For the average HR professional the fall season means open enrollment for benefit plans. Many benefit plans have major changes due to healthcare reform so it is more important then ever the employers provide effective communitions to their employees during open enrollment. Frank Lutz, an expert on communications and polling offered the following insights during his keynote address at the 23rd Annual Benefit Forum and Expo on September 26, 2010 as reported by SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management).
Luntz recommended simplicity, brevity, credibility and consistency with a focus on visual images. “Employees don’t want to read long texts, and won’t… when you include a graphic on the page, employees are 60 percent more likely to read that page”. Pictures of employees receiving services from a doctor or other health care practitioner are particularly effective images.
A recent poll showed that 51% of employees prefer to receive health care information through e-mail or online, and only 26% prefer receiving an easy-to-read handout or booklet. “Five years ago, receiving the booklet was the No. 1 response,” Luntz said. Lutz also recommends a Q&A style format. ”Ask the questions that employees are most likely to ask, the way they are likely to ask them.”
For more great information on benefits and benefit communication be sure to check out this website, http://ebn.benefitnews.com/.
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