In a time of frozen wages and other monetary cuts, benefits are more important to employees now than ever. Your work force needs quality benefits for their physical well-being, and they need work-life benefits for mental well-being.
Many organizations are aware of this, and several of them are taking steps to alleviate these issues. The problem, however, is that, many times, benefit changes or enhancements go unacknowledged and, therefore, unnoticed.
“Many organizations have the right things in place and are more than willing to help with the work-life balance but don’t properly communicate these things,” says Karen Mathews, the director of Work Life Services/Human Resources for WellStar Health System. “If you don’t communicate, your employees won’t understand or appreciate what you’re offering them.”
Organizations should start by benchmarking against other companies’ best practices, and look at other high-performing organizations inside and outside of their industry. World-class organizations tend to excel because they have the best talent. If you have a great place to work, offer quality benefits and help employees with their work-life balance, attracting and retaining the top talent becomes that much easier.
Smart Business spoke with Mathews about ways to effectively communicate benefit decisions, enhancements and changes to your employees and why the work-life balance is so important.
Why is it so important to communicate any and all benefit decisions?
Transparency is the key to trust. Employees often value a benefits package as much as or more than a compensation package. If you have any changes in your benefits, those changes will have a direct impact on your employees. Since organizations spend a significant amount of money on benefits, it’s important that you make sure employees know how to effectively utilize those benefits.
If an employer doesn’t properly communicate changes or enhancements, what consequences could it face?
Organizations typically spend 30 percent of their overall budgets on benefits. If you fail to effectively communicate those benefits, it has a direct negative impact on both the employees and the overall organization. For employees, it may mean that they misunderstand their options, fail to take full advantage of the benefit program, fail to appreciate what is being provided for them and/or develop a negative perceived value of the benefits package. For the organization, it means low utilization, more time spent managing complaints and higher costs.
Spend the time properly communicating benefits on the front end, and you won’t have issues that later have to be repaired — at a premium. Many times a company has to completely rework its benefits plan just because of employee dissatisfaction. Needless to say, that creates a low return on value.