Total Rewards Communication

Benefits Advantage Assets Bonus Wages Concept

Your company may have spent a considerable amount of time crafting a total rewards program that will allow your business to thrive in competitive markets. Putting the right benefits package together can be an exhaustive process.

Once in place, you might think your program is self-explanatory and will attract talent. Assembling an effective communication strategy, however, can be just as essential as the reward package itself.

Many employees may not be aware of certain benefits or may misunderstand how they work. With effective communication, you can increase awareness and understanding. You may also improve engagement and retention.

You should center your communication strategy on the five key objectives outlined below. Do so and your communication strategy is off to an excellent start.

Raise awareness

Employees and potential recruits need to be aware of what benefits and compensation you offer. Certain things, like base salaries, are relatively straightforward. However, employees may struggle to understand other components of your reward package.

Employees may not take advantage of rewards if they don’t know about them. Likewise, you may tempt higher quality recruits with specific benefits, such as more vacation days or work-from-home arrangements. Rather than highlighting only a few aspects of your total rewards program, offer a comprehensive view of all the benefits offered.

Increase understanding of your program

Total reward programs can be difficult to comprehend. Employees may not understand how short-term bonuses work or what long-term rewards look like. Employees may misunderstand vacation days, health insurance, and other things. If employees don’t understand how programs work, they might not take advantage of them.

You should also communicate why and how your company makes compensation decisions. Tie your rewards and benefits into your company’s long-term goals and help employees grow.

Make sure employees are engaged

Employee engagement is a serious issue for companies big and small. Gallup found that only 35 percent of employees were engaged in 2019. If companies can increase engagement, they may improve productivity, profitability, and more.

The right total compensation may help increase engagement. This is especially true if you pair the rewards program with effective communication. Make sure employees know that top performance is rewarded.

Focus on retention

Turnover can hurt your company financially and in other ways. Every time an employee leaves, you risk losing talent, skills, and knowledge. High turnover can also detrimentally affect morale and engagement.

Your total reward program should contain strategies to improve retention, such as fair financial bonuses and good work-life balance. Make sure you effectively communicate these aspects.

Be appreciative

As awareness and understanding grow, your employees will learn just how much you appreciate them. Employees who feel appreciated may be more likely to go above and beyond. Make sure your communications strategy reinforces just how much you appreciate everyone’s efforts.

Take away: Communication is just as important as rewards

Markets are immensely competitive but by attracting and retaining the right talent, you could increase competitiveness. As a result, you need to put together a total rewards program and effectively communicate benefits to your employees.

HRsoft is a leading provider of total rewards software that enables the continuous communication of the full value of employment to the entire workforce. Get more information on our Total Rewards solution.