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

3State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

• 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

4State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

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.

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

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?

Note: n = 425. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

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

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.

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

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.”

Note: n = 439. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

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

Yes

No

22%

78%

12

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

Note: n = 467. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Privately owned for-profit

Nonprofit organization

Publicly owned for-profit

Government sector

51%

22%

19%

8%

19

Demographics: Organization Sector

n = 440

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

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.

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

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?

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

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

22State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

About SHRM Research

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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

23State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012