Good news! Employees are happier than ever with their employee benefits, according to MetLife’s Annual U.S. Employee Benefits Trends Study. But, as the study also found, they still want more. In fact, a surprising 60{d044ab8acbff62f209a116f8142e303cb886f535b0fcf58cb82cde7cb327d3c9} said they were even willing to pay more to have more specific benefits to meet their needs.
However, the one area where they reported some dissatisfaction (53{d044ab8acbff62f209a116f8142e303cb886f535b0fcf58cb82cde7cb327d3c9}) was in how well they understand their benefits, particularly when the time comes to choose the benefits in which they’ll enroll. Here some ways the study identified that employees can improve employee satisfaction and increase enrollment:
1. Communicate with employees about their benefits in the way they find most helpful.
The chart below shows the tactics employees of small to mid-size companies prefer versus the tools their employers are actually using. As you can see, there’s a bit of a disconnect.
2. Keep things simple.
By making benefits communication materials straightforward and easy to understand, you can simplify the enrollment process by a reported 5 times compared to those with more complex communications.
3. Make sure employees can access benefits information when and where they want it.
Since many employees involve their spouse in benefits decisions, it’s important that they have access to benefits information online that they can review at home.
4. Take advantage of technology.
According to the study, employees prefer to enroll online (41{d044ab8acbff62f209a116f8142e303cb886f535b0fcf58cb82cde7cb327d3c9}) versus only 13{d044ab8acbff62f209a116f8142e303cb886f535b0fcf58cb82cde7cb327d3c9} who want to complete a paper form.
5. Have a goal.
Even though setting goals for benefits participation is shown to more than double employer satisfaction, less than 1/3 actually do so.
For more information on how you can improve your company’s benefit participation, you can read more here or contact Sequoyah Group today.