SHRM Survey Findings: State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits January 10, 2013

This is part six of a series of SHRM surveys examining the state of employee benefits in the workplace. The following topics are included in this six-part series: Part 1: Wellness initiatives Part 2: Flexible work arrangements Part 3: Health care Part 4: Leveraging benefits to retain employees Part 5: Leveraging benefits to recruit employees Part 6: Communicating benefits Introduction 2 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

How knowledgeable are employees about their employer-sponsored benefits? The majority (86%) of organizations reported their employees are “very knowledgeable” or “somewhat knowledgeable” of the employer-sponsored benefits available to them. Are organizations effective in informing employees about their benefits? Roughly three- fourths (77%) of organizations “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” with the statement “My organization’s employee benefits communications efforts are very effective in informing employees about their benefits.” However, only about one-quarter (22%) of organizations had an employee benefits communications budget in fiscal year What are top employee benefits communications methods organizations use? The top three communications methods used by organizations were online or paper enrollment materials (84%), group employee benefits communications with a representative from his or her organization (65%), and one-to-one employee benefits counseling with a representative from his or her organization (51%). Key Findings 3 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

Are organizations using social media as a platform in their employee benefits communications efforts? Very few organizations are using social media in their communication efforts. Overall, 4% of organizations reported using social media. Among organizations not using social media in their employee benefits communications efforts, 8% of organizations indicated they plan to start using social media within the next 12 months. Key Findings 4 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

Focus and Knowledge of Benefits

6 Overall, how knowledgeable are your employees about the employer- sponsored benefits available to them? Note: n = 433. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

7 How does your organization determine the knowledge level of employees about the employer-sponsored benefits available to them? Note: n = 444. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

8 Which benefit from your organization’s benefits package is the one that is most important to the majority (more than half) of employees? Note: n = 425. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

9 In three to five years, which benefit from your organization’s benefits package do you think will be the one that is most important to your employees? Note: n = 416. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

Communicating Benefits

11 How strongly do you agree or disagree with this statement, “My organization’s employee benefits communications efforts are very effective in informing employees about their benefits.” Note: n = 439. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

12 Did your organization have an employee benefits communications budget in fiscal year 2011? Note: n = 467. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

13 Did your organization’s fiscal year 2012 employee benefits communications budget increase, decrease or remain the same when compared with the fiscal year 2011employee benefits communications budget? Note: n = 91. Organizations that did not have an employee benefits communication budget in fiscal year 2011 were excluded from this analysis. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

14 Within the last 12 months, did your organization make any changes to your employee benefits communication materials? Note: n = 432. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

15 Which of the following employee benefits communications methods does your organization use? Note: n = 447. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple response options. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012 Percentage Enrollment materials (online or paper)84% Group employee benefits communications with an organizational representative65% One-to-one employee benefits counseling with an organizational representative51% Intranet48% Direct mail to home/residence41% Newsletters (online or paper)39% Benefit fairs26% Virtual education13% Social media4% Group employee benefits communications with your vendor3% Other2%

16 Within the next 12 months, does your organization plan to using social media as an employee benefits communications tool? Note: n = 429. Organizations that did not use social media as an employee benefits communications method were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

17 Organization Demographics State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

18 Demographics: Organization Staff Size n = 447 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

19 Demographics: Organization Sector n = 440 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

Percentage Health care and social assistance19% Manufacturing19% Professional, scientific and technical services17% Finance and insurance11% Government agencies9% Educational services7% Retail trade5% Accommodation and food services4% Construction4% Information4% Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations4% Transportation and warehousing4% Whole trade4% Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services3% Arts, entertainment and recreation3% Repair and maintenance3% Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting2% Mining2% Real estate and rental and leasing2% Utilities2% Personal and laundry services1% Demographics: Organization Industry 20 Note: n = 447. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

21 Demographics: Other U.S.-based operations only77% Multinational operations23% Single-unit organization: An organization in which the location and the organization are one and the same. 39% Multi-unit organization: An organization that has more than one location. 61% Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices 62% Each work location determines HR policies and practices 5% A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices 34% Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multi- unit organization? For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work location or by both? Does your organization have U.S.- based operations (business units) only, or does it operate multinationally? n = 447 Note: n = 286. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding. Corporate (company-wide)75% Business unit/division13% Facility/location12% n = 286 What is the HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey? State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

SHRM Survey Findings: State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits Response rate = 12% 447 HR professional respondents from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership participated in this survey Margin of error +/- 4% Survey fielded March 1-April 6, 2012 Survey Methodology 22 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012

About SHRM Research For more survey/poll findings, visit For more information about SHRM’s Customized Research Services, visit Follow us on Twitter Project leaders: Shawn Fegley, SPHR, survey research analyst, SHRM Research Christina Lee, intern, SHRM Research Project contributors: Mark Schmit, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM Research Evren Esen, manager, Survey Research Center, SHRM Research Copy editor: Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center 23 State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Communicating Benefits ©SHRM 2012