Improving employee communication helps workers understand and appreciate their health plans. In an earlier article, Boost Employee Health Care Awareness through Effective Employee Communication Planning – Part I, I covered how to know your employee audience(s) and craft effective messaging.
This article covers three other basic elements of employee communications success. These are: choosing the most effective ways to reach employees, producing relevant and easy-to-understand content and follow-up for continuous improvement.
Reinforcing messaging across multiple vehicles should reach employees regardless of how they process information or how often they need to hear and see it. The idea is to offer educational materials in a variety of formats to accommodate different learning styles and preferences.
Many marketers embrace the “Rule of Seven” concept, meaning it takes seven exposures to a message before people retain it. Regardless of the chosen vehicles, the look, feel and personality – also known as the brand – should be as consistent as the message.
Launching messages in exciting and creative ways, such as at the company picnic or holiday party can also help reach families with the message. Skits and videos can humorously make the message more memorable.
Content vehicle options include:
- bulletin boards
- cafeteria table tents
- in-person meeting
- intranet
- lunch and learn meetings
- mobile apps that enable employees to choose a plan and register online.
- paycheck stuffers
- print publications, such as newsletters, brochures, flyers and posters
- social media,
- team meetings
- text messaging
- training/seminars
- video
Developing and Presenting Content
Once the messaging and appropriate communication vehicles are established, it’s time to produce content. Make educational materials available in a variety of formats to accommodate different learning styles and preferences.
Start first with general information and then work into the specifics of the company’s health care plan(s). Content on a particular subject should be modified – or repurposed – for each venue. For example, write a newsletter article that will truly interest employees, repurpose it by condensing the main point for emails, and then boil it down further into tweets or text messages.
For email messaging, deliver emails during the week. For a traditional workweek, avoid Mondays, Fridays and non-working hours. Use clever subject lines that encourage employees to open the messages. Deciding who should send the message is also important. If someone who dispatches a lot of messages sends content, there is the risk that employees might view it as spam or the messages might “blend in” with other mail.
Be sure to use language employees understand and avoid too much jargon. Try to produce content at reasonable length, including bite-sized chunks. Use bullet points when possible or check boxes for lists. The farther ahead content is developed, the easier it is to add or change details before sharing with employees.
It’s also important to produce content that does more showing than telling. Employees will be able to relate to a video showing an employee going through the steps to determine which plan to choose. Comparing the cost difference between in-network and non-network providers can help employees save themselves and their employers money.
The employee survey should generate plenty of content ideas. They could include:
- Five most commonly-asked questions about choosing a health care plan
- When to call nurse care (triage) line
- How to use cost calculators
- Tips to get the most out of treatment comparison tools
- Choosing the right doctor for you
Assuring Continuous Improvement
While being committed to employee communication is a best practice and the “right thing to do,” the C-Suite often needs to see results to offer further support.
That’s where auditing comes in. It’s the best way to make sure employees are getting the messages and acting on them. Measuring the original goal and objectives, as described in a previous post (link) is one approach.
Another is conducting a post-enrollment survey with the original questions to measure how successfully the plan was implemented. And finally, HR should also be willing to leave the door open for employee feedback, being careful to record unanswered questions, missing information or misunderstandings to make future improvements.
Conclusion
Successfully educating employees involves an on-going process with each successful enrollment season building on its predecessor. Employers who carefully create and implement an employee communications effort for their health care plan(s) can see potential savings, bolster their image and enhance employee health and workplace productivity.
Catherine oversees UBF's daily operations and client retention strategy. She has a background in mathematics, economics, and human resources. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, taking the dog on long walks, and caring for a small and unfruitful garden.