Going Digital: How to Communicate Benefits to a Remote Workforce

Going Digital: How to Communicate Benefits to a Remote Workforce

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Article by: Alex Lanning, CBIZ Employee Benefits National Director of Communications

As we continue to adjust to new routines and lifestyles, remote work is posing some major challenges for employers to stay connected to their employees. A chief concern for benefits and HR professionals is how to communicate effectively about benefits and best practices on conducting a virtual open enrollment process. To solve for these challenges, it's vital now more than ever to establish an effective communication strategy and embrace technology. In order to maximize your communication to a remote workforce, there are a few key items to consider.

For additional tips, resources and helpful templates for all your COVID-19 communication needs, download our comprehensive guide Managing Through COVID-19 & Beyond: An HR, Benefits & Compliance Roadmap for Employers.

  1. Facilitate effective communications.

It’s true – some forms of in-person communication don’t translate to a remote environment. For example, employees can no longer swing by a coworker’s desk or poke their head around the corner to chat. Similarly, they can’t ask a quick question while passing in the hallway or hanging around the watercooler, nor can they stick around after an open enrollment meeting to ask the presenter to explain a certain benefits plan.

Instead, you and your team will need to be more thoughtful, organized and deliberate in your benefits communications. You can do this by documenting a communication strategy that outlines why you are communicating, who you are communicating with and how you will execute it. Communication is so important in remote environments because it’s easy for information to get lost or misinterpreted in the digital landscape.

  1. Choose your channels wisely.

The most successful communication strategies leverage the strengths of multiple channels. As you think about each channel in your mix, ask yourself “What is the end goal of this channel?” For example, what is the end goal of a video in a campaign? What should it accomplish; how should it accomplish it, etc.? When you’re intentional about how you’re using media, you’ll drive better results.

It’s also likely you have an incredibly diverse workforce, with up to five generations working side by side. When you’re determining which communication channels to use, be sure you consider your demographics’ preferences and use multiple channels to reach all segments of your population.

To determine which channels are best, work with your team to establish norms for what kind of information should be posted/shared where. When does it make sense to send a message on your team chat app? What necessitates an email? When would a phone call or video conference be most effective? When are multi-lingual communications needed?

Tip: Use a team messaging app to create a “virtual office.” Some remote teams may find it helpful to designate Slack, Microsoft Teams or another team messaging app as their virtual office. This is a place to let your team know when you’re available, a venue for conversation and where you go to ask quick questions, chat casually or coordinate meetings over the phone or video chat. 

  1. Select the right technology.

Since we know technology is not a one-size-fits-all solution, it's important to remember that purchasing technology with the assumption that it will solve all of your problems is usually the wrong mindset. In order to select the right tech tools for your company, start by identifying what you want that technology to do and what problems it should solve. Next, you consider a combination of tech tools that can solve for different issues like sharing information, managing projects, messaging coworkers, enrolling in benefits, training employees and more. Be sure to do your research and invest the time and effort into finding the best tools to meet your team’s needs.

Tip: Give employees plenty of support as they become familiar with their new technology tools. Don’t assume they’ll figure out how it works. Instead, provide a step-by-step guide or video walkthrough showing how to log in, critical product features, who to contact for additional help, etc.

  1. Communicate often.

This is critical now more than ever. Promote your health plans’ and providers’ offerings, such as transparency tools or health concierge tools throughout the year to avoid a last-minute surge of communications before open enrollment. There are tons of resources available when it comes to education, patient satisfaction, decision-support tools, etc. Communicate those to your employees and their family to increase engagement with these valuable company investments. The promotion and access to these tools should be a large part of your documented year-round communication strategy.

However you decide to deliver your message, always keep the method in mind. Consider communicating less content more often to increase engagement and reduce confusion. It’s not just what you say but also how you share the information that matters. Ultimately, this leads to greater understanding, engagement and satisfaction from your most valuable asset – your employees.

Going Digital: How to Communicate Benefits to a Remote Workforce~/Portals/0/PackFlashItemImages/WebReady/Going Digital How to Communicate Benefits to a Remote Workforce.pnghttps://www.cbiz.com/Portals/0/liquidImages/WebReady/Going Digital How to Communicate Benefits to a Remote Workforce.pngAs we continue to adjust to new routines and lifestyles, remote work is posing some major challenges for employers. A chief concern for benefits and HR professionals is how to communicate effectively about benefits....2020-06-02T15:43:58-05:00

As we continue to adjust to new routines and lifestyles, remote work is posing some major challenges for employers. A chief concern for benefits and HR professionals is how to communicate effectively about benefits.

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