6 minute read
Choosing the Best Strategies for Benefits Education
By Kimberly A. Landry, LIMRA and LOMA
As employers, carriers and other benefit providers prepare for another open enrollment season, improving employee understanding of benefits should be high on their list of goals. Currently, only 55 percent of workers feel that they understand their insurance benefits well. However, those with a good understanding are much more likely to be satisfied with their benefits packages, which in turn contributes to overall job satisfaction.
To enhance employee understanding, it is necessary to improve the benefits education process, including a reexamination of what information is conveyed and how it is communicated.
Regarding the “what” of benefits education, benefit providers need to communicate the key details of these offerings as clearly and succinctly as possible. Strategies from behavioral economics, such as anchoring, storytelling and social norms, can be leveraged to make the most of employees’ limited attention and nudge them toward better decisions.
When it comes to the “how” of benefits communication, an omnichannel approach that provides multiple ways for employees to learn about their benefits is essential. Employees who have more resources available to learn about benefits are much more likely to feel they understand their benefits well. They’re also more inclined to say their employer communicates about benefits well and to feel more confident in their enrollment decisions.
When designing their benefits education strategies, employers today have a wide variety of options to choose from, including emails, digital resources, printed materials, in-person and virtual meetings, and videos. The more types of resources employers provide, the better their results are likely to be. However, companies with limited resources will still need to prioritize the strategies on which to focus. When evaluating potential communication methods, there are three facets of the employee experience to consider: which resources employees prefer, which ones they are most likely to use and which resources employees find to be the most helpful. An evaluation of these factors sheds light on the relative merits of several common communication strategies:
Email: Employers often communicate benefits information to employees through email, and this is one of the strategies employees prefer most, probably due to its convenience 51 percent of employees prefer to receive benefits information this way. However, only about half of workers say they actually use emailed information to learn about their benefits when it is provided, and email ranks at the very bottom of educational resources employees find to be helpful.
Part of the issue may be that email is often used to convey logistical information about when and how to enroll, rather than content that truly helps employees learn about and understand their benefits. While email is clearly an important tool for employers to leverage in their communication strategy, it is not sufficient to rely on email alone.
Digital Resources: Digital benefits resources, and particularly online benefits portals, are among employees’ most-preferred communication methods, as well as being one of the most frequently used and most helpful resources. Given employees’ positive engagement with this approach, digital communication should be a key component of benefits communication strategies for most employers. Despite its popularity, however, only about two-thirds of employees use a digital portal to learn about their benefits when one is available, so employers should not rely exclusively on this approach.
Beyond benefits portals, employers can also leverage other digital solutions, such as mobile apps, virtual meetings, social media content, text messages, online chat and videos. Among these, employees respond most favorably to mobile content, with about half saying they used a mobile app when one was available (and they were aware of it) and 76 percent of those who used a mobile resource finding it helpful. As mobile transactions become the norm in many aspects of everyday life, carriers should ensure they have a mobile strategy for benefits communication, especially when providing benefits to workers whose jobs are not computer-based.
Printed Materials: As benefits communication shifts online, printed educational materials are becoming less prevalent. However, more than a third of employees still prefer to receive printed benefits information. These materials rank in the middle of the pack in terms of helpfulness but are among the top five resources employees are most likely to use when they are available.
While they may not be the wave of the future, printed materials still have a place in a multichannel communication strategy and are a useful option for communicating with employees who do not want to engage with digital resources. Notably, printed materials are more likely to be preferred and used by older workers resources.
In-Person Meetings: In-person meetings or benefit fairs are another strategy for reaching employees who do not want to learn about benefits digitally. About 4 in 10 employees prefer to receive benefits information through in-person channels. However, it’s worth noting that three of the top five most helpful education resources are in-person group or one-on-one meetings and benefit fairs. These personal interactions provide unique opportunities for someone to explain benefits information to employees in detail and for employees to ask questions. Members of Generation Z, who often need the most help understanding their benefits, are the most likely to prefer in-person meetings.
Given its value, in-person communication should still be viewed as an important component of a comprehensive benefits education strategy, even as more resources are digitalized. Notably, in-person events are considered to be more helpful than virtual events, perhaps because they foster better engagement. When employers make benefit meetings available, it is important to take steps to make sure employees are aware of these opportunities and encourage attendance.
Bringing It Together
There is no single approach to benefits education that will resonate with all employees, so companies looking to enhance their communication efforts must consider multiple strategies. By leaning into popular digital approaches, while also supplementing these efforts with offline and in-person options, benefit providers can maximize their chances of delivering benefits information in a way employees will understand, positioning them to make the best possible benefit decisions to secure their futures.
Originally published on LIMRA.com.
Kimberly A Landry, Associate Research Director, Workplace Benefits Research, LIMRA and LOMA. Kim is an accomplished market research professional responsible for conducting primary research for the employee benefits industry. Hands-on experience managing quantitative and qualitative research projects from start to finish, including project conceptualization, design of questionnaire or discussion guide, data analysis, report-writing, and presentation of results at conferences and events. She has experience conducting research with insurance companies, agents/brokers, employers, and consumers. Topical areas of focus include group insurance, voluntary benefits, small business, sales compensation, and health care reform.
