Quick Summary: Many HR and benefits managers are responsible for presenting benefits material to their employees. Problem is, subject knowledge doesn’t always yield presentation success. By following a few guidelines, you can increase the chance that employees will pick the best options available.
Here’s the critical component of communicating employee benefits during a presentation: Highlight your key points succinctly and, if nothing else, get employees to fully understand these basics.
“Effective benefit communication relies on the same rules as other communication: Determine what you wish to accomplish, define your audience, determine your points and develop a plan to deliver your messages,” says Randy Tyson, director of personalized and electronic communications at Washington, D.C.–based Buck Consultants. “If you answer employees’ questions about their benefits, and their value and access, you will know that you have succeeded.”
When presenting, keep these tips in mind:
Define your key messages prior to the presentation, and repeat them during it. Repetition aids understanding.
Use plain language. Benefits can be complicated, so be as clear as possible. And use real examples (yet protect the privacy of actual employees).
Use a conversational style. Benefits are personal, and your message will be better received if delivered casually.
Talk with employees, not at them. Lead a conversation instead of delivering a speech (or worse yet, clicking through the PowerPoint slides and reading them aloud).
Explain the main reasons for benefit-plan changes. When these changes occur, understanding why can help employees accept them.
Make your presentation part of a multimedia delivery mix. Paper documents (manuals, printed handouts of answers to frequently-asked questions, brochures and other information) can be shared with employees’ family members and kept for easy referral. Timely newsletters can help reinforce new benefits concepts for employees and validate information you presented. Also, online technologies such as an intranet make it easy to keep benefits information up-to-date.
Encourage feedback and further questions immediately after the presentation. You could set up a telephone hotline number or a specific email address employees can contact (or a blog). Consider promising a response within 24 hours.
Using PowerPoint? Follow These 5 Rules
• Don’t give PowerPoint center stage. It’s a tool designed to augment presentations, not to be the presentation. You are the presenter, and the material is the focus.
• Create a logical flow to your presentation. Think in outline form: Tell employees what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them.
• Make your presentation readable. If people can’t read your slides from the back of the room, the type is too small. General rule: Use at least 30-point type, and no more than 12 words on a slide. Avoid paragraphs or long blocks of text.
• Remember, less is more. A basic “dissolve” effect from one slide to another is sufficient. Have all your bullets appear at once rather than one at a time. Avoid distracting sound effects.
• Distribute a handout first. Note-takers will appreciate this.
Next Steps:
• To gain a broader picture of employees’ benefit needs and desires that can be balanced with your company’s organizational goals, consider establishing a benefits committee. The committee could consist of executives, HR/benefits personnel, and a range of employees. Invite influential, non-management personnel who have respect among their peers.
• If you don’t know how to create a powerful PowerPoint presentation, sign up for training. It would be well worth a half day or day to learn this software.
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