Ottawa Community Housing Corp. is educating employees about their benefits offerings through a new monthly communication campaign.
The campaign, which started in January, ties the employer’s benefits program to seasonal campaigns such as Heart Month in February and Financial Wellness Month in November by highlighting the corresponding aspects of the plan.
Michael Dimaano, senior manager of total rewards and human resources programs at the OCH, says the communication plan was developed as a way of telling a “holistic story” about the benefits program, encompassing mental, physical and financial health.
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“We want to make our employees aware of [their benefits], because at the end of the day, our objective is to keep our employees and their families healthy. . . . If we can be proactive about it, we’ll keep them engaged and productive.”
The OCH also communicates its benefits through a page on its website and provides an orientation of its benefits program to new hires. Previously, benefits were discussed together with other information about OCH. “The objective of this is to help employees focus and have the opportunity to dive deep into their benefits,” Dimaano notes.
In addition, a peer support program that launched in 2021 provides another avenue for communicating the organization’s benefits offerings. “It’s another way of creating awareness that there are tools and resources available for employees to use,” he adds.
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