Tag Archive for 'Benefits Education'

Short Videos Make Complex Benefits Easy To Understand

Sounds like common sense, doesn’t it?

Brain synching at work

Take a complex topic or message, break it down into smaller segments that are less overwhelming and easier to absorb. It’s a basic presentation strategy that enables your viewers to internalize both key messages and important details quickly. Deliver your message by video and you’ll have an easily digestible benefits education vehicle that your employees will love.

In our new whitepaper, Top 5 List: Why You Should Use Video To Communicate Complex Benefits, we introduce how video can be utilized to explain a complex employee benefit in smaller, very tangible segments. We discuss other benefits of video, like brain synching and compelling visual support. You will also learn how GuideSpark customers have used employee benefits videos to explain more involved benefits such as the switch to HRA/HSA plans and how Maternity Benefits work.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on May 31, 2012

Top 5 List: Why You Should Use Video to Communicate Complex Benefits

Have you ever watched a video to learn how to close a baby stroller, lose your love handles, shop for a blender or invest in the stock market?

Top 5 List: Why You Should Use Video to Communicate Complex BenefitsNearly everyone with a computer has turned to online video at some point as a key source for information, especially when it comes to complex subjects. Unlike long detailed documents, online video provides a quick and easy way for viewers to understand complex topics and ideas in a format that is easy to watch and absorb.

Smart companies are taking advantage of this trend by leveraging online video to effectively communicate with consumers, but what about with employees?

Read More

Published by bbenedict on May 22, 2012

Have You Seen Our New Demo Videos?

Health and Financial Benefits, New Employment Orientation and Open Enrollment Covered

GuideSpark’s brilliant Content Development team has designed five new demo videos to give you a better idea of how you could be using video to engage your employees on benefits-related topics. All of these topics are covered in the GuideSpark Benefit Video Library.

  • High Deductible Health Plan with Health Savings Account (HSA) – shows employees how HSAs can be a good way to get the right health benefits while saving money.
  • 401(k) – discusses contribution matching, traditional vs Roth, investment options and more.
  • Making Your Money Work – covers basic information on Credit Scores, how they affect financial wellness and how to improve them.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on March 27, 2012

Consistent Benefits Communication Saves Money

Delivering consistent messaging is not just good communication, it saves time and money. This is surely an obvious statement, but how well do you implement it in your organization?

  • Are your informational events well attended?
  • Is everyone who wants to attend able to do so?
  • Do your support call numbers rise after a series of seminars?
  • Are many of the questions about confirming facts or clearing up discrepancies between presenters?
  • Do you feel that live seminars are an efficient use of resources?

With employee benefits videos, you can ensure that the same clear message is delivered to all of your employees–regardless of what location they work out of, what shift they’re on or whether or not they (or their family decision maker) can attend your seminar.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on March 16, 2012

Top 5 List: How Video Can Improve Benefits Communication

Top 5 List: How Video Can Improve Benefits CommunicationEveryone watches online videos. They’re easy, entertaining and informative. But they aren’t just for fun. Video is more than just a fad. It’s an improvement in how we communicate.

 Traditional methods of HR communication—including long and confusing plan documents, time-intensive on-site seminars, and jargon-filled emails that are usually ignored—simply aren’t engaging today’s workforce. Yet, the more we require employees to be benefits consumers, the stronger our need for effective, engaging communications. HR Departments that incorporate video into their benefits communication can enhance overall employee engagement, use HR resources more effectively and achieve ROI on key benefits programs.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on March 7, 2012

Wellness Programs Call for Better Communications

Wellness Programs Communications

Wellness Programs Call for Better Benefits Communications

Wellness programs are all the rage this year. But what’s the point of a program that employees don’t understand and, therefore, don’t use? Midwest Business Group on Health has done some research evaluating employee engagement in health benefits and wellness programs.

What they found: Employees still do not understand their benefits. Part of the reason why employees are having trouble meeting their wellness goals is a lack of good communication and resources. MBGH found, “Most employees and dependents don’t fully understand what health care benefits are available to them nor do they fully comprehend the summary plan description (SPD) or what requirements they need follow to achieve incentives (i.e. premium differentials) that may be part of the benefit plan design. As a result, communications efforts frequently go unnoticed, are ignored or misunderstood by the employee.”

Read More

Published by Sophie Asmar on February 3, 2012

7 Steps for Deciding What to Include in Your Employee Benefits Video

Here’s another tidbit from our new video course: Transform Benefits Education with On-demand Video.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that we’ve touched on which benefits videos to start with to get the most interest and involvement from your viewers. Will it be your Consumer Directed Health Plan or your 401(k)? You will also have learned what to include in an Open Enrollment video, which is a powerful place to start engaging employees.

Once you’ve decided on which topic to cover, here’s a plan for pulling together everything you COULD talk about and, from that, how to work out what to actually include in your video and what to provide through supporting documents.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on October 28, 2011

Top 5 List: Most Viewed Employee Benefits Videos

If you are incorporating benefits videos into your communications strategy, how do you decide which videos to invest in first?

GuideSpark has created a new video course to assist HR departments making the exciting leap into video communication. In this course, our director of Content Development and Video expert extraordinaire, Joseph Larocque, explains that topics which are more complex or require careful explanation are natural places to start. Good candidates are core benefits, Open Enrollment changes and tough messages such as a premium increase.

“Video can really help people understand how these plans work, how they compare, and why they are compelling,” says Larocque. “If you are introducing one of these in the upcoming year, starting your video communications here will drive adoption.”

Read More

Published by bbenedict on October 21, 2011

Top 5 List: What to Include in Your Open Enrollment Video to Reduce Support Calls

Benefits communication videos aren’t rocket science, but it can sure help to have some experience with what works and what doesn’t.

In his new video course–Transform Benefits Education with Video–Joseph Larocque, GuideSpark’s Director of Content Development and video expert extraordinaire, recommends including these five pieces of basic information:

  1. Open Enrollment process and deadlines
  2. Open Enrollment events
  3. Changes to your plan
  4. How to enroll in benefits
  5. Where to get help

It may sound simple but HR departments are frequently tempted to include large amounts of detail in an Open Enrollment video. The key message here is NOT to give viewers everything they could possibly want to know. Just touch on the main points and tell the viewer where to go for more information.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on October 14, 2011

Effective Benefits Education Raises Satisfaction Regardless of the Package

As the recession forces companies to cut back on spending and get more out of their investments, here’s yet another study from UNUM offering evidence that investing in better benefits communications is sound advice.

Taken in December 2010 following last year’s annual enrollment period, the UNUM study finds that effective benefits education enables employees to make better choices, can increase employee loyalty and improves how employees rate their benefits packages.

They’ve wrapped up their findings in a catchy 3+3 slogan: three weeks plus three types of education methods = a better benefits education. This reflects the findings that apparently half of the employees surveyed had less than three weeks to review their benefits.

Read More

Published by bbenedict on October 12, 2011