Personalising Benefits Communication

We believe it’s time for employee benefits professionals to get a bit brave and welcome the opportunities presented by the latest technology with open arms.

A whole new breed of marketing techniques has sprung up alongside these technological developments.  It’s now possible for companies to gather sophisticated intelligence about our likes, dislikes and buying habits – and to target us one-to-one with information about the products and services that meet our needs.

It’s perhaps surprising then, that organisations have been so slow to embrace the possibilities of personalised communication when it comes to getting employees on board with their benefits programme.

Our experience shows that many companies remain locked into a model of mass communication.  They are still sending out one-size-fits-all emails and expecting employees to negotiate their way through reams of information on the corporate intranet.

The trouble with this approach is that it’s incongruent with the way people now expect to receive information and interact with those around them.  We now live in a world where people take it for granted that they can cherry pick the information they want to access and choose exactly how and when they look it.

Employees also no longer see themselves as passive recipients of information.  They expect to be given the opportunity to ask questions, get quick responses and to engage in a dialogue with the business.

This is particularly true of Generation Y – the young people coming into the workforce now.  They have grown up with the likes of Facebook and instant messaging and are frankly a bit shocked when they get into the workforce and find these channels of communication are not widely available.

There’s no doubt that good communication is the key to success with any benefits programme.  You can offer the best benefits programme on the block, but if employees don’t really understand what it means personally to them, they are unlikely to either value or engage with it.

Personalised communication provides a real opportunity for the business to explain not just what benefits are on offer, but how these might fit into an individual’s life and work plan.  Of course communicating with people one-to-one also has the knock-on effect of making employees feel valued and more than just a faceless number in a sea of staff.

So why the reluctance to embrace the latest technology and exploit the opportunity it offers to enter into a meaningful conversation with employees? 

In our experience, it’s often fear that’s the issue.  Organisations are frightened that if they open the doors to social media, for example, they will unleash an animal that can’t be tamed and controlled.  If HR people are not familiar with the concepts of instant messaging, video downloads and fast response codes, they are worried that they will get it horribly wrong – or will make themselves look hopelessly outdated.

We believe it’s time for employee benefits professionals to get a bit brave and welcome the opportunities presented by the latest technology with open arms.

It’s about turning current communication philosophy on its head and thinking about the way people live their lives and how you can shape the dialogue you have with them around that.  It’s also about asking them what they want to know, how they would like to access information and what methods of communication suit them best.

Of course it’s also a great opportunity for HR to get closer to the corporate communications and marketing team – and for both parties to work together to find fresh and exciting ways of ensuring employees take full advantage of the benefits on offer to them.

So are you ready to ring out the old and bring out the new when it comes to benefits communication?  We’d like to hear your views and concerns and would welcome any best practice you’d like to share.