Company Benefits on the Internet Apr 30, 2009

San Francisco, CA—According to Jennifer Benz, founder and chief strategist of Benz Communications, a benefits enrollment system on the Internet and information on a corporate Intranet are not sufficient to engage employees and improve adoption rates in the age of social media. Benz Communications is a benefits communications strategy boutique.

“Companies need to get their benefits information to the decision maker—which isn’t always the employee—and make sure the information is easy to use and engaging. A company developed and controlled web site provides the best opportunity for accomplishing these ends,” said Jen. “In addition, social media—blogs, user forums, Facebook groups, and Twitter, specifically—have tremendous potential to engage employees and families in their benefits selection process. But moving into social media relies on having a strong presence on the Internet. A branded and accessible website is the best foundation for social media,” Jen concluded.

Below are Benz Communications’ four key reasons companies should provide employee benefits via the web, along with the three excuses companies use to avoid doing so and why these excuses are no longer relevant.

Why companies should have their employee benefits information online:

Access. The most important reason to have employee benefits information online is access. Access for employees, their spouses, domestic partners, parents, and even, sometimes, children—any relation who helps make health care and retirement decisions. Companies keeping information hidden on an Intranet from these audiences are missing an opportunity to engage those using their programs and driving their costs.

Branding. Even a fantastic benefits enrollment platform is limited, in terms of branding, and unlikely to provide information in a way that engages employees and their relations in company-relevant issues. Benefits information—and everything promised employees—must be communicated in a manner that is a direct reflection of the company brand. Typically, this is best accomplished with complete control over a user experience via a website.

Recruitment and new hires. Having a benefits package available online for recruits to review and new hires to become familiar with helps attract key talent and eases new hire orientation. Unlike the “experience” garnered from reviewing written material, a web site enables a prospective employee to get “inside” and see first-hand the commitment the company makes to its employees. Companies never fail to be surprised at the value this provides.

Social media. Social media—from blogs to Facebook to Twitter—have tremendous potential to engage employees and families in healthcare and retirement decision-making. These new tools must be linked to an overall communications strategy and a comprehensive online resource to be effective. A branded company website is the best foundation from which to launch a social media campaign.

Companies’ primary reasons for not having their benefits information online and why these reasons are no longer relevant:

It’s confidential. In fact, it isn’t. Once written materials have been distributed to employees, a company’s benefits information is in the public realm. This information is not proprietary, nor does it need to be confidential. If there’s sensitivity regarding pricing, additional protection may be built in. Personal employee data is not included. Companies can’t let the perceived need for perceived confidentiality prevent them from providing a resource that encourages employees and their families to have information and use it. Nor should these sites be password protected. In the time it takes to reset or find a password, an employee could well be lost to any number of social web distractions such as YouTube or Facebook. Better to make access as simple and painless as possible. The best approach is to make access as simple and user-friendly as possible.

It’s all provided in a printed book. Unless a company has some portion of its employee population that absolutely does not use or have access to the Internet, it’s time to ditch that big printed book and replace it with a benefits web site and streamlined printed materials that drive employees to the site. A robust, user-friendly web site engages and drives enrollment. It also eliminates the need to justify an annual print budget and companies gain kudos for being more environmentally conscious.

It’s too expensive. With all the efficient web development technologies available, it’s no longer prohibitively expensive to build a company-customized benefits web site—no matter the company size. It’s likely that a year or two of print budgets—for those companies still printing a large benefits booklet annually—would cover the cost of a fully developed web site. The results prove it: a benefits web site is the most valuable investment a company can make to its communications infrastructure.