How Benefits Communication Can Keep You Union Free

A very good article appeared in Workforce Management today about the steps companies are taking to communicate there current benefits programs to employees. This topic has regained relevance as companies begin to prepare for more union activity if and when EFCA passes.

From Workforce:

Too often employees aren’t aware of all the benefits that their employers offer them, making unions’ claims of a better life all the more appealing, says Joseph Lazzarotti, a partner in the benefits group of Jackson Lewis. “Unions are just making these general statements that if employees join, their lives will be better without anything on the other side coming from the employers,” he says.

And with retirement benefits and health care issues of such great concern to employees given the economic downturn, union organizing efforts have really focused on benefits, experts say.

As a result the number of companies that are stepping up their communications efforts around benefits is skyrocketing, says Steve Peterson, a principal in the communications practice at Hewitt Associates. While Hewitt had a handful of firms doing this a few months ago, it now has more than 20 companies adopting these strategies—many of which have just started in the past few weeks, Peterson says.

“This is definitely one of the hottest things we have seen for the year,” he says.

This is very similar to what we have been saying at Projections for some time, and we published this article about a month ago on the same topic:

In an unstable market, it is critical for organizations to leverage their resources to ensure that the business remains viable and successful. An often overlooked resource that can increase employee satisfaction and help build a positive brand image in the marketplace is employee benefits. The key to leveraging employee benefits is a well-developed benefits communication strategy.

In their seventh annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, MetLife found that employees are placing a higher emphasis on their benefits package than in recent years. In fact, “41 percent of surveyed employees consider workplace benefits to be the foundation of their personal safety net.” Yet, IOMA, a provider of business management information and products, states that employers only spend a small fraction of their benefits budget to ensure that “the whys and hows of their [benefit] plan’s design, its unique features, and its benefits to the employee” are communicated to employees. With this in mind, it is vital for organizations to effectively communicate benefits to employees.

The bottom line of any organization is to be profitable and satisfy consumer needs. These goals should not be viewed separately from HR, Labor Relations, and employee satisfaction goals. By providing detailed, easily accessible benefits information throughout the year, organizations can improve employee loyalty and job satisfaction, which helps companies recruit and retain top talent—ultimately, impacting the organization’s bottom line.

You can read the entire article here, and from there you can learn more about Projections and the custom benefits communication that can be designed for your company.