When Benefits Go Unused:
Why Communication, Not Coverage, Might Be Your Real Problem
As an employer, you may have invested in comprehensive employee benefits like healthcare plans, retirement funds or consulting, and funeral cover benefits, only to find out that barely half your team even knows how to use them.
It’s a norm many South African businesses face, and the real issue isn’t always the benefits themselves but internal communication (or rather, a lack of it). Here’s how to rethink it and fix it:
The Awareness Gap in Business
Your employees may feel uncertain or simply uninformed about their company benefits. For example, Sanlam’s Benchmark 2022 survey found that only 48% of survey responders/employees understood the tax impact of withdrawing their retirement savings. This highlights a wider disconnect between benefits and real-world understanding.
So, what’s the cost of poor or limited communication?
- Low take-up of valuable services like medical aid or gap cover
- Higher rates of absenteeism
- Higher employee turnover
- Increased financial stress among staff
- Wasted company investment in employee benefits
- Staff disengagement
It’s important to note that employees can’t value what they don’t understand. And when they don’t feel valued or protected themselves, they leave.
Ways to Boost Benefit Communication
To truly fix this gap, you will have to think a little bigger than internal HR mailers. As an employer, it’s about meeting employees where they are in different languages, formats, and timing that makes sense. Here are some ideas on how to do it practically:
- WhatsApp Mini Guide
South Africa has millions of active WhatsApp users across industries and salary bands, so why not use the platform wisely? Short, friendly reminders with quick links to PDFs, videos, or short FAQs can work wonders to boost awareness. Keep the language simple, include voice notes and graphics and space our messages weekly or monthly.
Example: “Need to see a doctor after hours? Here’s what to do with your medical plan.”
- Multilingual Resources
If your current benefits communication is English-only and formal (corporate speak), you may be losing a large section of your employee base, so assess whether another format is needed. Offer simple, translated benefits summaries in major languages like Zulu, Afrikaans, or any other dominant languages in your workforce. Concrete benefits are easier to understand than policy wording.
Example: “This benefit saves you R3000 in a medical emergency for only R150pm”
- Quick Explainer Videos
Create 30-second to 1-minute-long videos explaining how each benefit works, especially for medical aid, pension contributions, or fund consulting. These videos can be sent via WhatsApp, email, or played during staff meetings. Don’t be too corporate. Instead, explain one key benefit, employees share how they used a service, and if you have a creative team in-house, animated infographics showing people how to claim.
- Share Real Stories
Instead of sending technical sheets or infographics, show real stories of employees using benefits at the company. People relate to stories more than policies that often get ignored.
Example: “How Thandi feels safe and protected with her funeral cover plan.”
- Regular Benefits Workshops
Don’t wait for annual onboarding. Host quarterly refreshers – either virtually or onsite – after adding or adjusting any of your employee benefits. A once-off session isn’t enough. People often forget, and life circumstances change.
Example: 20-minute ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions where employees can ask questions on benefits. These sessions can also be themed each time—e.g., “Planning for your Retirement”.
- Peer Champions
Train and empower a few employees in each department to be “benefits champions”, someone colleagues can casually ask. At times, unsure employees don’t feel comfortable going to HR or management to ask about their plans, either because of time or simply because they don’t want to look uninformed. Peer champions can break down information into every day, casual language, making it more accessible.
The Business Case for Better Communication
When employees understand their benefits, retention improves, absenteeism drops, financial stress reduces, and there is increased engagement. In South Africa, where healthcare access, financial security, and mental wellness are serious challenges, clear benefits communication is not just a “nice to have”—it’s essential.
The biggest lesson here is that if employees aren’t using their benefits, a redesign is not the answer. A redesign and relook at the communication? Always! At Leap, we help organisations craft smarter and more tailored employee benefit strategies because good benefits only work when people know how to use them, and they’re tied into company specifics and lifestyles.
Want to find out how we can help your team leap forward? Get in touch today!