Boosting Your Understanding of Employee Benefits
During my career as a Total Rewards (Compensation and Benefits) Leader I learned that there is ample opportunity for employees to better understand their employer-provided benefits.
I get it, talking about benefits isn’t very exciting for most, but it is extremely important for an employee’s financial security that they understand and correctly utilize the benefits provided by their employer.
If you’re an HR professional or a department manager, it is also important for you to understand the expense and commitment your organization is making to provide these benefits.
It is worth investing more time than you probably currently spend to identify what benefits are offered and which benefits employees may need (spoiler alert – you probably don’t need everything being offered).
Nudges versus Boosts
“Nudging” is a proven approach to behavior change used with many employer-provided benefits. It involves adopting benefit plan designs that steer people in the right direction without a need for conscious decision and action. Being auto-enrolled in your company’s retirement plan is a good example of a Nudge. Today most employer retirement plans have adopted some level of automatic features to help employees achieve retirement readiness. When Nudges are in place, employees are required to opt-out if they choose not to participate.
I support benefit design that incorporates appropriate Nudges, provided there is an ability to opt-out if desired.
“Boosting” is an alternate approach that focuses on empowering people to make their own choices by improving their understanding. This is done primarily through education under the assumption that an informed individual will take action that is in their best interests.
The objective for my blog articles is to Boost understanding of benefits and benefit strategy. It doesn’t matter if you are an employee, a supervisor/manager, or an HR professional. Boosting your knowledge of benefits can only help you and your organization succeed.
Written by Brian Mitchell
Brian Mitchell has experience leading Total Rewards strategy and implementation for large employers. He started his career in marketing and market research and has used that experience to execute and implement Total Rewards strategies that attract and retain employees.
Benefit Boosts by Brian Mitchell© – Vol 2024-001
You may also like these articles:
