The Hidden Reason Your Team Isn’t Using Their Benefits and How to Fix It

You offer comprehensive health benefits. You’ve invested in employee wellness programs, perhaps even added mental health support or flexible work options. But do your employees know? And perhaps more importantly, do they care?

If your team isn’t engaging with your benefits — or doesn’t even know what’s available — you’re not alone. There’s a growing gap between what employers think they’re offering and what employees feel they’re getting.

Perception Problem

One survey revealed that 77 per cent of professionals say they’re not making full use of their workplace benefits, often because they don’t know what’s included or how to access it. Many also say they’re dissatisfied with their employer’s current benefits plan, with over a quarter perceiving the benefits as trivial and more geared towards attracting new hires than retaining existing staff. Also, only a third feel fully informed on how to maximize their benefits.

Another report found that only five per cent of Canadian employees consider employer-provided benefits as their primary resource for well-being support. About a quarter of them say they’re either unaware or uncertain if they have employer-provided benefits. Among those who do, nearly a quarter admit to not knowing much about their coverage.

What’s going wrong? In many cases, the benefits are there but the message isn’t getting through. They could be buried in onboarding documents, lost in emails, or never clearly explained.

The High Cost of Low Awareness

You might have the most comprehensive benefits plan in your industry, but if employees don’t understand or trust it, it might as well not exist. Ineffective communication can lead to the underutilization of benefits, erosion of trust in leadership, decreased workplace engagement and an impact on mental health and productivity.

Underutilized benefits represent a significant financial loss. Small businesses typically spend anywhere from $80 to $350 per employee per month on health benefits, including medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage. Depending on the level of coverage, this translates to about $960 to $4,200 per employee, per year. If these benefits aren’t used, employers are not only losing out on potential returns on investment but also missing opportunities to improve employee satisfaction and retention.

How Employers Can Bridge the Gap

Here are five strategies to improve benefits engagement:

• Integrate benefits into the organizational culture. Avoid relegating benefits information to a forgotten PDF. Discuss benefits during onboarding, regular check-ins, team meetings and performance reviews.
  
• Communicate in plain language. Use clear, relatable language. Share examples, FAQs, and success stories to make benefits feel accessible and relevant.
  
• Customize communications for your team. Customize your messaging to resonate with different demographics; for example, employees who are remote, on-site or hybrid, early-career, mid-career, parents or single.
  
• Make managers benefits advocates. Train your managers to understand and communicate benefit offerings. They often serve as the first point of contact and can help promote the full use of benefits.
  
• Gather and act on feedback. Conduct anonymous surveys to gauge employees’ awareness and utilization of benefits. Use this feedback to make informed adjustments, such as improving mental health support or highlighting underused perks.

Benefits Only Work When People Know About Them

Your benefits strategy is about what’s in your plan, but also about how you connect your people to it. We work with employers to design and refine plans that align with today’s workplace expectations.

Contact us today if you’re ready to build a benefits plan that your team values – and uses.

Suggested Reading

Maximizing Unused Mental Health Benefits in the Workplace

How to Bridge the Employee Benefits Knowledge Gap

Additional Resources

Benefits wasted – 77% don’t fully utilize workplace benefits