Employee Benefits and Mobile Technology
Back in the dark ages, the late 1980s, an employee stood in the HR Manager’s office stomping his feet and grumbling. What was his complaint? The employee handbook stated that the coverage for childbirth-related services were higher than what the insurance company had recently advised.
The HR Manager couldn’t help but notice the unopened package of information stuffed in the handbook. “Tom,” she said, “have you read the updated information? Did you attend the annual enrollment meetings last fall when the changes in benefits were explained?”
Tom sheepishly responded no to both questions and walked out. Hopefully he was on his way to finally read those updates.
Why is it that employees don’t know about their benefits? And how can organizations do a better job communicating about them? Fortunately, the 21st century has brought new tools to every employee—mobile technology. And savvy organizations use them to communicate, providing just in time information.
Text messaging is no longer something people just use among their friends and family. People receive text messages from their dentist, dry cleaner, and pharmacy, so why not from their employer? It’s the fastest, most effective way to reach team members. And younger members of the team prefer this type of communication.
When annual enrollment period rolls around, you can set up “drip” texts to provide short bursts of information. They can include reminders and links to videos and other information about your annual enrollment process for the year. You can text links to your employees to forms that need to be completed, making it fast and easy for them. And you can have the information available to you quickly, perhaps even through a reports function. This saves time and takes a burden off the staff.
Beyond annual enrollment, what happens during the year when people need to take advantage of their benefits like Tom did. Consider this another form of microlearning where you can augment bits of data that reinforce employee benefits information. Using drip texts, you can point employees to information about a specific benefit in their virtual handbook, or to videos or other items such as infographics.
For digital communication to be effective, be sure that it is:
Attention grabbing
Fast, easy to read, and inviting to the eye
Delivered in bite-sized pieces
Mobile friendly
You can learn more about mobile technology from Engage by Cell. They have been a great supporter. We encourage you to visit their website where you can access webinars, blogs, information sheets and case studies.