• About Rory C. Trotter Jr.

Something Different HR

~ Marrying HR, Data and Occasionally Out of Place Personal Anecdotes

Something Different HR

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Understanding Your Audience is Key When Communicating Employee Benefits Programs

03 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Rory C. Trotter Jr in Benefits

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

benefits, communications, hr, human resources

Finding-your-audience-on-Facebook-INFOGRAPHIC

…So this evening I read a really interesting predictions piece from Josh Bersin here and want to share an interesting takeaway that from it (see page #8, excerpt below):

Bersin1

Bersin gives non-total rewards examples above, but from a benefits standpoint this is powerful for me because it drives home the point that – regardless of how value added our total rewards programs can potentially be to our employee population – for our employees to realize said value, our offerings must be easy for them to use and easy to understand.

This means it’s important to always consider how colleagues across all segments of our workforce are engaging with our HR platforms… and also to think about how accessible the information housed on them is. Because if an employee doesn’t understand how a benefit works (or it isn’t otherwise intuitive to use), the most likely action that they’ll take with regards to said benefit is no action. This harms (1) the employee because they may be underutilizing a product that could significantly improve their health, engagement, or retirement/financial security outcomes. And it (2) harms the Company because we’re paying for a benefit that isn’t being used by our population (resulting in unnecessary expense and a failure to realize what might otherwise be an offering’s retentive value).

The above is in many ways common sense, I suppose, but as I read this article it struck me how often I assume my audience knows things that they may not. After all, just because a communication or SOP is sent out doesn’t mean it was read. And just because it was read doesn’t mean it was understood.

My big takeaway? Regardless of the platform I am working from in 2016, I want to be mindful to stop and ask myself three questions when communicating/explaining a benefit to someone:

  1. What is this audience’s current level of knowledge about the offering? If I don’t know the answer to this question for sure I need to clarify it before communicating anything.
  2. How can I augment my audience’s knowledge in such a way that they (1) feel confident about how the offering works and (2) empowered to use it to improve their lives in some way?
  3. Does my audience know who to contact if they have additional questions about the product / offering?

Simple, yes. Value added, hopefully?

As always, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Best,

Rory

Recent Posts

  • A Few Thoughts About Good HR
  • Infographic Thursday: Top 10 Workplace Incentives
  • A Few Thoughts on Expectations Around Pay
  • Examining the Impact of Ratingless Reviews and Year-Round Feedback on Employee Performance
  • Which Talent Should Your Organization Be Investing Resources Into? Why? A Few Thoughts…

Archives

  • May 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012

Categories

  • Benefits
  • Change Management
  • Compensation
  • Corporate Governance
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Relations
  • General HR
  • General Management
  • HR Management
  • HR Strategy
  • HRIS
  • Infographic Thursday
  • Job Interviewing
  • Labor and Employment Law
  • Learning and Development
  • People Analytics
  • Performance Management
  • Personal Development
  • Quote of the Week
  • Recruiting
  • Social Media
  • Spotlight Friday
  • Sunday Reading
  • Talent Management
  • The Week in HR
  • Training
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Video Saturday

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,774 other followers

Connect on LinkedIn

View Rory C. Trotter Jr., MBA, MHRIR's profile on LinkedIn

Add me to your Google+ Circles

Google+

Connect on Facebook

Visit Rory Trotter on Facebook

See me on Vizify

Follow on Twitter

Follow @RoryCTrotterJr

My Latest Tweets

Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page.

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy