Lack of communication in almost a third of employers regarding employee benefits

NEW YORK, USA: One of the biggest challenges employers face when it comes to their benefits strategy is how to ensure employees sufficiently value their benefits. Towers Watson's 2013 Asia Pacific benefit trends survey shows that while there is a clear link between effective communication and benefits value perception, many employers are yet to leverage it. The survey was conducted on 1,066 employees in the region, between Febuary and March, 2013.

In the figure shown below, we see a positive correlation between the perceived value of benefits and effective communication in the organisations that were surveyed. For employers who felt they communicate effectively on benefits, 91% also indicated that they believe their benefits are sufficiently or highly valued by employees. This number drops to 67% for organisations that do not communicate on benefits effectively.

Figure 1. Effective communication versus value perception

 

"Communication is often overlooked when it comes to rolling out a comprehensive benefit strategy, but as we found, it is often an integral way to improve the ROI that employers strive for," said Matthew Jackson, Director, Benefits Optimisation, Asia Pacific. "When it comes to having a strong benefits program, part of the solution is to create a scheme that is flexible and adaptable to different employee segments with different needs. But much of this effort could be wasted if it is not supported by an effective, targeted communication strategy that makes use of different types of media."

Despite saying that improving employees perceived value of benefits is one of the top objectives for their organisational benefits strategy, 31% of employers still do not communicate about benefits to their workforce. Although high, this number is an improvement from 55% of employers in 2009.

Even though the survey found that 22% of companies still communicate using paper-based tools, employers are beginning to embrace newer technologies, with a quarter making use of online benefit portals.

"An effective communication strategy will be multi-dimensional." said Jackson. " While paper-based communications such as mailers and posters have their place, they should be complemented with other, diverse forms of messaging.

Different media mixes will be relevant to different organisations, and employers should understand what is right for their audience. While the exact route taken will differ, one thing remains certain; employers who are not communicating their benefits could risk squandering the investment they put into an otherwise well-designed and valuable benefits scheme."