They had sent out two emails over two days outlining the new program. A very long Word document was attached to each email spelling out all of the details. Since I am involved in the training industry, she told me that she wished they had approached the initial roll-out of details in a different way. She said she would not read all of both documents, most likely. They were too lengthy. She figured she would just ask someone else who had read them about the documents.
What if they had some great new training session or list of sign-up dates that she needed to know about? Next, I asked her how she would have approached the dissemination of that information.
Use your analytics to drive that continuous improvement. Launching a benefits website in phases can help make the project seem a little less daunting. You could start with content about open enrollment and other core benefits. Then, expand over the time to add goal-based content, videos, interactive tools, and more. A global benefits website provides the infrastructure, tools, and resources to elevate communication in all the countries in which you operate.
In building your site, you can start with the U. For example, when you create country-specific pages, you can ensure that you deliver only relevant information to employees in those countries. Some companies create all pages in U. English, while others customize country-specific pages with British English, as applicable. Some even localize their sites, offering pages written in the local language and featuring culturally relevant content and images.
One of our clients, a Fortune Best Company, invested in a global benefits website. This public site provides credential-free access to information for employees, spouses, and family members. Initially, we created the benefits website for U. Each country site provides information about the local benefits offerings and features culturally relevant content and images.
At the same time, they all reflect a consistent brand, platform, and framework. Content features for the U. Employees love it—the latest analytics show that the site gets almost 14, unique visitors every month.
A custom benefits website provides your employees and their family members with one place to go for all their benefits information needs. If we want feedback to take root in the culture, we need to explicitly ask for it. Everyone wants to feel heard. Listening is one of the most important things you can do as a leader. Listening will help you get results faster and more easily. Here are a few methods that HR and benefits teams can readily use:. Focus groups: Assembling a cross-sectional representation of your employees for an interactive group discussion will offer insight into the reactions and opinions you can expect from your larger employee population.
Interviews: One-on-one conversations are a great way to build the rapport necessary to get candid and honest insights. We recommend talking to at least 20 people who are representative of the topic at hand e. And keep the conversations to no more than 15 minutes. You can get through about 5 questions in 15 minutes, so have them prepared in advance. Observation: Simply watching how employees behave or interact with your programs provides substantial insight.
What employees say they do and what they actually do often differ. You can observe employee behavior in a number of ways, including usability testing of your benefits website to see how people navigate the site and whether or not adjustments need to be made; interactions with a prototype; and reactions following the launch of pilot. Prototypes: A prototype can be anything—a drawing, poster, group experiment, even a crude model. It can even be a simulation of what you want someone to experience.
Use a prototype to test assumptions about how content should be grouped. Observe how users interact with the content, and see how easily they find information or take desired actions with the prototype. In this case, you might write each benefit on a card and ask employees to group the cards.
The goal is for employees to experience your idea, not just hear about it during a presentation. Surveys: Quick to develop and deploy, surveys are great for capturing very specific information about a large number of people. To get even more detailed insights, surveys can include branching logic, which directs employees to a specific line of questioning on the basis of their answers to prior questions.
Don't let concerns around your ability to implement feedback prevent you from gathering it. We know you can't—and shouldn't—act on every single piece of feedback you receive, so you'll need to determine how to prioritize.
Are there themes? Do you strongly believe something needs to be done? And, if you end up implementing someone's feedback, let them know! HR and benefits professionals have perfected the art of creating surveys. But we encourage you to try other methods to get a richer level of understanding. When you have a conversation, allow people to speak freely. When you do usability testing, observe how they actually interact with a website or mailer.
For some topics, like Medicare enrollment, the group you talk to will be tightly defined. With interviews and user testing, it should be just you and the employee. Sometimes, surveys are sent to broad audiences. Thank the participant or participants for joining you, and remind them of the context in which their insights may be used. That will allay any concerns they may have about confidentiality and sharing their opinions.
Provide an overview of the subject you plan to cover, as well. So that we can continue to improve our offerings and processes, we invite you to complete this brief survey. It should take no more than 5 minutes of your time. Leading questions are ones that prompt the desired answer.
