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The Power of Effective Communication
Optimising the value of your benefit spend
by Emma Longmore, Leader, Communication, Australia, Towers Watson and
Matthew Jackson, Director, Benefits Optimization, Asia Pacific, Towers Watson
Introduction
Across Asia Pacific, employee benefit programs are growing in importance for leading
employers’ attraction and retention strategies. Typically, employers will expend a lot of
effort and resources — both financial and nonfinancial — into designing these programs,
and ensuring that they have the right offering for their workforce. A recently conducted
survey1 by Towers Watson found that 40% of employers in Asia Pacific spend over 20%
of payroll on providing these benefits. However, the same survey also found that only
approximately half of employers felt that these benefits were sufficiently or highly valued
by their employees. At best, this represents a missed opportunity to get the most mileage
out of this high benefit spend; at worst, it’s a significant waste of resources at a time when
employers can ill afford it.
What could explain this low perceived value of benefits? It could be due to many factors,
including not aligning the benefit plan design with workforce needs; inefficient enrolment
processes or cumbersome administration tools. However, it is also likely to be due to the
fact that many employees are simply not aware of, or do not understand, the benefits that
are available to them — the same survey found that 31% of employers still do not
communicate about benefits to their workforce. Although this is a drop from 55% in 2009,
it’s still a significant number.
In this paper, we will further explore the link between effective communication and the
perceived value of benefits, and suggest some evidence-based recommendations of how
to leverage communication to derive maximum value from your benefit spend. Analysing
your current benefits communication approach could unearth simple and cost-effective
remedies to ensure that a thoughtful benefits strategy gets the recognition it deserves.
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The Link
Between communication and value perception
Towers Watson’s 2013 Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, which reflects the views of 1,066
employers in the region, found a clear link between effective communication and value
perception (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Effective communication versus value perception
As Fig. 1 shows, of those who think their benefits are not valued, only 9% feel that they
communicate effectively. On the flip side, 91% of those who think their benefits are valued
feel that they also communicate effectively.
Figure 2. Do you actively report to employees about their benefits?
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The Power of Effective Communication 3
Further, the survey found that just under a third of employers are still not communicating
about their benefits. As such, it is perhaps unsurprising that there is a gap in the perception of
the effectiveness of benefits communication between employers and employees (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Effectiveness of communication around different aspects of total rewards
* Source: Towers Watson 2012 Global Workforce Study
While 74% of employers said that they feel they communicate effectively around pay, and
approximately 70% said that they communicate effectively around other aspects of total
rewards, including benefits, bonus and promotion, only around half of employees said the
same.
Given the apparent link between effective communication and value perception, it is of
concern that large numbers of employers do not communicate around benefits. It may be
assumed that these employers do not view benefits as an important driver of attraction and
retention — but looking at the responses from the Benefit Trends survey, this is not the case
since 68% of employers look to leverage their organisational benefit strategy for attraction and
retention purposes. Many employers may also feel that their communications are more
effective than is actually the case (given the employee view), further compounding the
problem. All these factors suggest that there is a need for employers to assess their existing
communication strategy.
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The Power of Effective Communication 4
How to Build
An effective communication strategy
So what constitutes an effective communication strategy, and how can one be built? Through
data and extensive client experience, Towers Watson has put together the following steps:
Set your goals
Start with your vision and what you are trying to achieve from your communication. It’s
important to have overall goals to improve employees’ value perception of their benefits and
specific measurable communication objectives. Objectives should address increasing your
employees’ knowledge and understanding of their benefits. The way you are going to assess
success should be established at the outset. Are there specific responses you can measure
such as increased enrolment or participation rates?
Identify your stakeholders and develop key messages
Identify the main groups who can influence your communication. Typical groups may include
the CEO, senior management team, other leaders, HR and your employees. Employees may
need to be further segmented depending on specific needs such as demographics or life
stage, benefit categories or geography. Messages should be crafted that are relevant to each
of these stakeholder groups which will support achievement of your objectives.
