but it may also make them feel like they’re a valued partner.

Did you have to make cuts? Explain why this move was necessary, how it will impact their bottom line, and what this could enable for the company moving forward. Is your company making a pivot based on employee feedback? Give them the background to show that their input was considered. Are you adding a new benefit due to popular demand? Show your work and make a case for the potential impact.

Give them a peek at industry standards through benchmarking data.

While you shouldn’t feel compelled to keep up with the Joneses, benchmarking data can help put your offering into perspective next to your industry neighbors.

So how do you get that benchmarking data? I’ll give you a hint: your broker is sitting on this valuable info. Brokers have access to detailed industry benchmarking data that others simply don’t have. All you have to do is ask.

Every benefit has a story behind it. Tell those stories.

You can spit numbers and stats all day, but at the end of the day, numbers are impersonal, whereas benefits are inherently personal. Benefits give people and their families the stability and support they need to live a happy, healthy life. And that value is priceless.

Ask around to see if anybody has a story on how their benefits helped them through a unique situation in their lives. Consider including an optional question on your employee surveys: “How have our benefits impacted you?”

Having a hard time finding a story to tell? Try asking your broker to work with your digital health vendors to collect case studies that best match your employee population and needs.

Don’t underestimate the value of a total compensation statement

In my opinion, the total compensation statement is the most underutilized tool in an employer’s arsenal. Without it, you’re discounting the total value that sits with each role. (And chances are high that not sharing this birds’ eye view will inadvertently encourage folks to focus only on that take-home pay.)

Here are some basic components of a good total compensation statement:

• A list of each benefit offered, with the estimated costs of each
• A pie chart that breaks down how the total spend is allocated across each benefit
• The grand total, spelled out

Still, while the value of this resource is obvious, a lot of work goes into creating this document. It takes time to extract this data, analyze it, and personalize a doc for each employee. But if you have a broker who’s really committed to their clients’ success, they’ll be willing to help out with this.

Open enrollment, smopen enrollment. This calls for year-round communication.

Of course open enrollment season is a key opportunity to spread the good news on the value of your benefits. But if you want the message to stick, you’ll want to keep this energy all year round.

Here are some key times to bring the conversation back to benefits:

• Annual reviews — Are your employees receiving a raise? That’s a prime opportunity to highlight total comp.
• Months leading up to open enrollment — Thinking about offering a new benefit? Consider beginning your educational campaign early so folks feel prepared when it’s implemented.
• Onboarding new hires — This one may seem like a no-brainer, yet many employers miss their chance to explain total comp to new employees.
• Key days of observance — For example, Mental Health Awareness Month (in May) opens the door to highlighting your mental health care offerings.
• Year-round conversations driven by managers — Every successful wellness program I’ve ever seen had one common denominator: It didn’t just come from HR, but from every level of the organization. Encourage your managers to walk the talk and model how they put their benefits to work.

You’ve come this far on building a benefits offering you can be proud of. So why not show it off?

Grace Prentice is a client manager at Nava with 20+ years of experience in health care consulting. She has serviced clients in all market sizes and funding arrangements and believes in flexibility, creativity and a willingness to tailor solutions to fit each client’s individual needs.