Employee Benefits Communications Key Terms

Promote employee engagement and loyalty when you learn employee benefits communications key terms

By Michele Vrouvas

Hand in hand with engaging your employees in the company's success is the ability to effectively communicate significant company events and policies. When you reach out to employees with clear and consistent communications that are personalized as to position and department within the company, you're demonstrating just how much you value your staff. Research has shown that companies effectively communicating the benefits they offer to employees engender high morale and positive attitudes toward work. Get started on your company's employee benefits communications plan by learning some key terms and concepts.

Benefit compliance

Benefit compliance, or the adherence to federal and state regulations regarding employee benefits, is at the heart of any benefits communications program.
Try: Go to Baker, Thomsen Associates to find out when your company needs to revise its employee benefits communications and which documents are most likely to be the subject of regulatory changes.

Launching a new benefit program

Your company needs to focus on launching a new benefit program when it has made substantial changes to its current programs.
Try: Benecom offers a case study in launching a new benefit program. Find out what a company's specific challenges and goals are in launching a new benefit program and how you can tell when the program has been effective. You'll also find out how results of the program are analyzed.

Employee research and benchmarking

Employee research and benchmarking provides data that companies depend on to gain an understanding of their employees' attitudes.
Try: Go to Eloquor Consulting to find out the particulars research communications specialists provide and four main strategies companies use to collect this data. You'll also learn how results from the research can help you revise your communication strategies.

Printed benefit statements

Companies have been depending on printed benefit statements to educate employees about the real value of their overall benefits packages. These statements are sometimes called total compensation statements or total rewards statements.
Try: Go to Benefit Software to find out how you can help your employees understand the real cost to your company of providing the benefits you offer. You'll learn how these statements can help you encourage dialogue with employees about company benefits policies.

Wage and salary survey

The wage and salary survey refers to an annual survey that collects data from many jobs in more than 200 companies.
Try: Go to The Employers Association to understand how to use the results from this survey for benefits communications. Find out how the results of this survey are used to compare data between jobs, regions, company sizes and industries.

Incentive compensation

When you implement an incentive compensation policy, you are offering salaries that will attract and retain top talent.
Try: Go to Authoria to find out how to manage incentive compensation programs and how they are critical to maintaining a competitive edge in your industry.