‘Top 10’ technologies to use in your benefits communications
Traditional communications media such as; email, print and face to face, do still have their place in an employee benefits communication strategy.
However, to achieve maximum engagement across your workforce, you should look to embrace new technologies for your employee benefits communications.
There are many new technologies out there that are becoming increasingly popular ways to consume information, so we have pulled together our ‘Top 10’ below:
‘Top 10’ technologies for employee benefits communications:
1 SMS
Over 93% of 16 - 54 year olds in the UK own a mobile phone. With statistics like this, you can almost guarantee that the vast majority of your workforce will be checking their text messages (SMS) on a regular basis.
As email inboxes get busier, using SMS to send your employees communications about their employee benefits, is a cost effective way to give your message a better chance of standing out.
2 Chat tools - Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or internal chat software
Your employees expect the same standard of communication technology at work as they use at home. Messaging apps are on the rise and an important part of today’s digital communication, with over 73% of UK internet users using mobile messaging.
You can utilise chat apps such as; Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, to communicate with your employees via their preferred chat platform. You may also decide to use your own internal chat software if you have one.
3 Mobile optimised web portal
Having a good online portal for your employee benefits is key to the success of your engagement levels and benefits take up. This is your central hub of information, where employees can find out more about their benefits and take action.
If you have an online portal already, make sure it is fully optimised for mobile. Last year, 58% of site visits were performed on a mobile device. If your website isn’t readable and user friendly on mobile than you will lose your audience very quickly.
4 Social media
In the UK, there are now 45 million social media users spending on average 1 hour 50 minutes scrolling through social media sites.
If your company already has social media pages across the main platforms such as; Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, it is very likely that your employees (if on social media) will follow or like your page.
Showcasing your employee benefits via your social media channels through video, stories and posts will capture the attention of not just current employees, but also potential new employees, so it is an avenue worth exploring.
5 Ageing apps
This one is a bit of fun and a unique idea to engage your younger employees in their pension or financial future. If you didn’t already know, you can download apps on your smart phone that age you from a photo, so you can see what you will look like when you are older!
One such app is called AgingBooth. You could use something like this for a campaign to encourage younger employees to think about their 65 year old self at retirement. This will spark conversation around how much they are putting into their pension and hopefully inspire them to take action now to safeguard their financial future.
6 QR codes
QR codes are a useful tool to drive digital traffic from static printed collateral. By simply holding your phone (with the camera open) over the QR code, it will take you directly to a webpage or video.
If you are creating printed collateral as part of a communications campaign such as; posters, flyers, letters or desk drops, you could include a QR code for employees to quickly access the video or web page you want them to visit to take action.
7 Podcasts on Spotify / Apple / Google
Podcasts are booming in the UK, with nearly 6 million adults tuning in every week. This offers a great opportunity to use podcasts for employee communications.
Podcast listeners are typically loyal, affluent and educated and 80% listen to all or most of each podcast episode. It might be worth finding out what % of your workforce are part of this loyal and engaged audience. You could record podcasts explaining various topics and host on your web portal or intranet for employees to listen to at their leisure.
8 Video on Youtube / Vimeo
Video is one of the most powerful forms of media today and a consumers’ favourite type of content to take in information, with the average user spending 88% more time on a website with video.
If you have or are planning a website portal for your employee benefits than video is a must.
Not only is it engaging, it allows you to tell a powerful story and explain topics that may otherwise be disinteresting or complex if your audience has to sift through reams of text.
9 Video Webinar
A top technology trend for audience engagement is video webinar. Remote working is starting to become the rule, not the exception and businesses are now embracing video conferencing technology.
A video webinar is a live broadcast where your employees can join live, or listen to recording at a time to suit them, and can actually see the speakers.
Being able to see who is speaking makes this method of communication much more engaging than a traditional webinar and is a great new technology for internal communications.
Top Tip: Get your most influential business leaders involved as speakers so your workforce is much more likely to tune in, listen and engage.
10 Personalised experiences
People enjoy personalised experiences online and your workforce is no different. They want to be able to tailor information to their exact circumstances to see the bigger picture. For employee benefits and pensions, online calculators and tools are a brilliant way to empower employees and encourage them to take action.
For example, Lemonade’s retirement options tool shows your employees how their income will look in retirement and what actions they need to take to get that income where they want it. This is a great way to engage and encourage your employees to take positive steps towards their financial future.
We hope you found our ‘Top 10’ technologies for benefits communications helpful for coming up with ideas for your employee benefits communications strategy. Feel free to chat to us about your employee benefits communication needs.