Determine your approach and activities
Your approach and activities may vary depending on the scope and scale of your project. A
major exercise such as the launch of a new benefits package may require a comprehensive
and detailed change management program. Initial activities may include promotional and
marketing activities to raise awareness. Later stages may include more high-touch
communication, including the provision of personalised information at the enrolment stage.
On-going communication keeps your benefits programs top-of-mind and builds appreciation.
It is always crucial to ensure communication around your benefits fit in with your overall
Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Your benefit program should be seen to form part of your
EVP so that your entire offering as a business is cohesive.
Your goals, timing, budget and the availability of media and resources will impact on the
activities that you undertake. Document your activities, timeframes, resources and costs in a
detailed strategic plan. Below are some guidelines for the successful implementation of your
plan.
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Involving senior leaders and managers
Consider establishing a steering group to oversee your communication and act as champions
for change. One of their key tasks is to involve the senior leadership team and other key
influencers to obtain their support. When planning outreach, involving senior leadership and
different business functions to ensure that they are engaged, and “live” your key messages,
will be crucial. The steering group can also monitor progress against plans.
Towers Watson’s 2013/14 Change and Communication ROI Survey, which is based on the
responses of 651 companies across 34 countries, found that when effectively trained and
informed, managers represent an untapped resource that can create culture and drive the
behaviour. Effectively training them to “sell” your benefits program to employees and ensure
they live the promise means employees see your EVP everywhere, every day.
Know your audience
Do you know enough about your employees? What are their current views and level of
understanding? How do they like to receive information? Conducting detailed audience
analysis and research such as surveys or focus groups can provide the detailed information
required to fine tune your approach.
Towers Watson’s 2013/14 Change and Communication ROI Survey shows that highly
effective organisations take a cue from consumer marketing to categorise employees into
meaningful groups.
Our approach to microsegmentation begins with a deep dive into multiple data sources and
categorises employees into groups based on role, life stage and other key demographic
elements. Knowing your audience is paramount in crafting communication that elicits desired
behaviours. Such research can also provide a benchmark to measure your future success.
Choose media carefully
What channels are available for you to communicate with your employees? What traditionally
works well in your organisation?
A variety of media may be required to ensure your message is delivered effectively. New
media including apps and games offers the opportunity to build community and increase
accessibility. Social media tools (like Yammer, streaming video or instant messaging) may be
an effective way to start a two-way conversation with your employees. These can allow you to
hear directly what employees understand about your benefits program and show you how you
might need to tweak your messaging.
Traditional communication still has its place and the role of managers is also vital in any
change communication exercise.
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Branding builds appeal
Determine how you will brand your campaign. Be creative while adhering to your existing
branding guidelines. Consistency and cohesion in both look and message maximise
achievement of objectives. Ensure materials are simple and appealing to your audience to
raise awareness and understanding of your benefits. Use visuals and tell stories. Testing
material on a small representative sample of the audience can be a useful way to increase
effectiveness.
Monitor and evaluate
Seek feedback and monitor the progress of your communication. Evaluate after the
conclusion of any major communication. This can range from informal follow ups with key
stakeholders through to more formal measurements such as survey or use of other business
metrics.
Conclusion
Employers can ensure that they are optimising employee value perception of their benefits
package through a thoughtful and effective communication strategy:
·
Communication is imperative in the quest for optimising employee appreciation of
benefits — awareness, then understanding — only then can you truly understand if
you are offering the right benefit package.
·
Getting the roadmap (segmentation) and the “how” (multimedia) right will be key.
·
Understanding what motivates your employees is critical in ensuring your EVP, which
includes your benefit program, is working to attract and retain the right talent.
·
Ensure senior leaders and managers are trained to “sell” your benefits program and
that they live and breathe the EVP.
·
Develop a communication program that works for your organisation. Not all
companies are alike, so design your communications around what will resonate with
your employees.
·
Sometimes it takes courage to test something new to see what works best for your
organisation.
For more information, visit towerswatson.com.
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