Reward and Benefits | Insights
Rhys Davies , Director, Employee Communication (US)
2 Aug, 2021 · 4 -minute read

Human behaviour flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

And when it comes to communicating your employee reward and benefits offering, learning how to tap into all three of these complex characteristics is the key to engaging your people with an authentic, take-notice purpose that will leave them wanting more.

Easier said than done, right? Wrong. Here’s how…

Connect the dots for maximum impact

The employee experience (EX) sits at the heart of effective communication, and a strategic and balanced approach to your people agenda that encompasses all eight EX touchpoints is crucial for success. But there’s no formula for instant engagement when you’re dealing with people – on both sides of the messaging. You can’t just write the script, then expect stakeholders to entertain the masses. These are smart people who’ll want to have their say too; and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you take a joined-up approach to what you’re doing. You have to set a tone that breeds an inspirational and supportive culture. This is about building a rhythm and cadence into your messaging that makes your people feel empowered to shape their own narrative, while respecting the limits of your organisation. So create an inclusive environment that encourages active listening, then use this space to start meaningful conversations that allow the employee voice to be heard.

Share your ‘why’ through compelling stories

The modus operandi of powerful storytelling is to create a shared purpose and culture. And moments that matter that can be articulated by leaders through authentic micro-experiences are priceless – not to mention memorable. Clearly articulating your purpose is essential to a strong corporate culture, especially when it’s activated and reinforced by a narrative that can be shared with others. Our common motivational desires, values, experiences, hopes and aspirations are hugely powerful; but they can be pretty fickle too. Now more than ever, what’s important today can seem irrelevant tomorrow; we are deep into the new normal, so learn to live in the present. Employee engagement is dead… long live the employee experience. Seize this opportunity to get to the heart and soul of your business, and emotionally connect with your people – and do it now.

Be bold enough to cut through the ‘noise’

These days, there can often be a bit too much communication… and not all of it is relevant, timely or helpful. Cut through that ‘noise’ by being positively disruptive with impactful creative, purposeful storytelling, bold messaging and clear calls to action. The pandemic has seen a significant investment and an acceleration towards digital engagement (a staggering 25 times faster than in ‘the before’); but this means that the introduction of new digital platforms that are often disconnected and confusing has increased at an exponential rate too. People are pretty much born tech-savvy these days. If the user experience is poor or the content doesn’t speak to them direct, the alternative is just a swipe away – and it’s generally available in the palm of your audience’s hands. So do yourself a huge favour: use your digital offering to create a single source of truth for employees that provides a clear, controlled narrative; and make sure it fits seamlessly within your broader communication story.

Rhys Davies

Employee engagement is dead… long live the employee experience. Seize this opportunity to get to the heart and soul of your business, and emotionally connect with your people – and do it now.

Rhys Davies

Director, Reward & Benefits Communication

Make the experience relevant

Personalisation is paramount, customisation is crucial, content is king… bold statements are great, aren’t they – but you have to have the goods to back them up. The fact is, your people need to feel unique, supported and valued, so communicate the things that actually matter to them – not you. This has to be about the individual’s needs, the ‘stuff’ that taps into their very personal desires, emotions and knowledge. You can’t wing it here and you absolutely can’t just make it up as you go along. This isn’t the latest low-budget Netflix boxset, this is real life. So tell stories that place the employee at the heart of the narrative and share things that are super-relevant, informative and (above everything else) authentic. Ultimately, this is about making sure your people feel supported wherever they are on their career journey. Don’t lose sight of that in the pursuit of keeping up with the latest communication trends.

Gather data and insights to inform

If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it; and if you can’t control it, you can’t manage it – so measure something, anything… everything. It’s these data points, metrics and KPIs that benchmark you against the competition. They help you establish what success looks like; they enable you to build the framework that’ll take you where you want to go; and they underpin your communication strategy and tactical plan. So… yeah, they’re pretty much essential. And because it improves as performance is measured, tested and rolled out, data helps you allow for refinement and finessing too. But this can’t just be a once-a-year thing, ticked off during your annual employee engagement survey. This needs to be a constantly evolving, organic process; so use regular pulse surveys to temperature check your audience: what are they really thinking and feeling at any given time? How is their morale and resilience? Insight like this is worth its weight in gold – don’t let it pass you by.

Fight for your budget – and prove your worth

As the CFO is cutting the cheque for payment, they’re already thinking about the communications ROI – that ‘discretional spend’ notion will never go away, in spite of everything communicators have achieved during the pandemic. They will 100% want to see tangible results, and that’s why you need to prove that effective communication works and that it matters. So make sure you understand what your organisational goals and objectives are at the outset, and stay focussed. Great communications can help move the needle, so use data, analytics and insights to share stories of success across all of those EX touchpoints. After all, investment in a rich reward and benefits programme for employees means nothing if your people – and your C-suite – are unaware of what’s available.