KPM

Sec. 179 Tax Deduction Health Care Plan Assessing Customer Credit QBI Deduction Cash Withdrawal Small business retirement Spouse travel expenses Accounting Software Strategic Planning Process Insurance Schemes Enterprise Risk Management Program Account-Based Marketing Wrong Software For Your Organization Operational Review Internal Benchmarking Reports Sales approach Capturing Data Older Workers Pooled Employer Plans Financial Statement Options BOI Reporting Rules Privileged Users Medicare Premiums DOL Business valuation Trust Fund Recovery Penalty Value-Based Sales Fringe Benefits Green Lease Strategic Planning Financial Reporting Marketing Strategy Succession planning health care benefits Cyberinsurance PTO Buying Media Screening Pipeline Management Billing Best Practices Solo 401(k)

Be More Creative with Retirement Benefits Communications

Employees tend not to fully appreciate or use their retirement benefits unless their employer communicates with them about the plan clearly and regularly, and workers may miss or ignore your messaging if it all looks and ‘sounds’ the same. That is why you might want to consider getting more creative. Consider these ideas:

Brighter, more dynamic print materials. There is no getting around the fact that printed materials remain a widely used method of conveying retirement plan info to participants. But if yours still look the same way they did 10 years ago, employees may file them directly into the recycle bin. Look into whether you should redesign your materials to bring them up to date.

A targeted number of well-formatted emails. You probably augment printed materials with email communications, but finding the right balance here is key. If you are bombarding employees with too many messages, they might get in the habit of deleting them with barely a glance. Then again, too few messages means your message probably is not getting through. Also, like your printed materials, emails need to be well written and formatted.

Social media. Some employers have tried using their social media accounts to keep employees engaged and reminded about benefits. The effectiveness of this will depend on how active you are on social media and how many staff members follow you. It may work well if you have a younger workforce.

‘Gamification.’ As the name suggests, gamification involves incorporating some fun and a competitive element into benefits education — offering virtual rewards, status indicators, or gift cards to successful competitors. Games can include quizzes testing employees’ understanding of their benefits or the fundamentals of retirement planning.

Robocalls. Granted, this may not be an immediately enticing option. These prerecorded calls have largely gotten a bad reputation because of their overuse for sales purposes. However, some employees may appreciate an occasional robocall as a reminder or update that they may have otherwise missed.

Making the problem of benefits communication even tougher is the fact that many companies budget little or even nothing to accomplish this important task. Considering the cost and effort you put into choosing and maintaining your retirement benefits, effective communication is worth some investment. Let us know how we can help.

Related Articles

Talk with the pros

Our CPAs and advisors are a great resource if you’re ready to learn even more.