Effective employee communication is crucial to the success of your retirement benefits plan. Whether you’re a human resources representative or plan trustee, you should take a strategic approach to employee communication.
When companies fail to develop employee communication tactics, confusion about retirement benefits often arises. Employees may turn to each other, the Internet or other unreliable sources for information about the plan, when they should be receiving the information they need from your company.
Use the four following tips to create an effective, strategic employee communication plan.
4 Tactics For Strategic Employee Communication
1. Gauge employee knowledge. Think back to the last time you joined a company and enrolled in its 401(k) plan. How did the enrollment process begin? Were you simply given the plan information or provided a meeting to attend? Successful retirement plan communication strategies should begin before you introduce the plan to your employees. Survey your employees to gain deeper insight into their knowledge of retirement plans, retirement investing and general financial planning topics.
When these surveys are returned, you can identify what aspects of your 401(k) plan should be highlighted and explained in greater detail during the initial enrollment meeting. Are employees confused about your company’s contribution-matching policy? Do they understand the ramifications of taking out a 401(k) loan? Are they aware of the tax benefits of contributing to your plan? The survey results should give you a better understanding of your employees’ financial knowledge and help to identify gaps that effective communication, future training or financial advice could fill.
2. Request feedback. Successful employee communication is a two-way street. While many companies focus on preparing and distributing plan information to their employees, they fail to request employee feedback. Provide your team with channels to voice their questions or concerns about your 401(k) plan or retirement planning in general.
Next, listen to their feedback and take action. Address concerns and answer questions promptly. Document and pay attention to issues employees have with your retirement benefits, and look for trends or problems that need to be addressed. Consider using meetings, webinars, online forums and email communication to address employee feedback.
3. Provide multiple opportunities to convey information. A single meeting usually isn’t enough to ensure everyone understands your
retirement plan. Schedule multiple meetings or webinars so all employees have an opportunity to attend. Send several email notifications in advance of the meetings.
Information about your plan should be readily available for future reference. Record your meetings and webinars, archiving them for employees to listen to later. Also, create an online portal or database where employees can access all information distributed about your retirement plan.
4. Continue educating. You’ve provided the plan, the meetings and the information. But your employee communication strategy shouldn’t stop there. Continuing education is critical to the long-term success of your retirement plan.
Schedule company-wide meetings once a quarter or every six months. New questions may arise as employees continue to contribute to your retirement plan. Some employees may have experienced life changes — like marriage, the birth of a child or a promotion — that change their outlook on 401(k) plan contributions. These meetings are a good way to help employees update their retirement savings plans as needed.
Taking a strategic approach to employee communication may add time to your enrollment process and require more work from leadership. However, putting the time and effort into your communication strategies pays off when your employees fully understand the value of your 401(k) plan.
Do you want to explore more strategies for maximizing the value of your 401(k) plan? Schedule a free consultation with a Richard Brothers financial professional to improve your organization’s retirement plan.
