How to improve your benefits communication strategy

Part two of a series

Benefit leaders, you've found some great parental offerings and added them to your lineup. Now it's time to get the word out.

According to MetLife, over half of employees would like to see more personalized benefit recommendations. Working parents in particular are craving a better benefits experience, and it's important for benefit managers to understand what they need and how to provide it.

It's no longer enough to simply list "flexible work policy" or "child care assistance" in the fine print of a job posting, or remind employees it exists once a year at open enrollment. Instead, a good benefits communication strategy is more thorough, features inclusive language, and is present within everything from job listings and onboarding to benefit handbooks, emails and information meetings.

This approach gives employees a better understanding of what's available and emphasizes that parental benefits are truly meant for both moms and dads — reducing the stigma that women should carry the majority of caregiving responsibilities, says Danaya Wilson, mom, author and CEO of compliance platform BetterCertify. Not only does this give all parents confidence to share caretaking roles, it makes companies more appealing to diverse markets, whether that's talent or consumers, she explains.

"I look at how it's ingrained," Wilson says. "Employers can really help with this by [making it clear that] benefits are there for both genders. If you want to have a competitive advantage, you need to reflect your target market. And if you don't have diverse, inclusive language in your policies and initiatives, you're going to be shooting yourself in the foot."

Communication is a two-way street

When employees know their benefits are not just available, but use of them is encouraged, it further perpetuates appreciation and engagement. Benefit leaders need to talk to employees to find out where they are in the parenting journey, encourage their feedback, and create opportunities for them to communicate with each other as well.

"The biggest thing is to allow open conversations about who an individual is outside of work," Wilson says. "Women do this really well with other women, but a lot of times, men aren't talking about their families. If you're really saying, 'We're family first,' then you need to be openly discussing what that looks like. You need to know who has kids — what are their names, what are their ages — and having it be where some of your engagement is around the commonalities of the employees."

While offering the right parental benefits and policies is critical to employee recruitment and retention, creating a family-friendly workplace means making them highly visible and comfortable for everyone to use. When employees know their role as a parent is embraced and encouraged, they can perform better at work and employers set themselves apart.

"We've been taught so much to compartmentalize, but we don't want to show up as shells," Wilson says. "What does that emotional toll look like? And what would a more supportive environment look like? Those are the things that I get excited about."

Read more about great ways to support working parents:

Lee Hafner

Editor, Employee Benefit News