Your moderator or interviewer should have adequate knowledge of the topic to keep the conversation on track and avoid prompting specific answers when following up. With usability testing, you want to see how people navigate a website or interact with content or a product. Your key insight will be how they get to the information you ask them to find or the action you desire them to take, so be extra careful not to drop any hints.
And as hard as it may be, resist the urge to jump in and help guide them along. To help prevent this, direct questions to certain participants as a way to encourage—and give space for—others to contribute. With larger focus groups, arrange for another team member, in addition to the moderator, to be present to take notes. That person is unnecessary in one-on-one interviews if the interviewer is comfortable taking notes. Usability testing is most commonly associated with websites. But it can also be used on prototypes.
Or to discover if one description or explanation of a complicated concept is better than another. It could be an illustration of how a health savings account and a high-deductible health plan work together. Or a chart that shows how an employee stock purchase program works. Or, perhaps, a proposed website site map.
Show it to employees. Ask them to interact with it. Then, watch what they do. Can they find the information you asked them to locate on a website? Maybe you have two versions of something that explain the same complicated concept. Do they gravitate to one over the other? Body language alone can tell you a lot about what people are experiencing. That way, you have another opportunity to watch the interaction and observe what you may have missed while you were in the room—and share it with others.
Technology has made this surprisingly simple to do. One year after the launch of an enhanced parental leave program, a client discovered that extended time away from work brought problems that neither the HR team nor employees could have anticipated. Employees returning to work were struggling to reintegrate into their departmental roles. Should they just show up at their desks and start checking emails? How should they adjust to their new reality and schedule with a new baby at home?
How should they get up to speed when they return? What about the sensitive issue of breastfeeding? It was obvious that more support was needed for returning from a long leave of absence … but more of what? So, they decided to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate the program structure and touch points. At first, HR leaders thought that flexible working arrangements would be the solution, so they tasked the Global Benefits team with implementing that change.
However, the Global Benefits team proposed that they instead take a few extra weeks to make sure this was the right solution. To better understand how to help employees transition back to work, they gathered feedback directly from program participants. Surprisingly, when employees were asked what the company could do to make them feel more supported, they rarely mentioned flexible schedules. What they wanted was a more structured—and empathetic—process for returning to work.
And that process needed to start with managers. They hoped this new program would help to create a smoother transition for employees returning to the company after being away for an extended leave.
The program was well received—almost employees expressed interest in the first six months it was available. Pink, The New York Times best-selling author focusing on business, work, and behavior. At some point in their career, benefits and HR professionals are bound to encounter a sobering realization: Many of their employees are completely lost when it comes to understanding health care and financial information.
Once the realization hits, you may start over-explaining every little thing—just to make sure you cover your bases. When you launch a new program, you might devote several pages to it on your benefits website. While all this information is definitely comprehensive, is creating a lot of materials for your employees to wade through the best use of your time—or theirs?
Probably not. A recent report made headlines with its click-bait worthy headline, which stated that the average attention span of a human was less than that of a goldfish.
The takeaway is that the average person tunes out after 8 seconds. This means that almost 9 out of 10 adults lack the skills needed to manage their health and prevent disease. It has a direct correlation with health outcomes. One of the most common mistakes we see is too much detail in communications about benefits. Instead of throwing all your program-related details into the mix, break up complex topics into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Since both of these features offered big financial incentives to employees, our client felt compelled to go into great detail about how each feature worked. When you make the effort to simplify language and organize your content, employees notice! Creating simple communications can have a big impact on employee engagement and, ultimately, healthy and productive employees. The health care and financial industries are cultures unto themselves, with languages all their own. Unless you work in these industries—or your work revolves around them—you may not be familiar with the terminology they use.
Before using terms and phrases that may seem obvious to you, casually test them with coworkers in other departments. This will make it much easier for employees to absorb what they need to, and take action. Checklists are a great way to do this. At first glance, employees should understand what they need to do next and how to take action.
A dedicated website becomes your one-stop shop for all benefits information, which saves your employees the hassle of remembering dozens of provider URLs. Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that makes it easy to understand.
