Despite significant investment in employee benefits, many organisations face challenges of low engagement and underutilisation. A recurring barrier to driving meaningful benefits engagement is poor and inconsistent communication. When employees aren’t fully aware of what’s available, or how to access more relevant information, participation and engagement can decline.
To unlock the full value of your employee benefits, communication must be the strategic foundation for a total rewards programme. By embedding communication into the heart of a reward strategy, organisations can help employees understand and connect with their benefits when they need them most, reinforcing the employment deal and exchange between employer and employee.
Making employee benefits visible and valued
At the heart of every organisation lies an unspoken agreement - the employment deal. It’s the mutual exchange between employer and employee: skills, time, and commitment offered in return for compensation, support, and opportunity. Yet, this deal is often viewed too narrowly, reduced to a focus on salary when the employment deal is far more expansive. It encompasses not just pay, but also employee benefits, leave entitlements, learning and development, workplace culture, and a sense of shared connection, usually at a significant cost to the business.
Employee benefits are no longer just a “nice-to-have”; they are a fundamental part of the employment value proposition. The evolving workforce expects benefits to be available, even if they don’t use everything, because benefits often represent a tangible expression of the deal between employer and employee: a reflection of how an organisation supports, values, and invests in its people.
In today’s economic climate, where public services are increasingly strained and access to essentials like healthcare is becoming more difficult, employee benefits have never been more critical. Yet, despite their growing importance, many employees remain unaware of the full range of support available to them through their employer.
Lockton Ireland’s 2024 Employee Benefits Research Study reveals a clear disconnect:
88% of employees say benefits are important when considering a new role,
Yet 38% feel their current benefits don’t meet their needs,
And 25% are unaware of what’s available or how to access it.
This gap isn’t just a missed opportunity — it’s a strategic risk. When benefits go unrecognised, their value diminishes, and offerings like income protection, wellbeing services, life assurance and pension contributions easily fade into the background.
To reverse this trend, organisations must reposition benefits more clearly as a visible, valued part of the employment deal.
The impact of poor benefits communication
Many organisations outlay significant capital for their benefits programmes and consistently seek ways to improve current offerings.
Poor communication represents a missed opportunity and can have a significant impact, both for employees and the organisation. Some of the consequences include the following:
For Employees | For Employers |
Lack of awareness and thus underutilisation of valuable support | Poor return on investment – both financially and in terms of employee impact |
Reduced perceived value of the benefits programme and/or employment deal | Weakened Employer Brand - making it harder to retain and attract top talent |
Lower engagement, satisfaction and loyalty | Misalignment with the EVP, creating a disconnect between what is promised and what is experienced |
Missed opportunities for support when needed the most | Increased turnover risk |
Recommendations for employers
Employee benefits have the potential to be a key component of the modern employment deal, but their value can only be realised when they are clearly understood, consistently communicated, and meaningfully connected to the employee experience.
It’s no longer about sharing benefits information only during recruiting, hiring, and annual enrolment; it’s about using communication purposefully in an integrated manner to craft the right message, deliver it through the right channel, to the right audience, at the right time with a clear objective in mind. To close the gap between investment and impact, organisations should:
Define your Employer Value Proposition (EVP). Why do people work for you, and why are you attractive as an organisation? Align your benefits offer with this thinking and communicate through this lens.
Embed communication into the core of your benefits strategy. Treat communication as a strategic pillar, not a final step.
Open dialogue with employees and create feedback loops to find out what benefits they value and how they want to receive information.
Develop a visual identity that is relevant and aligns with your EVP and brand to create consistency and familiarity.
Don’t focus on the ‘what’ of your benefits programme. Instead, look at the ‘why’ something is offered and how it can help your people.
Tailor messaging to your workforce. Understand who you are talking to and segment your audience to reflect different needs and life stages.
Use a multi-channel, multi-touch approach. Reinforce messages through a mix of formats that your audience accesses. This may consist of videos, short-form articles, webinars, brochures, how-to guides, or FAQs.
Instead of enabling benefit providers to control the flow and direction of benefit communication, organisations should aim to control and distribute communication from a singular, centralised, and unified source.
Get leadership buy-in and increase the knowledge base of what is available to help employees when they need it most and where relevant information can be found.
To find out more on how we can support your business with its benefits communications, visit our People Solutions (opens a new window) page or contact your Lockton consultant.
