One in five (20%) HR, benefit and reward specialists believe their employees consider their benefits communications ‘terrible’, according to research from Lemonade Reward.
The 30 HR, benefit and reward specialists surveyed were asked how their employees would rank their communications on a scale of one to five, with one being terrible and five excellent.
While 20% thought their employees would consider benefit communications ‘terrible’, a further 20% thought they would only score two. Just 3% thought they would earn a five ('excellent').
When asked to personally rank their communications using the same scale 17% of the specialists gave themselves a ‘terrible’ rating, and none believed they deserved the top score.
Additionally, almost a quarter (23%) of those polled said they had never measured the effectiveness of their employee benefits communications, and 20% could not remember the last time this had been done.
David Pugh, managing partner at Lemonade Reward, said employers should be doing more to encourage staff to engage with their benefits programme. “Despite advances in technology and flexible working employers do not appear to be moving with the times,” he said. “We have whole generations who now access and share information via tablets and mobiles, yet employers fail to e-enable their benefits packages and develop apps that work on bring your own devices.
“A further hurdle is a failure to measure the effectiveness of their employee benefits communications. If they did so they could act upon the results.”
The research coincides with a report from Chase de Vere that found a quarter (24%) of firms provide their current benefits range simply because it is their historical offering, and these benefits are not analysed or reviewed. This suggests employers might not be getting good value for money.
Sean McSweeney, corporate advice manager at Chase de Vere, highlighted the importance of reviewing the package offered. “Employee benefits packages have become a key way for employers to recruit and retain good-quality employees,” he said. “It is therefore important that they offer the right benefits, which are reviewed regularly and communicated effectively.
“However, what we’ve found is that nearly a quarter of employers have their benefits package in place for historical reasons, when it probably isn’t the most appropriate. The result is likely to be that many employers are spending large sums of money on their benefits packages and are getting very little value in return.”
