How actionable communications create consumer-grade benefits experiences

The constant buzz around the topic of employee experience suggests it’s the key to finally capturing benefits advisors’ and HR professionals’ elusive Holy Grail. If only we could figure out how to deliver the “best” employee experience, problems with workforce attraction and retention would be things of the past. We could go on to enjoy a more engaged and loyal workforce, higher productivity, lower costs and better health and financial outcomes for everyone. If only Indiana Jones was available to save the day.

Short of a legendary artifact, employers and benefits professionals alike  know that there’s no magic formula for delighting employees into a state of workforce sublimity. But they also know that there’s an urgent and ongoing need to get on the same page with employees and meet or exceed their increasing expectations if they want to be employers of choice. 

But what do employee benefits have to do with this? Or actionable communications, for that matter?

Engaging touchpoints define the modern consumer journey

Those of us in the employee benefits administration arena have had to respond quickly to employees’ calls for the what’s-in-it-for-me value propositions that resemble their consumer experiences, which are personal, connected and convenient. They’re definitely digital. They meet them where they are. They’re simple and intuitive. Most of all, they’re engaging: They get people to do something. They’re engineered to invite, enable and execute actions, whether watching a video, placing an order, or leaving a comment. 

HR leaders and benefits consultants can take a cue while shaping employee benefits experiences that inspire employees to watch a “How to Use Your HSA” video, enroll in their annual benefits or update dependent information. Sure, the subject matter may be a bit drier, but it’s arguably more important and carries higher stakes for employers and employees alike: 

• Employer costs for benefits account for nearly 30 percent of employees’ total compensation.
• Roughly 6 in 10 (64 percent) of employers say they are planning to enhance their health and wellbeing offerings in 2024 to support attraction and retention and better meet employee needs.
• Nearly two-thirds of millennial workers (65 percent) and half of Gen Z workers say their current benefits package makes them at least somewhat more likely to remain with their employer.

When it comes to employees’ desire and ability to make the most of their benefits, engagement across touchpoints matters. And engagement with benefits communications – an essential component of the overall benefits experience – is a reasonable place to start because it’s with our emails, postcards, text messages and even face-to-face interactions that we inform, educate and inspire employees to take the next best step. Benefits communications are often the gateway to the tools, resources and information employees need to engage with when it matters most.

Cultivating engaged employees

If we extrapolate Gallup’s definition of employee engagement – the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace – to the realm of employee benefits, it’s fair to say that a benefits-engaged employee is involved in and enthusiastic about their benefits. They innately value their benefits and effectively choose, use, and optimize them. 

That’s not to say that every benefits related email will rise to the top of their crowded inbox, but they’ll know what to do when they have a benefits need. An engaged employee is likely to:

• Visit a benefits portal to look up an answer to a question
• Attend a benefits education webinar
• Click a link in a text message to update beneficiary information
• Make an HSA contribution
• Use a decision-support tool during open enrollment
• Check an FSA balance
• Leverage a health care navigation tool to find a quality provider

Advisors and their partners in HR are challenged with the job of guiding – and enabling – employees through the benefits journey, but it can be a rocky road. It’s little wonder that just 55 percent of employees feel they understand their benefits very or extremely well.

It’s imperative that benefits professionals work hard to boost the engagement factor of their benefits communication initiatives. 

Creating actionable communications

These communications best practices can help boost benefits engagement:

• Personal, relatable messaging. Incorporating employees’ pain points and goals into benefits messaging helps make it personally meaningful and actionable. Using real-life examples of how benefits save money or improve results can also drive interest, buy-in and action. 

• Simple, streamlined copy. While not always easy to achieve with complex benefits concepts, using common language (with minimal use of jargon) and focusing on one message or objective  can keep information down into its most basic parts. The copy should drive employees to take the desired action – so make it a straightforward path.

• Clean, clear format. Subheads, bolded text and bullet points help readers follow along and digest the content so they know what to do next. 

• Single, obvious call to action. Since your messaging, copy and format are driving readers to take a specific action, make it impossible to miss. Attract their attention (and clicks!) with a colorful button and/or bolded hyperlinked content that takes them exactly where they need to go. 

• Convenient, intuitive process. Making it easy to complete required tasks, from enrolling in benefits to updating policy information, minimizes friction and provides a more satisfying experience that reinforces a positive perception of your benefits brand. 

• Preferred, multimedia channels. For benefits messages to be noticed – let alone engaged with – they need to be sent through the most impactful channels, and usually more than one. So, whether employees like to engage with benefits information over email, text messaging, social media or more traditional methods (e.g., postcards and paper), take their lead.  
• Effective, frequent-enough cadence. Repetition, repetition, repetition. LIMRA research reveals that 7 in 10 employees say they prefer to receive benefits information at least a few times or frequently throughout the year. Bombarded with messages from every corner while tackling long to-do lists, employees may need plenty of reminders to keep benefits top-of-mind.

A winning employee benefits experience is a consumer-grade experience. So, the more we can do as employers and benefits advisors to make the employee benefits experience engaging – that is, ensure benefits products and programs fit employees’ personal needs and are easy to understand, access and use – the more likely we are to satisfy employees and help them achieve better outcomes across all facets of their wellbeing. And isn’t this exactly what we want benefits programs, and the communications that inspire them, to achieve?

Ana Perez is chief marketing officer at Benefitfocus.