Gaining ground
Award winners share best practices in employee benefits communication
Understanding your audience – their limitations and yours – is often the first step in creating a successful communications plan for open enrollment.
That was the starting point for Debbie Westover, director of benefits and risk management for Kiddie Kandids in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although she prefers taking a personal approach to open enrollment communication, there were obstacles. She could not physically visit 185 locations in 32 states by herself. Communicating electronically, often cited as an alternative, was not realistic. Kiddie Kandids' employees operate out of portrait studios in retail stores and malls where computers are not part of their work environment. What's more, the company prohibits Internet usage during business hours.
Westover's solution? She cloned herself, using a company meeting as an opportunity to train the company's 40 district managers (DMs) to act as her benefits ambassadors. "All of our DMs are in operations; I knew they wouldn't feel confident at first about accepting this role," said Westover. To raise their comfort level, she prepared a 15-minute webinar and a benefits tool kit – including a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation and script – for the DMs to use.
The experiment worked. Enrollment in the company's medical plan jumped by 15 percent the first year. More importantly, employee satisfaction with benefits increased to 98 percent, turnover decreased and phone calls during open enrollment were cut in half. Out-of-pocket expenses also were minimal, thanks to a hard-working color printer. Westover believes the delivery of the message, not the message itself, made the difference. "Employees tend to believe their immediate supervisors more than an e-mail from HR," she explained.
For her efforts, Westover won an i-COMM Award in 2008 from Employee Benefit News for "best training program." Her advice to other benefits professionals is to treat employees as consumers. When drafting the materials, "I put myself in their shoes," she said.
Computer access was not a problem for Dena Engstrom, manager of employee benefits for Davidson Companies in Great Falls, Montana. Just the opposite, in fact. Nearly 50 percent of respondents to a company survey complained about receiving too much e-mail from HR. "Nobody was reading it," Engstrom admitted.
To get employees' attention Engstrom went against the tide, sidestepping electronic communication in favor of print and creating a "brand" for her department. The brand features a goldfish logo against a bright orange background, an unconventional look for a financial services holding company like Davidson. "We wanted something that was attractive and flashy, that would make our staff members pick up our materials and look at them," said Engstrom.
Engstrom is keeping good company with her approach. In an interview with Employee Benefit News about the results of Watson Wyatt's recent Communications ROI study, John Finney, senior communications consultant, says developing a brand and using it year-round are hallmarks of companies with highly effective communication programs.
And what about the results? In 2008, the first year Engstrom's benefits department used its new logo, phone calls during open enrollment declined 75 to 80 percent. Although print is more expensive than e-mail, "it was well worth the cost," said Engstrom. Like her peer Debbie Westover, Engstrom capitalized on existing resources: the graphics and logo design for her materials were done in-house by Senior Graphic Designer Lee Erlandson, and materials were distributed via interoffice mail.
In 2008, Engstrom also received an i-Comm award, for "best print or e-newsletter design and usability." Nothing fishy about that.
Resources
Dena Engstrom, dengstrom@dadco.com, 406-791-7283
Debbie Westover, dwestover@kiddiekandids.com, 801-304-6763
Watson Wyatt's 2009/2010 Communication ROI Study, www.watsonwyatt.com/commroi
