Acquisition Inspires Benefits Communication Change.
Founded in 1990, Genesys is a leading global provider of call center software. Their powerful platform delivered on-premise or in the cloud, empowers companies to create exceptional omnichannel experiences for their customers—not unlike the exceptional experience the Genesys HR team strives to create for employees. Headquartered in Daly City, CA, the company manages a diverse workforce in multiple office locations across the US and around the world. In 2016, they acquired Indianapolis-based Interactive Intelligence, which brought additional employees into Genesys’ benefits programs. It also created an opportunity for Genesys to improve its approach to employee benefits communications.
“Our 2017 plans were changing across the board,” explains Cindy Franges, Manager of Global Benefits. “So open enrollment was an important time for us with respect to communications and change management.” The HR team needed to be especially sensitive with messaging to help shape positive benefit experiences for everyone. “We anticipated that Interactive Intelligence employees and legacy Genesys employees might perceive their 2017 employee benefits differently,” Franges points out, “and we wanted to be sure all employees understood the value of our plans.”
Kicking It Off, Straight From the Top
Navigating the communications transition—complete with benefits changes and messaging challenges—would take a powerful solution that could address multiple objectives. Franges says that their post-acquisition OE goals were to make benefit communications engaging and easy to understand, increase program participation, and decrease inbound questions to HR by making information easy to access. With GuideSpark Communicate Cloud, they found exactly what they needed: a solution designed to help HR create and deliver impactful messages to a wide range of employees, with tools and metrics to support ongoing success.
Using the GuideSpark Benefits Solution, Franges and her team ran a five-week open enrollment communications campaign. The campaign started with a video from their CEO, which was followed by a cascade of messages across different channels, including posters, postcards, email. These messages led employees to short-form content presented within a branded interactive web experience. Towards the end of the open enrollment period, Cindy’s team sent targeted e-mails to employees who had not yet enrolled for benefits. By combining this digital campaign with in-person and webcast Q&A sessions, the Genesys HR team reached employees and ensured they understood what was happening.
Results that Speak for Themselves
Genesys’ OE campaign reached more of their employees than ever before, and overall they saw nearly 100% participation in open enrollment. “Only a handful of employees did not enroll,” reports Franges, “and most of them likely waived benefits.” “Since the campaign messages were engaging and easy to consume, employees were able to process the information on their own through the campaign messages,” Franges says. The ease of use helped Genesys decrease the number of employee benefits questions; in fact, the team received even fewer questions than anticipated. Franges and her team found GuideSpark’s solution so easy to use, they plan to take a similar approach for onboarding benefits-eligible new hires.
