5 Ways to Analyze Employee Engagement with Benefits
Although healthcare needs have changed during the pandemic, the basics of what employees need have not.
Benefits leaders have launched new initiatives and benefits in the past two years. Did companies go too far? Should they pull back? If you’re not thinking carefully, you run the risk of unneeded spending on unused benefits, asks Jennifer Jones, health practice leader, Springbuk.
It’s Time to Think Strategically About Healthcare Benefits
As employers struggle to attract and retain talented employees — and as the ongoing effects of the pandemic continue — many workplaces are trying to understand what they should be offering in terms of healthcare benefits. They are an important part of the employee experience and one that you can’t neglect. But are you offering the right healthcare options? Are you leveraging the right technology to ensure you’re making the most of your benefits offerings? Is there something you’re missing? How can you be sure?
Here are three tips for designing targeted, useful, and effective healthcare benefits offerings.
Use Data and Technology to Help You Experiment
The pandemic has brought an explosion of new offerings — and that’s a good thing. As employees’ needs have changed, so too has what employers should offer. It’s time to let a thousand flowers bloom.
There’s been significant growth in telemedicine, as well as support for mental health and well-being. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2021, “39% of smaller firms and 58% of larger firms provided or expanded online counseling services for emotional or financial distress, relationship issues, or other stressful situations.” Telemedicine has been around for some time, but the pandemic, coupled with ever-expanding access to high-speed internet and continual advances in videoconference technology, accelerated adoption.
But questions remain: Will these offerings stick around? Or are they fads that will fade away in time? It’s too soon to tell. But it’s important to measure your new offerings’ effects on your employees. Pay attention to use rates and effects on measurements like productivity. After all, if you aren’t measuring outcomes, you’re not experimenting — you’re just guessing. Additionally, survey your employees and members to learn about their priorities, what kinds of additional benefits they would use, and what other adjustments they would make to their benefits package.
To gather and analyze this data, use a health analytics technology solution. When you do, you’ll go beyond superficial data analysis and find you’re equipped to make informed decisions that have a real impact and authentically reflect the needs of your people. For example, Springbuk wanted to understand how employees used a wellness program. They found that employees were using the service more and more. But with the help of a data analytics technology solution, they learned that usage rates for employees at the greatest risk for health complications were decreasing. These insights allowed the company to adjust its strategy, targeting employees who needed support the most.
See More: 5 Ways to Promote Mental Health in the Workplace with Technology
Focus on What Will Have the Greatest Impact
Although healthcare needs have changed during the pandemic, the basics of what your workers need have not. They want affordable plans that cover their medical conditions.
People are pretty consistent about that. In 2017, Harvard Business Review surveyed 2,000 job seekers. The benefits they said they wanted the most were clear: better health, dental, and vision insurance, followed by more flexible hours and additional vacation time. These are the must-haves for healthcare plans. At the bottom of the list were nice but not essential benefits, including an on-site gym and free fitness or yoga classes.
But what do employees mean by “better” insurance? A different survey helps answer that question. Employees listed comprehensiveness and affordability when asked what they liked the most about their health plans. Costs were the part they liked the least.
You might think that more choices are always better. That’s intuitive but not always true. Especially when it comes to healthcare, option overload is a real risk. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College highlights a growing body of research that people in the United States “don’t understand the information they already have and are making bad decisions based on these misconceptions.”
What can you do about it? It may be helpful to devote some time and effort to determine what your employees think your healthcare offerings are. Not just what they are, but what information are employees retaining? Are they correct? Armed with this information, you’ll be empowered to make decisions grounded in data, ensuring that you’re providing your people with the greatest benefits that will impact their well-being.
Benefits Are Complicated; Communicate to Avoid Confusion
That brings us to the last point. You can’t design an effective benefits strategy without spending much time listening to your employees. Probably much more than you’re currently doing.
Healthcare is a complex issue. Most of your employees don’t want to spend much time or effort understanding their benefits or how to use them. And even the best healthcare plans won’t do much good if people aren’t using them.
How can you help them out? Think about how you are communicating to employees. Are you offering one-on-one meetings? Group classes? Do you talk to them during open enrollment or all through the year? Do your communications use a lot of jargon and specialized terms? Ensuring the information you provide is both helpful and easily digestible will enable your people to take full advantage of their benefits.
But it’s not enough to s revamp your communications strategy and hope for the best. As we described above, it’s most effective to evaluate the outcomes of your efforts to ensure they were successful. Once you implement a new communication approach, determine what outcomes will help you assess it. For example, if you’re worried that your people aren’t using benefits because they don’t understand them, compare usage rates of that benefit before and after implementing your new communications strategy. Then, use a data analytics technology solution to track those metrics and make changes accordingly.
Offer the Benefits That Will Keep Your Employees Happy
By focusing on the most popular offerings, communicating regularly and clearly, and embracing new experiments, you’ll put yourself in a good position to attract and retain talented employees.
Your employees want to know that their healthcare will be in the right hands. With these tips and the right health data analytics technology solution, you’ll be on the right path to creating the kinds of healthcare options that will drive a more positive employee experience and lead to healthier workers.
How do you think companies should evaluate their health benefits strategies? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to know!
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