Do your employees understand the valuable benefits you provide?

Offering a suite of benefits can be the difference between attracting top talent and losing out to competitors, retaining valuable employees or facing high turnover, and passing as an average business or flourishing into an industry leader.

Research by Avado found that 70% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers well-structured benefit packages, and 65% of job candidates consider employee benefits as a crucial factor when evaluating job offers.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the positive impact of employee benefits, a study reported by Business Matters revealed that only 44% of employees feel they have a good understanding of the health and wellbeing benefits available to them. It also found that 34% of UK employers believe their staff are unaware of their benefits or do not understand them.

So, what can you do to bridge the gap between offering a well-structured benefits package and ensuring that your employees are fully aware of and understand these offerings?

Read on to find out why measuring workplace benefit utilisation is crucial, and to discover some practical strategies for communicating the benefits your company offers.

Measuring the utilisation of workplace benefits can help you gauge their recognition and value among your employees

Measuring the utilisation of workplace benefits is a crucial step in assessing how well your employees recognise and value these perks.

By tracking engagement with various benefits, you gain insight into which offerings are most appreciated and which may need to be re-evaluated or better communicated.

High utilisation rates suggest employees are aware of the benefits and are actively using them. However, even if utilisation rates are high, it could be a good idea to check in from time to time to find out if you could make any adjustments to improve their experience.

Low utilisation rates may signal that certain benefits are not resonating with your workforce, possibly due to a lack of awareness or understanding of how to access them. They may also not be appropriate or useful for your employee demographics.

Some benefits are simple to measure, such as salary sacrifice, as your employees need to communicate their desire to opt in – you can read more about salary sacrifice in our previous article on the subject. But others may require communicating with your staff or setting up a system that provides you with utilisation data.

Regularly analysing these metrics allows you to make data-driven decisions, ensuring that your benefits package remains relevant and valuable to your workforce. This can strengthen your company’s work culture, build employee loyalty, boost productivity, and improve your ability to attract top talent.

Practical ways to help ensure your employees understand the benefits available to them

When ensuring your employees understand the benefits available to them, it’s important to choose methods that effectively reach the majority of your workforce.

For instance, implementing an employee benefits platform can be a simple and efficient way to distribute and monitor benefits. However, if the data shows that few employees regularly access the platform, you might want to consider alternative methods to ensure broader engagement.

The following list is not exhaustive, and you may want to combine a few for the best effect.

Inform employees during onboarding

Informing your employees during each step of the onboarding process is perhaps the most common way of advertising benefits.

You may want to include a brief description of the workplace benefits in the job advert, outline them again during the interview process, and then remind the chosen candidate of what benefits they have and how to access them when they join the team.

While this is undoubtedly a popular and effective method of promoting your workplace benefits, employees may forget over time, so it is probably best to combine this strategy with another.

Periodically highlight different benefits using a staff noticeboard or email campaign

You may find it useful to highlight different benefits at times of the year when your employees are more likely to engage with them.

For example, the weeks after the holiday season are when people often decide to join a gym or start a new exercise class. So, if your benefits include gym memberships or class passes, this would be the perfect time to remind employees. Or if you have a therapist available for your staff, Mental Health Awareness Month could be a good time to encourage them to book a session.

If you have an office, a staff noticeboard can be a useful tool for offering timely reminders to your team of their benefits and how they can access them. If you operate remotely or have staff who frequently work from home, sending email reminders may be a better option.

Use an employee benefit platform

Employee benefit platforms make your benefits more accessible and flexible and simplify the interface with your employees.

Benefit platforms can also be much easier to manage and administrate as they consolidate multiple providers into a single, easy-to-operate system. This not only simplifies the process but can also lead to cost savings.

Platforms also scale very easily so can be a good option if your company is growing. They allow you to effectively measure the utilisation of your benefits, meaning you can make adjustments as necessary if certain benefits are very popular or being underused.

Ask for updates during reviews

During quarterly, biannual, or annual employee reviews, it can be a good idea to check in with your staff and find out how they are using their workplace benefits and if there are any they would prefer to see.

Knowing how much your employees use workplace benefits is important, but finding out how they are valued is integral to guaranteeing your workforce’s overall contentment and wellbeing.

Get in touch

A financial planner can help you ensure your business remains efficient while attracting and retaining the talent it needs to thrive.

To speak to a financial planner, get in touch.

Email enquiries@clarionwealth.co.uk or call us on 01625 466360.

Please note

This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.