How to communicate the value of employee benefits to your team

Your employee benefits package includes statutory benefits and those you've included because of the advantages and support they offer your staff members and business. However, those advantages rely on you communicating employee benefits effectively. Your employees can't engage with their benefits package if they don't know what it includes or understand the value of each benefit.

Effective communication can increase employee satisfaction, create a positive company culture, reduce staff turnover and absenteeism, and increase productivity and profitability.

Ensuring you effectively communicate employee benefits and explain their value increases the likelihood that your employees will use them.

There are various ways to communicate employee benefits. We'll discuss effective employee benefits communication methods shortly, but first, let's consider the cultural elements. Your employee benefits strategy should start with assessing the benefits your team will most value. A positive company culture will encourage employees to use their benefits package, demonstrating your commitment to their well-being.

Creating high-quality benefits packages should also be an ongoing process. Your team's needs will likely shift, so your employee benefits should too.

Here are a few ideas to help you create quality employee benefits packages.

Choose the right benefits

Choosing the right employee benefits is an essential first step. Even if employees understand the value their employee benefits offer, they won't engage if that value doesn't align with their needs.

Certain employee benefits help increase engagement, such as medical insurance, employee assistance programs (EAPs), flexible working, a generous annual leave allowance, enhanced sick pay and pension contributions and death-in-service benefits. Some employee benefits demonstrate your willingness to look after your staff members and their loved ones if they can't work. For example, enhanced sick pay and death-in-service benefits provide financial security.

One-to-one discussions, forums and staff surveys can all help you assess which benefits your team values.

Request regular feedback on benefits

Asking your team for feedback on employee benefits helps them feel valued and shows that your commitment to employee benefits goes beyond a box-ticking exercise.

You may have created an employee benefits survey to gather information about what benefits to include. It's good to run these regularly to see which employee benefits remain valued and relevant. You can also tailor some employee benefits, such as health insurance, to meet changing needs. You can choose a full or pulse questionnaire focusing on a specific benefit.

Asking for feedback also lets staff report any issues affecting their engagement with a particular benefit. For example, some medical insurance policies provide an app. If it isn't working properly, access to treatment and services could be reduced.

Lead by example

Encouraging managers and senior leaders to use their employee benefits and talk about them is a powerful way of communicating employee benefits. It creates a culture where employee benefits are celebrated. For example, an enhanced annual leave allowance lets employees create a positive work-life balance and spend time with their loved ones. However, your team is unlikely to use their full entitlement if their supervisor doesn't do the same.

Analyse data from suppliers

Many employee benefits providers can share data to show you whether employees use their benefits and help you understand how they're used. For example, most health insurers offer employee health assessments that support workers in creating and achieving healthy living goals. Your insurer can provide anonymised information to help you make informed decisions about well-being benefits and workplace wellness initiatives. However, examining engagement with the assessments themselves could indicate a need to improve employee benefits communication about the scheme or a lack of interest.

Providers vary in the information they offer, so speak with your current provider to ask what's available.

There are various ways to communicate employee benefits to employees. It's wise to use several methods as effective employee benefits communication should take differing employee communication styles into account. Some staff may appreciate a series of videos, while other employees prefer written communication. Your employee benefits communication efforts should include several different formats. Equally, your staff will need to access information at different times, so you should also communicate employee benefits in a way that lets your team find relevant information when required.

Here are a few different ways to create effective employee benefits communication.

Use different communication channels and methods

As we've mentioned, people have differing communication preferences and learning styles, so it's a good idea to use various internal communications to discuss employee benefit schemes.

Consider communicating employee benefits in different ways and using multiple channels, even if you share the same information. For example, if you make a video explaining a benefit, include a transcript for people who prefer written information. Written details can also help employees go back and search for any details they want to double-check.

Using multiple communication channels also helps you remind employees about available benefits and their advantages. You might organise a talk, distribute leaflets, display a poster in the staff room and put details on the company intranet. Then, send an email a few weeks later as a reminder.

Word of mouth

Word of mouth can help your team understand the practical benefits their employee perks provide. Say your benefits include a rewards program that lets staff earn hotel discounts. Hearing a colleague describe being able to afford a 5* luxury break on a budget keeps employees informed and is likely more effective communication as they hear it from a peer.

