With these changes, what has been the role of benefits professionals? This has been a topic of discussion among members of WorldatWork's Benefits Advisory Council, especially as many team members have recently, and in past years, have first-hand experience with organizational changes.
In a 2016 workspan article, the topic of change management, communications, and the role of benefits professionals was discussed as three members of the Benefits Advisory Council shared their perspectives and real world insights to help fellow benefits professionals become more effective as change agents.
One common thread weaves through their experiences. Successful change management depends on effective communications at every stage. Whether it’s changes in benefits plan designs, vendor consolidation, harmonization of benefit plans, or an overall change in approach to benefits delivery, one key item that continually keeps coming up in the conversation is the important role of communications in organizational changes. Two companies can experience the same change, and, yet have totally different outcomes. Why? Often times, the outcomes are different, due to each company’s approach to communications.
According to Sabrina Davison, Vice President, Health & Welfare Benefits, Comcast, NBCUniversal, “the company’s goal is to develop communications and deploy them in ways that are accessible, meaningful, relevant and, most importantly, actionable.” At Comcast, their entire benefits model centers around the “employee experience,” and demonstrating how benefits can fit into the everyday lives of employees.
Comcast takes a product-marketing approach to benefits communications, using employee personas, to communicate benefits in a way that will resonate with different workforce segments. Using relevant and more targeted and personalized communications, they have shifted to a value-led approach with all of their communications, helping employees recognize the link between better user experiences and better outcomes when it comes to their benefits.
According to Jennifer Benz, CEO and Founder, Benz Communications, “what matters is how the change communication is done and whether employees trust that you understand their concerns and are being transparent.” One of the first steps is to communicate about benefits throughout the year, not just when there’s a big change coming.
According to Jennifer, organizations that struggle with change don’t communicate frequently, and, often in uncertain times, companies stop communicating all together! Especially in times of uncertainty, it is critical to be proactive in your communications. Communication builds trust even when you may not have all the details. In the article, Jennifer suggests several steps to take to maintain employee trust when managing a change in benefits.
Pascale Thomas, President, Thomas Wellspring LLC believes that, without visible support from company leadership, the work of change agents is an uphill battle. Describing in the article a recent enterprise-wide transformation initiative she led, Pascale addresses a traditional, privately held organization’s rapid growth through acquisitions, and the decisions that were needed regarding the outsourcing of the benefits operation.
Benefits, which was part of Finance, had not positioned itself as a strategic business partner, and the benefits processes were decentralized, paper-based, and managed in-house within an obsolete systems infrastructure.
With limited resources and the directive to maintain the employee value proposition (EVP) and preserve the culture throughout the change management initiative, Pascale took the following four initial steps in order to recommend the appropriate course of action:
- Assess and document all current processes
- Find common ground among key stakeholders
- Build a business case for change
- Evaluate a variety of options
- “As we pulled the business case together, we recognized the need to do a lot of selling internally. We positioned the transformation as the next-level evolution and never disparaged the past,” Pascale remarked.
When it comes managing changes to employee benefits, members of the Benefits Advisory Council offer the following tips:
- Allow sufficient time for strategy and planning. Some successful case studies took as long as 18 months from initial planning to rollout.
- Put benefits changes in context of the whole organization. For example, benefits cost cuts are more acceptable to employees if the company is struggling.
- Know your audience by developing personas of types of workers, considering such factors as age, income and type of work performed. There is no such thing as an average employee.
- Consider using employees to champion changes in your organization’s benefits package. They can be the most effective advocates.
- Promote any change as the next-level evolution. Do not disparage the past.
- Assimilate vendors’ employees into your organization’s culture and values. They are vital members of the team.
- Maintain regular communications with decision makers as structures are being built and processes refined.
- Communicate with employees about benefits year-round, not just during open enrollment. This can boost participation and make change seem part of a natural process.
- Be proactive in communications, especially during times of uncertainty.
Lenny Sanicola, Senior Practice Leader, WorldatWork
