How to Communicate Employee Benefits So Staff Actually Use Them

How do you inform your employees of all the benefits you have on offer for them? There is nothing like a good company perk, but if your team doesn’t know they exist or how to access them, then they’re not really as good as you imagine them to be. And this isn’t just from an employee perspective. Some benefits are massively beneficial to employers but only if they are used by the employee accordingly. The 410(k) is a great example of this.

However if you’re burying the perk and terms within the employee handbook and not pointing them out, no one is going to use the which honestly is a massive waste

So with this in mind let take a look at how you can communicate the company benefits more specifically to help your employees understand what is on offer.

Use Specific Dollar Amounts

If you’re simply listing the benefits and using percentages and vague wording people won’t know how it translates in reality to them and their circumstances. This means they’re less likely to make them most of it.

If you simply put “commuter benefits available” this means nothing. But if you flip that wording  to “reduce your monthly transit costs by up to $315 pre-tax” this will instantly make it clear to the employee how it benefits them. This makes the decision much easier for them to make.

Attach a Calculator

A calculator linked to the benefits is a great way to help employees tailor the benefits to their needs based on their salary. They gets to generate the specific figures themselves and make an independent decision about whether or not to use it.

The communication option then moves to “see what this benefit is worth to you by using this tool” rather than what it’s worth to the employee or employer in more vague terms.

In employer EV programs widely available across the UK, for example, there is a salary sacrifice for electric car calculator which allows employees to add in the relevant details and get a better idea of whether it’s worth it for them and how much they’ll save compared to purchasing an electric vehicle via other means.

Format for Skim Reading

Here’s the thing. No one wants to read through reams of text to find the details they need.

You need to configure your documentation so it’s easy to skim read allowing people to find what they need with ease.

You need short, specific answers; you need to use bullet points for details that are needed to know, or for exclusions. One benefit page or email is sufficient per benefit. Include a headline figure and simple next steps to follow. Don’t overcomplicate things.

Time Communications

Not all benefits are going to be applicable to everyone, nor required at certain stages in life. Not everyone needs to know about your benefit for childcare, not everyone has car leases, etc. You need to ensure that your communication outside of the standard windows, usually onboarding and annual enrolment windows, for most companies.

Take the details you have for each employee and time your benefit reminders and updates to the right period in their lives when they might already be thinking of these circumstances, i.e., if they have children about to start daycare or they are leaving to give birth, so they have relevant up-to-date information.