When a high-tech client asked us to create some buzz and excitement around a new suite of perks designed to appeal to employees in all life stages, we employed a true marketing approach. And appeal to other employees, as well. Instead of developing one communication piece to announce all the new benefits, we produced a series of unique—and unexpected—pieces, such as stand-up displays and cafeteria placemats, to supplement their existing benefits website, posters, emails, digital displays, and team meetings.
The goal was to engage employees in the new benefits and reinforce the employee value proposition. So, each piece of the campaign conveyed a single message with a clear call to action:.
The campaign was a hit. A multi-channel, year-round approach to communications means utilizing a variety of communication channels to address different learning styles and keep the conversation going throughout the year.
Until recently, employees heard about benefits from their employers only about once a year—usually during open enrollment. Yet they were expected to remember how their benefits plans worked for the next 12 months. Frequent communication is essential for keeping benefits top of mind and reinforcing the employee value proposition.
Your communications should be tailored to meet the needs of your workforce and reflect the different ways people absorb information. For instance, think about how you approach a news website.
Most popular? Breaking news? Local news? Do you shy away from links to videos? Using multiple media channels helps ensure your message is seen. Incorporate these techniques as you plan your communications for the year:. People have short memories. Your strategy will determine which topics to cover, the time of year to talk about them, and how often they need to be repeated. They include your benefits website, videos, and decision-support tools.
Leveraging a combination of push and pull media channels will help you drive better results. Before you roll out video, a blog, text messaging, or any other new communication channel, plan for how it will fit into your overall communication ecosystem. You can start with answering some basic questions: Will it replace or duplicate another channel? How will it complement an d integrate with other channels? How will you promote this new channel so that employees know when to use it?
How will you support this channel over time? With the foundation of a strong strategy, brand, and benefits website, their communication has evolved over the years to include frequent updates and campaigns delivered across many channels to reach both employees and family members.
The result: exceptionally high engagement with benefits, from wellness and health care to retirement and financial programs. In particular, the commitment to their wellness program communications has created remarkable results over a 5-year period:. Every January kicks off with a new year campaign and health reminders. In the spring, health fairs start onsite, including biometric screenings and open enrollment education.
Communication continues through the summer and fall. In addition to robust information available on an external website and frequent home mailings to reach family members, campaigns are also promoted via email, manager tip sheets, intranet news articles, and on-site posters and signage. Also integrated are the wellness and health concierge mobile apps which help drive people to the right programs.
This combination of channels and frequent touch points ensures employees get to the right programs at the right time. The most successful communication strategies leverage the strengths of multiple media channels throughout the year. Targeted messages can help get the right message to the right person at the right time.
Anticipated, personal, and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk. You have an incredibly diverse population to engage in the complicated world of benefits. Diverse in terms of age, family situations, motivations, and earnings.
You also have an enormous amount of data available to you about the people who work for you: their personal information, their salaries, where they live, and their family status, as well as information about the benefits in which they participate. There have been great strides made recently in advanced analytics capabilities for HR, so we encourage you to ask your vendors what they can do. You can deliver targeted messages through multiple channels think: multiple versions of a postcard, text, or email.
Or you could provide different ways for employees to access information on a website, based on how they self-identify. Targeting remains a big opportunity. Moving from generic to hyper-relevant messages can make a big impact on the effectiveness of your communications. Make sure you clearly define your audience, and have a plan in place for getting the data files you need to send communications to a select group.
Do you want them to sign up for health coaching? Invest the funds in their health savings account? Enroll in your employee stock purchase plan. Enroll in your employee stock purchase plan? You already have a lot of data available within your payroll system, such as age, health plan, income, etc.
To kick it up a notch, ask your vendors to supplement your data with consumer data. Versioning is one of the simplest and most under-used strategies for benefits communication. Personalization is used when you have something specific to say to an individual. These methods of targeting work for both print and online communications. When a large, prestigious university needed to communicate a significant health plan change, they knew it would require an approach that was different from their standard open enrollment communication plan.
