Bebe Stores Inc. takes a stylish approach to benefits communication. "We tie it into the whole fashion aspect. We give it a premiere, a trunk-show kind of look," according to Charles Smith, senior director of compensation, benefits and employee engagement.
The company's "Benefits to Fit Your Style" theme made Bebe the winner of this year's i-COMM Award for Best Print or e-Newsletter Design and Usability.
EBN's annual i-COMM Awards recognize communication initiatives that advance the objectives of the benefits/HR department and the strategic objectives of the employer organization. The awards are based on active Web sites, e-mails, intranet pages, print and other communication vehicles.
The other winners this year are Humana, Inc. for Most Innovative Benefits Offering or Internal Company Initiative, WebMD for Best Web or Intranet Design and Usability, and FBMC for Best Training Program.
At Bebe, which sells women's clothing and accessories, the internal brand is designed to mirror the company's external brand. The Brisbane, Calif.-based company has an "edgy, high-impact, visual" advertising campaign, so its benefits communications reflect that edginess.
For example, one mailing about the benefits program sent to employees was written like an advertisement: "Looking for the perfect accessory to complete that perfect look? Try a healthy bod, teeth and eyes. Don't miss out on this season's most exclusive event - Open Enrollment - your one chance each year to take advantage of the amazing benefits Bebe offers to keep you looking and feeling sexy and sophisticated!"
The objective, according to Smith, is "more effective messaging to a less sophisticated demographic on a more complex topic - benefits."
When creating a benefits guide, "you have to keep in mind the mindset of your associates," he says. "Why go through the process of printing a book when 90% of associates are Gen Ys?" Bebe's guide is available online and on CD Rom.
Not all of the company's employees are tech-savvy, Smith notes, "but from culture standpoint, it's important for processes to become more streamlined, to do it on the Web. The challenge is communicating the same message the same way to hundreds of [retail] locations."
Not everything has been done at once, he added. "We layer this. You can't just throw the switch and go totally 'e.' We try different methods until we find something that sticks."
Open enrollment experts
As a health benefits and wellness provider, Humana Inc. has extensive expertise in the open enrollment process. Humana used that expertise to win the i-COMM Award for Most Innovative Benefits Offering or Internal Company Initiative for its own open enrollment campaign.
The award-winning multifaceted effort for Humana's approximately 28,000 employees gave the company "the opportunity to live what we do with our customers externally," to show clients what a good campaign can look like, says Brian K. Moore, HR communications consultant.
While many organizations have open enrollment in the fall, Humana's own open enrollment period is in May, when "it's not quite as busy," Moore says.
This year the campaign was launched electronically in early April because a survey found that employees wanted more time to consider their options.
"We did a number of things to reinforce the message. We didn't want to just release it and go silent for the next six weeks. We used that six-week period that preceded the launch," Moore says. "As we led up to open enrollment, we sent out e-mails that drove readers back to specific information on the Web site. One week, for example, there was an e-mail about budgeting health care claims, another e-mail was about personal wellness."
Seven personalized benefits scenarios were published on the company's intranet site so an employee could "browse over them and find one" related to his or her situation, Moore says. The company also publicized "real stories about how associates improved their health and well-being."
While many companies "will publish a booklet or catalog that's 40 pages long, we don't do paper," Moore says. Humana does have MOCHA (More Opens and Choices for Humana Associates) Matters Guides available electronically.
"In the past, we published five or six [guides] on a wide range of topics. This year we decided to break out MOCHA Matters Guides to be more focused on specific topics. We published 23 guides on the Associates Center Web site," he says.
Humana uses the high-touch approach as well as the high-tech approach to get the message out, according to HR Communications Director Elizabeth George. Guidance sessions are available to all employees, and the company has trained "MOCHA mentors" who volunteer to counsel others about the benefits program.
"If someone wants a more customized experience, a MOCHA mentor will sit down with them," she says. "We try to cater to all learning styles - if you want to read, if you need to interact, there is some method for you to get the information."
The results show that Humana's approach pays off, Moore says. "We were pleased to see this year that about 40% enrolled in the first week. That's an increase. It shows that associates were engaged, that it's easy to get online" to use the guide.
Interactive benefits guide
WebMD is an online media company with a We- savvy workforce, so Stephanie Olexson, senior director benefits/HR services, says the company decided to "leverage Web-based technology to deliver something that's really boring"- the annual enrollment guide.
"Nobody likes to read their benefit guide. We offer what we believe is an exceptional health care package, but if people don't know about that package, it's no good. That was a driving force for us," she says.
That drive to make the company's benefits program better understood and appreciated won New York-based WebMD the i-COMM Award for Best Web or Intranet Design and Usability.
WebMD took its detailed enrollment guide and "developed a distilled version that is 100% electronic and allows employees to click for further details," Olexson explains. "We wanted people to be more engaged about their benefits. We wanted to give them channels so they could do it quickly and make it interactive."
One major advantage to the electronic approach is that the company can get out information quickly to its 1,400 employees. Another is that "we can make revisions at a moment's notice," Olexson says.
WebMD continually tweaks the program, looking for new ways to educate and engage its workforce. The key to success, according to Olexson, is getting feedback from employees. "Sometimes you're so close to it, you can't see what you're not delivering. You want informal as well as formal feedback on how well you're doing communicating your program."
Spreading the regulatory word
Chief Compliance Officer Trish Neely's challenge is getting complex regulatory information out to benefits administrator FBMC's 320 employees, including about 35 people who work off-site.
The solution is FBMC's quarterly newsletter, which won the i-COMM Award for Best Training Program.
FBMC's newsletter began almost a decade ago as a service for clients of the Tallahassee, Fla.,-based firm.
"They started saying what an excellent tool it was, so we started using it for our internal staff as well. So it's not just to educate benefits professionals who are external, it's also training for our internal staff, who are benefits professionals by the nature of their work," Neely says.
The newsletter is available both in print and online. At any time an employee can have access to the newsletter, can reference it to stay up-to-date on changes made by the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor.
The newsletter is studded with explanations and definitions, so employees "can keep track of some of the jargon," she says. "We do not assume that they remember all the acronyms."
Neely says employees tell her they are thankful that the newsletter "gives them information at their fingertips, rather than having to go out and Google for it. It gives them what they need to do their jobs. It gives them tools in a place that's easily located to answer some important technical questions."
And with each newsletter comes an announcement about the next training session where Neely can go into greater detail. These sessions are especially good for managers who "can use it to revise their operational procedures," she says.
Sometimes staff members from remote sites are able to attend in person. If not, they can take part by teleconference. "We have not yet set up as a teleweb. That's the next step."
Neely continually seeks out ways to improve the newsletter, surveying employees and getting the marketing team involved in the process.
"Employees and clients have asked that we break up the text so that it's an easier read," she says. The content needs to be technical, but "we made it a little more enjoyable to read." -E.B.N.
Stephenie Overman is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Va., and author of the book, "Next-Generation Wellness at Work."
EBN's 2009 i-COMM Award winners
Bebe
Best Print or e-Newsletter Design and Usability
Humana, Inc.
Most Innovative Benefits Offering or Internal Company Initiative
WebMD
Best Web or Intranet Design and Usability
FBMC
Best Training Program
