Does your organization have a group benefits plan? Do your employees know what group benefits they have? Do you regularly check in with them to gauge how well they understand the benefits available to them?
Making sure your employee benefits are well understood and accessible is the key to a successful group benefits plan. Below, we share a few ways to keep the benefits discussion going with your employees.
#1. Share Your Benefits Philosophy
Once a year, Plan Administrators, HR teams, and/or Owners get together with our team to review their annual renewal. They have the tough job of assessing the benefits plan performance from the previous year, while identifying ways to add value to employees while protecting the plan.
When evaluating a benefits renewal, it can be easy to forget the reason you have a benefit plan in the first place. Start with your benefits philosophy – do you have one? What is your purpose when it comes to providing Group Benefits to your employees? Whether it is wanting to reduce financial stress or helping employees be prepared for unforeseen events in life, your benefits philosophy should be shared with your employees.
#2. Play a Round of Benefits Trivia
We all know that the gamification of programs and systems has radically changed how information can be shared with employees. To highlight your benefits plan design, create a benefit themed trivia game to quiz your employees! Questions like “how frequent is your dental recall?” or “ What does an EAP stand for?” can really start a great discussion for your coverage. There is a free online platform, Kahoot, that can be used to design a very user-friendly trivia experience right in the office. Who says employee benefits cannot be fun?
#3. Simplify Your Benefits Booklet
Benefits booklets hold every piece of information you will need with regards to your benefits plan. However, just thinking about all the pages and information found in the booklet can cause your eyes to gloss over. One of the things we’ve done is try to simplify your booklet for you. At Schueler Group, we create a simplified benefit summary and/or memo for your employees to review.
Finally, be sure the full and complete benefits booklet can be accessed by all employees – either online on your member website, smartphone app or in print format. That way, employees can refer to the information and aware of how to find what they need.
When it comes to your group benefits plan, talking about benefits coverage doesn’t have to be a tough or infrequent conversation. Keeping employees informed without sharing an extensive benefits booklet can redefine how your employees understand their benefits.
If you are making a change to your current policy, looking for a new one, or have questions, think about giving us a call. We are here to help!
Retrieved from BBD (September 27, 2018). Making Group Benefits Communication Easier - HR Tips.