14 Jun 2019

5 ways to keep employees’ enthusiasm burning after a new benefit launch

Once you’ve implemented your new health and wellbeing strategy, and launched your benefits, the next step is to engage your employees. Without employee buy-in, your carefully crafted benefits package will fall flat, and the business won’t see a return on its investment.

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A launch day, week or month is the most effective way to bring attention to your exciting, new benefits. But once the initial excitement has worn off, how do you keep employees engaged with and enthusiastic about their benefits? Here are some ideas to help you keep the fire burning.

1. Communicate regularly
Surprisingly, 56 per cent of organisations communicate with staff about their benefits on a less than quarterly basis¹. Yet regular communication is what helps benefits stay top of mind. Remind employees how your offering can support their everyday life, and how benefits are relevant at different life stages. The more relevant and timely your communications are, the better and more effective they will be.

2. Gain traction with national campaigns
Structure and plan your benefit communications around national health campaigns, to help really gain traction. The buzz of hearing something on the news or on social media can translate to your workplace benefits. Campaigns like Mental Health Awareness Week that get huge media coverage, could support a programme of activities that tie in with your benefits, like your employee assistance programme.

3. Try prize draws and competitions
Supplement your communications with a prize draw or competitions, associated with your benefits. Whether it’s shopping vouchers, wellbeing tech, or a gym membership, giveaways can generate some real excitement. This helps embed your message, and ensures it doesn’t get lost in the ether. Plus, who doesn’t like to feel lucky?

4. Ask for employee feedback
Your benefits are for your employees. So who better to tell you what’s working than employees themselves? It’s important to ask for their feedback, and find out what their needs and wants are. If employees feel involved in the process, that you listen to their feedback, and that benefits are relevant to them, they’ll feel more enthusiastic about signing up for and using them.

5. Use your benefit providers’ expertise
Don’t go it alone. Remember there are many sources you can reach out to make your communications (and your launch) engaging, memorable, and relatable, in turn helping your employees feel excited about their benefits. Try working with your marketing or communications teams, or ask your benefit providers for support. Good suppliers will be able to provide you with a multitude of marketing material to use in your business.

Maintaining momentum of wellbeing
We’re delighted to be speaking at the REBA Employee Wellbeing Congress on 20 June. We’ll be discussing how to ensure your wellbeing strategy maintains momentum. If you’re attending the event, make sure you join Simplyhealth’s Camilla Shaw, Head of Relationships, and Chris Bradford, People Director at 2.45pm to hear more.

The article is provided by Simplyhealth.

Reference

1. Simplyhealth Health and Wellbeing Benefits Guide 2017