How to Communicate Employee Benefits Effectively with an Employee Communications Platform
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
How would you like 38 days of paid leave? Complimentary daily lunches? Regular complimentary appointments with a professional masseuse at the office during working hours? Or, an hour of fitness time during working hours without having to make up for the lost time? These are just some of the employee benefits at Netpresenter that we all love to use – because we know they exist. But what if (prospective) employees are unaware of all the wonderful benefits your organization offers? Such a waste of a great employee benefits program! Read on to learn how to communicate employee benefits effectively with an employee communication platform.
Table of contents
First, let’s examine why it’s important that your employees and prospective hires know which employee benefits your organization offers. Obviously, employee benefits matter. But do you know about the benefits of a great employee benefits program?
A good benefits program will help organizations attract and retain the most talented employees. It will lead to happier, healthier, more engaged, and more productive workers. Combined, these positive outcomes of employee benefits will help your business thrive.
However, if your employees are unaware of employee benefits, they are less likely to use them (and brag about them to their network – your prospective hires). It is even more challenging to communicate employee benefits in the hybrid workplace. A geographically dispersed workforce requires multiple communication channels, partially location independent.
Again, if you don’t reach everyone, some of your colleagues won’t know about the benefits your organization offers, and they will not use them. With many organizations switching to hybrid and remote work, digital communication is the better option.
An employee communication platform like Netpresenter allows you to use multiple communications channels that genuinely reach all your employees, wherever they are. Even your colleagues at home, on the road, on the shop floor, at the office, or non-desk employees at a plant or factory. When we said, “wherever they are,” we meant it!
Now, let’s look at what your organization may need to communicate employee benefits effectively to all of these employees.
Digital signage screens
Every large TV screen in your organization provides a chance to bring eye-catching benefits messaging directly to your employees. You can use digital signage screens in break rooms, lobbies, open bullpen offices – any screen in a high-traffic public room can successfully communicate employee benefits. They will ensure to bring your benefits messaging to your employees’ attention.
Grab the attention with creative messages combined with notable photos, GIFs, or even a video to make sure your employees will stop to discover what your benefits program has to offer. No doubt they will be using the employee discounts they didn’t know existed in no time!
Corporate screensavers
Colleagues working from home or in the field can consume the same (or different, personalized, and targeted) information through their laptops. Every laptop is a promotional tool just waiting to be used. A corporate screensaver transforms any idle screen into a small billboard. Our screensavers are highly visual and reach your colleagues without interrupting their daily tasks – meaning they are more receptive to your benefits messages when they see them.
The corporate screensaver on your employees’ laptops gives employees easy access to your benefits communication. Add hyperlinks to an employee webshop, a gym membership discount, a login screen to any external benefits website, or even your employee benefits SharePoint page to communicate employee benefits without your staff having to make an effort.
The repetition of benefits messaging that both digital signage and screensavers offer, is a great way to make sure your employees are aware of even your least known benefits. Repeating your messages will also help you promote parts of your benefits plan employees are less familiar with, especially non-traditional services your organization may offer. Your employees will appreciate you letting them know about services they may be missing out on!
Mobile Employee Communication Application
Mobile communications are a must to reach your employees on their favorite device: their smartphones. Communicate employee benefits through a mobile app to get your younger generations interested in your benefits program. The ability to add social interactions makes the app the perfect place for your colleagues to discuss which benefits they love and use.
Mobile communications also enable you to reach your hard-to-reach non-desk employees or field workers such as drivers or mechanics. Employees who are always on the go have fewer opportunities to speak to their peers, which means they need a (portable) channel that provides them with the latest benefits information wherever they go. With a mobile app, they have access to your benefits program right from their pockets without any effort.
Polls and Pulse Surveys
Benefits are most successful when they offer what employees want. Polls and pulse surveys will help you discover which benefits appeal most to your different employee groups. Send a poll or a pulse survey to question your staff about their favorite benefits and have them choose your benefits program. Repeat unread messages with our attention boosters until you achieve the desired response rates.
Use the insights gained to make data-driven choices regarding new benefits or promote existing ones that employees may not have heard of yet. Giving your staff a choice will make them feel more involved in the process and will increase the chances they will use what’s on offer.
Did your insights lead to new benefits you would love your colleagues to see and use immediately? Quickly send push notifications to digital signage screens, corporate screensavers, and employees’ smartphones with the click of a button, making your employee benefits experience even better.
SharePoint integration
Do some of your employees miss out on benefits messaging because they don’t have access to your SharePoint benefits page? Say no more! Our SharePoint integration can be linked to digital signage screens, corporate screensavers, and mobile apps on every employees’ smartphone.
The integration will automatically display SharePoint highlights on every screen in your organization, providing easy access to SharePoint for every employee – even those without access to a laptop and even those outside your corporate walls. Add hyperlinks to SharePoint articles so employees can just click or tap the link to be brought to the information directly. If your employees didn’t know about your benefits program before, they definitely will now!
Did we convince you of the importance of great benefits communication, and would you like to get started sooner rather than later? Get in touch with our consultants; they would love to help you communicate employee benefits effectively. Are you not sure how to reach your staff best? Check this guide to find the right communication tools to reach your employees.