If you’re not educating your employees about the cost of their group benefits plan, you’re missing an important opportunity. That’s because most plan members simply don’t appreciate the true cost of their benefits coverage—to the detriment of themselves and the organization.
Unless employees incur a significant health or dental expense for which they receive reimbursement, it probably won’t occur to them to factor benefits coverage into the value of their “employment deal.” However, attaching a dollar value to that coverage will heighten their awareness of and understanding of what they really get in exchange for their time, efforts and results—and help you get more mileage from your benefit investment.
But there’s more to it than that. In a world where post-employment benefits are increasingly rare, helping active employees understand the cost of their benefits will help them plan for a retirement in which they’ll have to pay for that coverage themselves. In fact, educating employees about the challenges of replicating their active benefits coverage in the retail market—and giving them the tools needed to research their options—should be a key component of retirement planning.
If your organization has made the investment to maintain a post-employment benefits program, building member awareness around value is critical—and where better to do that than on the annual pension statement?
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
Leading organizations take this idea even further by producing total rewards statements for their employees. When it comes to helping employees appreciate the full value of the employment deal, a well-executed annual statement that reveals the monetary value of compensation, bonuses, pensions, benefits, vacations, and holidays is tough to beat. Add to this same statement information on intangibles—such as work environment, culture, recognition, development opportunities, performance management, social or environmental programs and charitable causes—and your statement becomes a powerful tool for building engagement and a sense of belonging to your organization.
Educating employees about the full value of the employment deal is a win/win. You get more mileage from your benefit investment and your employees are better equipped to plan for retirement or weigh the advantages/disadvantages of other employment opportunities.
Ensuring your employees appreciate the true value of the employment deal may take some work, but connecting with employees who might otherwise be missing the big picture—and may even be considering a move for more cash—can pay for itself in productivity and retention savings alone.