Communicating Employee Benefits Course Outline
Employee benefits are an important—but complex—part of compensation, and excellent employee benefits communication practices can save a company time and money. When employees understand their benefits offering, they can appreciate the real compensation they’re receiving. That appreciation can translate into high job retention and satisfaction.
The problem is that many employees don’t understand “insurance-speak” acronyms, compliance or how to match benefits with their financial needs. These challenges can cause employees to feel lost or misguided and result in them missing essential deadlines for electing benefits.
This course provides HR specialists and benefits administrators with actionable strategies and metrics to improve their benefits communication with employees. Additionally, it will identify the areas of communication that are essential to getting employees to act on a timely basis. By gaining this understanding, organizations will be better able to achieve the goal of their benefit plans: employee participation and retention.
Day 1
A. COVID-19 Communication Realities
1. How we communicate
2. When we communicate
3. What we communicate
4. Where we communicate
B. Employee Benefits Communications Reality Check
1. What works
2. What doesn’t work
C. Study Your Audience
1. Employees and families
2. Health goals
3. Financial needs
4. Risk taking
D. Employee Benefits Communications Planning
1. Open enrollment
2. Year-round communication
E. Mix-It-Up Communication
1. Traditional mediums
2. Online and interactive mediums
3. New and unexpected
Day 2
A. Generation Management
1. Employee/member demographics
2. Language needs and requirements
B. Sharing Is Caring
1. Employee/member plus spouse or domestic partner
2. Time it right
C. Workplace Trends and Predictions
1. Split-timing it
2. Remote vs. in-office realities for growth and promotion
3. Automation
4. Work/life balance
5. Employee feedback
6. Mental and emotional health
7. Health and safety
8. Upskilling or retraining
9. New desirable benefits
10. Stay connected
D. Measure Outcomes
1. S.M.A.R.T. goals
2. The feedback loop
E. Case Study
The capstone for this course is working with a team to evaluate the issues around an unsuccessful rollout of a hypothetical company’s new health plan. As a team, you are asked to outline a new communication solution, develop key messages, establish a timeline and decide on communication mediums. You will then present your communication plan back to the larger group.