America's Benefit Specialist August/September 2023

VOLUNTARY DISRUPTION

5.5 STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE COMMUNICATION AND INCREASE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Employee benefit brokers play a pivotal role in assisting their employer group clients in implementing innovative strategies to enhance benefits communication. In today’s competitive job market, attracting and retaining top talent re quires more than just offering a comprehensive employee benefits package. Effective communication and engagement around these benefits is essential to ensure employees fully understand and appreciate the value of the offer ings. As employee benefit brokers, we play a crucial role in helping employer group clients navigate the complexities of benefits and must become their communication division to get to the end user, their employee population. Here are 5.5 ways to enhance communication, which will lead to increased employee engagement: 1. PERSONALIZED COMMUNICATION One-size-fits-all benefits communication often fails to engage employees effectively. Benefit brokers should assist employers in crafting personalized messages tailored to employees’ needs, preferences and life stages. Utilizing data analytics, employers can segment their workforce and deliver targeted messages via various channels such as text, slack, email, video content, social media and personalized web portals. By customizing the communication approach, brokers can increase the relevance of benefits information and improve employee engagement. 2. INTERACTIVE DECISION-SUPPORT TOOLS Traditional benefits communication often relies on lengthy documents that can overwhelm employees. Brokers can introduce interactive decision-sup port tools to simplify the benefits-selection process. These tools could include online calculators, quizzes and comparison charts that help employees understand the financial implications of different benefit options. By making the process interactive and user-friendly, brokers empower employees to make informed decisions, leading to higher engagement and satisfaction. 3. YEAR-ROUND COMMUNICATION Effective benefits communication should not be limited to the open-enroll ment period. Brokers should encourage employers to allow them to design and implement a year-round communication strategy to keep benefits top of mind for employees. This could include regular text-messaging, newsletters, webinars, lunch-and-learn sessions and even a dedicated benefits communi cation app. By consistently providing valuable information, brokers can help employees fully understand and utilize their benefits, leading to increased Visual and interactive content tends to capture employees’ attention more effectively than lengthy text-based communication. Benefit brokers can assist employers in creating engaging multimedia content, such as explainer videos, infographics and podcasts. These formats can simplify complex bene fit concepts, making them more accessible and engaging for employees. Le veraging multimedia tools not only enhances the communication experience but also improves knowledge retention and overall engagement. engagement and appreciation. 4. UTILIZING MULTIMEDIA

By Eric Silverman Silverman Benefits Group Towson, Maryland eric@voluntarydisruption.com

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