How Can Employee Benefits Play a Role in Corporate Branding?

The majority of employers create and manage an employee benefits program in order to attract and retain top talent.  While comparing its peers or other benchmarks, an employer typically builds a competitive and robust benefits program to entice prospective employees and perhaps offers quality medical and dental insurance, a matching 401(k) plan, life and disability insurance plans, wellness benefits, and other miscellaneous perks. But some of these employers might be missing a great opportunity to utilize employee benefit design and communication to improve its culture, employee engagement, loyalty, and ultimately, its brand.

The importance of engaged employees.

What is an "engaged employee"?  Wikipedia states it is "one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests".  When we think of ideal employees, these folks are fully engaged.

How important is it to have engaged employees in building a strong corporate brand?  "One of the most powerful brand assets your company has is your people", says William Arruda in his Forbes article, Three Steps For Transforming Employees Into Brand Ambassadors.  He also references the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer stating “Employees rank higher in public trust than a firm’s PR department, CEO, or Founder. 41% of us believe that employees are the most credible source of information regarding their business.” 

Financially driven?  Arruda also cites a Gallup study revealing that “companies with high employee engagement levels have 3.9 times the earnings per share when compared to those in the same industry with lower engagement levels.”

Tying employee benefits to engagement and branding.

According to MetLife's recent study on benefit trends, employees who are very satisfied with their benefits are almost four times more likely to be very satisfied with their jobs.  Further, almost 70% of employees with a comprehensive benefits program would recommend their place of employment (versus 46% with less benefits).

In SHRM/Ranstad's Employee Engagement: Your Competitive Advantage, the executive briefing states "benefits that are perceived as fair and competitive will motivate employees to be more committed because the organization is signaling its own commitment to them."

Using employee benefits to help build your corporate brand.

Below are four examples where employee benefits can play a role in helping build and improve your company's brand, and the hope is that this will trigger additional thoughts and ideas unique to your organization:

• Core values - what are your company's core values and are your employees aware of them?  Are the core values of your business communicated and demonstrated through your employee benefit program and communications?  With the time and money spent in developing these values that are vital to keeping an organization focused on its mission, there is a great opportunity to connect or reconnect your firm's values with its benefits program.
• Wellness - beyond the biometric events and health risk assessments, wellness is about cultivating a healthy office environment.  Whether its starting a walking challenge, offering healthier snacks in the workplace, or promoting a health fair, make sure to brand it!  For instance, retailer Zappos, often admired for its wellness program, has initiatives like "Wellness Adventures" and "Recess Tuesdays" to keep employees energized and engaged.  What fun and creative event can your company brand?
• Employee communication - use a variety of medians to help educate employees on benefit offerings and news -- group meetings, email, employee portal, social sites, booklets -- in order to better connect with employees at different life stages (from millennials to baby boomers).  Work with your benefits broker to maintain steady communication throughout the year, and not just around open enrollment.  Crafting a "Did you know?", health tips, and/or alerts about upcoming wellness events are quick and engaging.
• "We love you" opportunity - this is why we spend so much time, energy and money on employee benefits, right?  Enhance your return on investment in your employees and the company's benefit program by expressing the company's appreciation to its staff whenever the opportunity presents itself.  

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​Design a benefits/perk program that caters to your folks, and lets them know your company is willing to go the extra mile for them.  They will appreciate it, and so will your bottom line.