Managing and assisting employees to choose from a selection of company benefits is one of the central tasks of HR staff. Not only is it important to have benefits with which your employees will be happy, but it is also imperative that communicating the information with regard to these benefits is clear and easy to understand. Indeed, many companies which offer optimum benefits packages nevertheless saw a drop in employee satisfaction, mainly because information about these benefits was communicated inadequately or clumsily. On the other hand, companies that have offered smaller benefits packages and have communicated them well, have found that their employees are more satisfied and have a more detailed understanding of these. Below are some common ways in which benefits can be miscommunicated and ways that HR can address these.
What kills satisfaction?
There are several communication mistakes that HR staff should avoid making when providing benefit information to employees. First, HR staff can make the mistake of presenting the information in a dry, overly professional manner which employees find boring. Consequently, they may tune out and miss vital information, making it difficult for them to make informed decisions when choosing a benefits package. The way information is conveyed might also have a negative effect on employee satisfaction if it is presented in a “one-size fits all” manner, as employees may have different individual learning styles. Moreover, if too much information is provided at once (i.e. by providing only one or two open enrollment meetings), then this might leave employees feeling overwhelmed and dissatisfied. There may also be too much reliance on the use of technology to communicate benefit options such as listing information only on websites or company portals and without providing employees with an opportunity to discuss policies with HR staff in person.
What HR staff can do
HR staff need to realize that they are the main agents of providing information about benefits to employees. They need to be clear, concise, and plain in their speech to make understanding benefits packages a simpler task. They should be mindful of how individual employees take in information and need to be sure that they are not inundating their workers with too many facts and figures to get the task of providing information out of the way. Enrollment meetings should be spaced out and presented in an easy-to-digest manner. When communicating benefits information, HR staff should look at what types of communication are preferred by employees and use a variety of techniques. For example, while some employees might prefer learning about health benefits via telephone, others may prefer websites, reviewing documentation or a combination of these.
While communicating information about benefits can be a tedious task for HR staff, it is still a necessary one, and it is important that conveyance of information to employees is clear and easy to understand. If done in this way, employees will be well-informed on what their benefits eligibility, and as a result will be happier and more satisfied with what their employers provide.
