If you’re a small business owner or human resources professional offering an employee benefits package, you know how important benefits are to your staff.
In fact, the benefits you offer may be one of the reasons your staff members chose to work at your organization. In the 2015 Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)’s Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Report, benefits were ranked as the third most important factor contributing to employee happiness, even more so than overall compensation and pay, which ranked fourth.
Many employees sign up for benefits when they begin a job and never make changes to their benefits. Some don’t understand their benefit options well enough to make an informed decision about what they should choose. Others believe the choices they made years or decades ago still work for them.
Here’s what you need to know to get your employees more engaged in their benefits.
Benefit Packages Have Changed Over Time
Today’s benefit plans look vastly different from those of the past. Wellness and prevention are now the driving forces behind medical, dental and auxiliary benefit plans, whereas before, copay or deductible amounts were your employees’ main concerns. Coverage is also expanding to include mental well-being, smoking cessation programs, remote work environments, tuition reimbursement and more.
If your employees are hesitant to change their benefits because they’re comfortable with their existing strategy, it’s your job to motivate them to consider a change and remind them that it’s never too late to update their benefits package strategy.
How to Motivate Your Employees to Get the Best from Their Benefit Plans
Your approach to motivating your employees depends on many factors and situations. Here are three common situations where you may find untapped opportunities to engage and motivate your employees to make the most of their benefits.
Long-Term Employees with Old Strategies
Your long-term employees may not have changed their benefits strategy in decades. If your benefits package has worked for your employees for most of their career, they may be hesitant to change, even if they have a long way to go before retirement.
Make time annually — preferably when your plan is renewing — to complete a benefits “audit” with each of your employees. For small companies, meet once a year, and ask them about life changes. Did they recently get married, divorced or have a baby, or did an older child age out of their policy? If so, show them how to update their policy.
For larger companies, email a list of benefits they’re currently enrolled in. Don’t forget to share links to the plan summaries, and other benefits available to them as well.
If your employee has never taken advantage of auxiliary benefits, such as flexible spending plans, disability insurance or vision plans, find out if they’d be useful additions to their current choices. If your employee enrolled in a retirement plan 10 years ago, suggest they take a fresh look at the funds to which they allocated their money. Is that still working to their advantage?
Employees with Little Understanding of Benefits Offered
Some employees feel nervous about changing their employee benefits package because they simply don’t understand the ever-evolving world of benefits.
The best way to motivate these employees to keep their benefits strategy current is to sit down and discover what their “pain points” are. Take, for example, an employee who needs more dental treatments than your average employee. Here, you might explain how a supplementary flexible spending plan will allow him to put pretax money aside to cover the costs of future dental procedures.
Another example: one of your employees wants to quit smoking, and your health plan has a cessation program. She might be interested in using the benefit if she knew about it. Be an advocate for your staff’s health by keeping your eyes and ears open for ways your employee benefits package can individually help each of them.
Never assume that your staff completely understands your benefits. Setting aside some time for benefit training and questions — even if it’s only once a year — makes for better-informed staff. The more they understand what you offer, the better they’ll be able to utilize it.
Staff Who Are Close to Retirement
Your employees who are getting close to retirement may wonder, “Why change anything this late in the game?” Encourage these employees to get the most out of their benefits while they are still employed. There may be many small benefits they can enjoy during those last few years — or even months — of employment that they may lose access to once they retire.
In fact, if their benefits will upon retiring, suggest that they sit down and review their current benefits, while also mapping out what their benefits will look like when they leave the company. If they can identify any benefits they may lose (for example, wellness options such as free exercise classes or discounts on health-related items), they can enjoy them while presently employed. Help them out by providing a printed summary of benefits and access to detailed plan coverage once a year.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of what perks you’re able to offer your employees, remember to keep your staff motivated to update their benefits strategy. They may be nervous to change or unsure about what’s available, so be their guide and empower them to get the most out of their package.
