Communicating benefits

SHRM Survey Findings: State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits

January 10, 2013

• This is part six of a series of SHRM surveys examining the state of employee benefits in the workplace.

• The following topics are included in this six-part series:

Part 1: Wellness initiatives

Part 2: Flexible work arrangements

Part 3: Health care

Part 4: Leveraging benefits to retain employees

Part 5: Leveraging benefits to recruit employees

Part 6: Communicating benefits

Introduction

2State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

• How knowledgeable are employees about their employer-sponsored benefits? The majority (86%) of organizations reported their employees are “very knowledgeable” or “somewhat knowledgeable” of the employer-sponsored benefits available to them.

• Are organizations effective in informing employees about their benefits? Roughly three-fourths (77%) of organizations “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” with the statement “My organization’s employee benefits communications efforts are very effective in informing employees about their benefits.” However, only about one-quarter (22%) of organizations had an employee benefits communications budget in fiscal year 2011.

• What are top employee benefits communications methods organizations use? The top three communications methods used by organizations were online or paper enrollment materials (84%), group employee benefits communications with a representative from his or her organization (65%), and one-to-one employee benefits counseling with a representative from his or her organization (51%).

Key Findings


• Are organizations using social media as a platform in their employee benefits communications efforts? Very few organizations are using social media in their communication efforts. Overall, 4% of organizations reported using social media. Among organizations not using social media in their employee benefits communications efforts, 8% of organizations indicated they plan to start using social media within the next 12 months.

Key Findings


Focus and Knowledge of Benefits

Very knowl-edgeable

Somewhat knowledgeable

Not very knowledgeable

Not at all knowledgeable

14%

72%

14%

0%

6

Overall, how knowledgeable are your employees about the employer-sponsored benefits available to them?

Note: n = 433. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

Employee surveys

Interactions with HR

Employee focus group

Intranet use

Employee meetings

Other

24%

17%

14%

12%

4%

2%

7

How does your organization determine the knowledge level of employees about the employer-sponsored benefits available to them?

Note: n = 444. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.


Health care

Leave benefits

Retirement savings and planning

Family-friendly benefits

Flexible working benefits

Preventive health and wellness

Professional and career development benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

Other

84%

4%

4%

2%

2%

2%

2%

0%

0%

8

Which benefit from your organization’s benefits package is the one that is most important to the majority (more than half) of employees?



Health care

Flexible working benefits

Retirement savings and planning

Preventive health and wellness

Family-friendly benefits

Professional and career development benefits

Leave benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

68%

9%

9%

5%

3%

3%

2%

0%

9

In three to five years, which benefit from your organization’s benefits package do you think will be the one that is most important to your employees?

Note: n = 416. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.


Communicating Benefits

Strongly agree

Somewhat agree

Somewhat disagree

Strongly disagree

20%

57%

18%

5%

11

How strongly do you agree or disagree with this statement, “My organization’s employee benefits communications efforts are very effective in informing employees about their benefits.”



Yes

No

22%

78%

12

Did your organization have an employee benefits communications budget in fiscal year 2011?



Remained the same in

2012

Increased in 2012

Decreased in 2012

There is no budget in

2012

67%

23%

9%

1%

13

Did your organization’s fiscal year 2012 employee benefits communications budget increase, decrease or remain the same when compared with the fiscal year 2011employee benefits communications budget?

Note: n = 91. Organizations that did not have an employee benefits communication budget in fiscal year 2011 were excluded from this analysis.


Yes

No

63%

38%

14

Within the last 12 months, did your organization make any changes to your employee benefits communication materials?

Note: n = 432. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.


15

Which of the following employee benefits communications methods does your organization use?

Note: n = 447. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple response options.


Percentage

Enrollment materials (online or paper) 84%

Group employee benefits communications with an organizational representative

65%

One-to-one employee benefits counseling with an organizational representative

51%

Intranet 48%

Direct mail to home/residence 41%

Newsletters (online or paper) 39%

Benefit fairs 26%

Virtual education 13%

Social media 4%

Group employee benefits communications with your vendor 3%

Other 2%

Yes

No

Not sure

8%

60%

33%

16

Within the next 12 months, does your organization plan to using social media as an employee benefits communications tool?

Note: n = 429. Organizations that did not use social media as an employee benefits communications method were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.


State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012 17

Organization Demographics

1 to 99 employees

100 to 499 employees

500 to 2,499 employees

2,500 to 24,999 employees

25,000 or more employees

23%

39%

22%

13%

3%

18

Demographics: Organization Staff Size

n = 447


Privately owned for-profit

Nonprofit organization

Publicly owned for-profit

Government sector

51%

22%

19%

8%

19

Demographics: Organization Sector

n = 440


PercentageHealth care and social assistance 19%Manufacturing 19%Professional, scientific and technical services 17%Finance and insurance 11%Government agencies 9%Educational services 7%Retail trade 5%Accommodation and food services 4%Construction 4%Information 4%Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations 4%Transportation and warehousing 4%Whole trade 4%Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services 3%Arts, entertainment and recreation 3%Repair and maintenance 3%Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 2%Mining 2%Real estate and rental and leasing 2%Utilities 2%Personal and laundry services 1%

Demographics: Organization Industry

20

Note: n = 447. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.


21

Demographics: Other

U.S.-based operations only 77%

Multinational operations 23%

Single-unit organization: An organization in which the location and the organization are one and the same.

39%

Multi-unit organization: An organization that has more than one location.

61%

Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices

62%

Each work location determines HR policies and practices

5%

A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices

34%

Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multi-unit organization?

For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work location or by both?

Does your organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only, or does it operate multinationally?

n = 447 n = 447

Note: n = 286. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

Corporate (company-wide) 75%

Business unit/division 13%

Facility/location 12%

n = 286

What is the HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey?


SHRM Survey Findings: State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits

• Response rate = 12%

• 447 HR professional respondents from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership participated in this survey

• Margin of error +/- 4%

• Survey fielded March 1-April 6, 2012

Survey Methodology


About SHRM Research

• For more survey/poll findings, visit www.shrm.org/surveys

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Project leaders:Shawn Fegley, SPHR, survey research analyst, SHRM ResearchChristina Lee, intern, SHRM Research

Project contributors:Mark Schmit, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM ResearchEvren Esen, manager, Survey Research Center, SHRM Research

Copy editor:Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center


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Communicating benefits