5 ways to make your benefits investment count

More benefits should mean more value for employees. Right?

Well, here’s something interesting.

Our latest research at Benifex found that 64% of employers expanded their benefits offering in the past year. Yet 51% of employees still struggle to access and understand the full value of their benefits.

That’s a lot of investment that employees may be missing out on.

So, what’s going wrong?

Even the best benefits package can fall short if employees don’t know what’s available, can’t easily access it, or don’t realize how it could help them.

We’ve identified five things that need to happen for benefits to make a real difference to employees and deliver value for your organization.

1. Visibility: Do employees actually know what’s available?

Think about how you communicate benefits today.

Maybe there’s a big announcement during open enrollment. A few emails during onboarding. Perhaps a reminder here and there.

But six months later, how much of that information do employees remember?

And when benefits are spread across multiple providers, portals, and systems, finding what’s available gets even harder.

The opportunity: Give employees one clear place to see their benefits, and keep the conversation going throughout the year. Regular reminders can make a big difference.

2. Accessibility: How easy is it to get started?

An employee finds a benefit that could really help them. Great!

Now they need to find the right website, remember their login, work out how to register, and figure out what happens next.

How many steps before they give up?

Making benefits easier to access could mean bringing everything into one place, simplifying the process, or providing extra guidance through employee communications and information sessions.

And when someone is dealing with financial worries or a health issue, making support easy to access matters even more.

3. Relevance: Does it feel useful to them?

What matters to someone starting their career may be very different from what matters to a working parent, someone caring for an older relative, or an employee approaching retirement.

And those needs will change over time.

Yet many organizations still communicate the same benefits, in the same way, to everyone.

The opportunity: Help people find the benefits that are relevant to their circumstances, wherever they are in their career or stage of life.

When employees can see how a benefit applies to them personally, they’re more likely to pay attention and use it.

4. Timing: Are you reaching people when it matters?

Timing can change everything.

Financial wellbeing support can be much more valuable before money worries become a serious problem.

The same goes for healthcare and wellbeing benefits. Helping someone access support early can make a meaningful difference to their experience and outcomes.

So, how can you make sure employees hear about the right support at the right time?

Think beyond annual enrollment. Timely reminders, relevant communications, and easy access to information can help employees take action when they need it most.

5. Engagement: Are employees taking the next step?

An employee opens an email about a benefit. That’s encouraging.

But did they do anything next?

Did they visit the benefits platform? Sign up for support? Book an appointment? Actually use the benefit?

These are the actions that matter.

And with the right technology, you can start to understand where people are engaging, what they’re looking for, and where they might be getting stuck.

That information can help HR teams make smarter decisions about future investment and build a clearer picture of the return they’re getting.

So, how do you bring it all together?

Here’s the challenge. All five conditions need to work together.

Employees need to know what’s available, be able to access it, see how it’s relevant, find it at the right moment, and feel confident taking action.

And making that happen consistently across different locations, employee groups, and benefits providers isn’t always easy.

That’s where benefits technology can make a real difference.

A connected benefits platform can bring everything together, helping employees find and use the support that’s right for them, while giving HR teams better insight into what’s working.

Because when you’re investing in employee benefits, you want to know that investment is reaching people and making a difference.

Want to see what that could look like for your organization?

Read our Benefits Greenhouse report to explore how benefits technology can help connect your investment to employee action and better business outcomes.