Ten years ago, I set up a long assembly line in the conference room with piles of paper. My HR team stuffed enrollment forms, flyers, and brochures in 2,000 envelopes for our upcoming open enrollment. Yes, you read that correctly: 2,000. Not only was this my primary method of communicating benefits to our workforce, but I’ve always been cheap – I refused to pay extra fees for stuffing services so we did it ourselves. For HR, it was a pleasant day spent talking and chatting as we walked around the table zillions of times. For the mailroom, however, it was a different story. I bribed them with lunch.
When I was younger, I always adored George Jetson (and his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, and wife Jane). I was entranced by flying cars, electric housekeepers, and especially how Jane could talk to her mother in a TV set. The famous cartoon aired originally in the 1960s and later in the 1980s. How could the creators have known that someday we’d have the ability to host video conferencing at our computers? They certainly had wise imaginations.
This week marks our second virtual health fair for my company,
Over the course of three days, we set up
I supplement our “iMeet and Greet” sessions (as I call them) with GlobalMeet webinars. Today’s lineup included healthy eating, weight loss, and personal budgeting and finance topics. This is actually my third virtual fair – I used this platform for open enrollment, too. I didn’t even have to conduct on-site enrollment meetings last year. It was a great break from travel and saved expenses for both PGi and our benefit partners.
Of course, I do use a variety of communication methods to get the message across because emails don’t pack the punch they used to. Plus, I’ve learned that every person absorbs information differently. This is pretty standard marketing practice; otherwise we wouldn’t see french fry ads on TV, billboards, newspapers, online, radio, and more. (This multiple approach happens to work with me as I’ve been known to dive into a bag of fries every now and then.)
My virtual fairs aren’t a catch-all solution and don’t fit to every type of workforce, but for our associates, dispersed across 33 states in our locations or their own home offices, it works well. Long-gone are the days of envelope stuffing. Now, if I can ever figure out how to cook two-second meals like Jane Jetson, I’ll be all set.
How do you use technology to communicate benefits? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Karrie Andes, SPHR, CBP, is the senior benefits manager for PGi and a savvy self-funding health care gal. She’s located in the Kansas City area and can be reached at