So the introduction of a new health plan—and elimination of the three existing medical plans—required delicate handling to ensure a smooth transition. To get ahead of confusion and angst about changes to benefits, we developed targeted communications that allowed employees to quickly see how their current plan compared to the new offerings. The communications highlighted key areas, such as deductibles, premiums, and out-of-pocket maximums. We mapped out a targeted multimedia campaign including print, online, and video that featured specific messages about unique replacement plan options and steered members toward the new plans that most closely matched their current benefits.
This helped employees review their choices more easily; at the same time, it nudged them toward the new plans. We replicated this targeting on the website, in enrollment videos, and at employee meetings— so messages throughout the campaign were consistent and personalized. Despite the significance of the changes, they were generally well received, and the new health plan strategy met its enrollment goals, with more than 45, enrollees.
To create communications that have maximum impact, be thoughtful about whom you want to reach, how you can help them engage, and what action you want them to take.
For us, it means looking at the big picture—connecting programs for employees, beginning with the day they walk in the door and continuing until their last day of work—and beyond.
Employers know that benefits serve a large role in employee satisfaction and engagement. However, there is a large disconnect between knowing what needs to be done, and then getting your benefits programs to where you want them to be to increase satisfaction. Make sure your communication strategy covers the whole experience by following these guidelines:.
Think of a persona as the embodiment of key characteristics that help you better understand your employees. Build personas to determine the correct approach for engaging employees, based on what they need, what they do, their preferences, the challenges they face, and other relevant information.
Which of these individuals is easier to connect to and gear communications toward? For a benefits rollout, this means thinking through the impact as you plan and design your new program, the program implementation, the enrollment or sign-up process, and the year-round support strategy. Beyond benefits, this includes the experience employees undergo as they evolve from candidate to new hire to first-year employee to, finally, seasoned worker.
Benefits should have a prominent role in your new hire orientation and new hire kits. So as not to overwhelm them—and to tee them up for success—keep them focused on the immediate actions they need to take e. Automatically enroll employees in programs you know are good for them—like a k plan. With the best of intentions, employers offer many different plans and programs.
Different audiences need different experiences, at different times. Internal communications are often overwhelming for employees.
When a large employer spun off from their parent company, a legacy tech giant, they wanted a fresh new website befitting their sleeker, hipper company culture to attract right-fit candidates and facilitate the onboarding process. But a performance management process is only as successful as its ability to communicate understanding and engage your entire organization. Creating an overarching strategy with defined goals and tactics will make it much easier for managers and employees to understand, buy-in, and remember the details.
And if your process is too complicated, managers will get frustrated and skip important steps. Managers should be able to clearly articulate each step of your performance management process: including the who, what, when, where, how, and why for each stage.
Consider involving employees and managers in decision-making as early as possible. Involving these parties early on will help increase buy-in and enthusiasm around the process.
Leverage focus groups and culture committees to gather feedback, brainstorm solutions, select partners, and test and pilot solutions. A unique mix of input will help you address a variety of needs, or concerns, and will ultimately help you build a process that maximizes the potential of your program.
Break the system down into bite-sized steps and make sure your people managers understand the process and their role in each step. This will arm you with advocates to help drive the change. While this might seem like an insignificant step, putting a name to your initiative will create top-of-mind awareness and help you tell your story.
First, consider the previous steps by setting a clear intention for your program and establishing the design of your performance management process. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Take a page out of the book of these successful performance management plans:. People like to feel in-the-know, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like performance.
The more people know about an upcoming change, the more comfortable they will be when it happens. Similar to launching a communications plan, think about the variety of platforms you can use to get the message out — to the right people at the right time.
Spread the word with an interoffice email series or in communication tools like Slack or Google Chat. Hold a company-wide meeting to kick off your plan and hold training sessions to educate your employees. Along the way, make sure you are transparent and make it easy for people to ask questions or provide feedback.
This will help set clear expectations and help every employee understand their role in the process. Adapting to a new performance management system or learning the ropes as a new manager can be a BIG change to overcome. Integrate your performance management brand in a post-launch party or team-based event. Create and distribute custom swag and treats for your team.
Or publicly recognize employees for their hard work.
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