You can also gather employee success stories and share them via several channels to provide real-life examples in future communications.

Talk about employee benefits during induction

Excellent employee benefits can help your business recruit top talent, so it's worth sharing information about your current benefits package when recruiting. However, when new employees arrive for induction, providing more detail about what each benefit offers is a good idea. This should be the start of an ongoing process. New starters have a lot of information to absorb so too much detail about employee benefits can overwhelm and confuse employees.

It's best to provide an overview when first communicating employee benefits. Then, leave them with information they can refer to later and include them in your regular benefits communications.

Share information from providers

Creating employee benefits communications can feel like a lot of work. However, consider what external resources are available. Many providers, such as insurance companies, provide resources to help businesses explain company benefits, which you can use on your intranet or internal communications. These are useful if you have insurance backed benefits like medical insurance, enhanced sick pay which uses income protection insurance, or death-in-service payments paid by group life policies. They aim to use clear and concise language to describe technical information so are a useful resource.

Some providers also have articles on related topics, so you can include links in emails or use the content as a basis for training sessions.

Email newsletters

Emails about your company's benefits run the risk of disappearing into a busy inbox, meaning email-only employee benefits communications could fall flat. However, they remain a valuable communication method. You can use emails in various ways. They can remind staff about the information you've provided during training. If a provider adds a new benefit to an existing scheme, share it in an email and mention it in the subject line so the message gets across even if staff lack the time to read the rest of the email.

You could also consider creating a targeted newsletter, for example, about well-being benefits, which offers a mix of health advice and featured benefits.

Display information in the office

Displaying information in your workplace gives your team regular reminders about benefits, even when they aren't paying attention. Put a poster in a break room where staff will wait for the kettle to boil or chat with a colleague, and it will act as a reminder. It is particularly effective for services requiring staff to call or contact a provider online, such as an employee assistance program. Employees will likely look at their phones during breaks, and posters or leaflets can act as prompts.

Put the spotlight on different benefits

Highlighting individual benefits or features lets you share in-depth information without overwhelming staff. You can align the information you focus on with company goals. For example, you might want to support staff in improving their mental health. The causes of stress and poor mental health are multi-faceted, so focus on different benefits that offer support or help improve mental well-being. These could include your EAP, mental health support via your health insurer, or benefits that help them save money and improve their financial well-being.

Season specific communication

Effective communication is also timely communication, so consider what your employees think about at different times of the year. You can then talk about specific benefits that help them. For example, you could mention rewards programs and discounts that let your team save money on gifts in the run-up to Christmas or on hotels and travel when planning their summer holiday.

Seeking regular employee feedback can help, as it lets you understand your team's needs and offer appropriate support.

Invite providers to speak to employees

We've mentioned the resources some providers offer to help you communicate benefits. It's also worth asking whether providers will come and speak with employees to help them understand benefits in more detail. You could arrange a training session where providers talk to a group of employees or offer clinics where they can meet staff one-on-one.

Alternatively, arrange an event with a particular focus if you have the space. Say you decided to arrange a well-being event. Attendees could include representatives from your health insurer and local services your employees can access using their benefits, such as a gym offering discounted memberships and a hotel with discounts on spa days or afternoon tea. It helps engage your teams, and the providers can promote their businesses.

Training sessions

Face-to-face training sessions let you share information and gather employee feedback simultaneously. You could run a short talk or include various sessions on an employee away day. As with other forms of communication, it's a good idea to arrange sessions based on employee's needs and your business goals. These could include talks about financial well-being, mental or physical health or retirement plans.

Remember to follow up with written information staff can access at other times, such as leaflets, posters, emails and links to relevant intranet pages.

Organise activity sessions

Activity sessions are a more hands-on version of training sessions and can also provide opportunities for staff to share benefits via word of mouth. They can be highly engaging and offer opportunities to share information about related benefits.

Say your employees can access a rewards program with discounts on vegetable boxes. Running a cookery session using a box shows staff the benefits and encourages healthy eating. They can also eat the results and chat with their colleagues to strengthen workplace relationships, so there are multiple benefits.

We hope this guide has given you some good ideas for ensuring your team makes the most of their employee benefits. At Globacare, we help our clients find the right insurance policies to support a high-quality benefits package. Contact us for advice tailored to your needs.