Explanation of benefit integration and how it can be achieved
Description of the various tools, incuding a mobile application which serve as benefit knowledge points
Case studies detailing how integration trumps communication
Impact on benefit integration on employee engagement
Albert Einstein once said "Intelligence is not the ability to store information, but to know where to find it". In the HR industry, we can apply this same concept to benefit knowledge. The current way in which benefits are communicated within the industry is largely unsuccessful because employees are provided with an overwhelming amount of benefit information at orientation and are then expected to retain it. Furthermore, when an employee has a benefit question, they have difficulty finding the information since they are directed to different vendors for each issue or concern. The result is that employees utilize inconsistent means of accessing their benefit package as a whole.
Benefit integration is a new tool that HR can use to help employees consistently find their benefit information. Benefit integration is the coordination of any combination of employee benefits that were previously separate, in a way that synergistically monitors, manages, and fosters cooperation between benefits. With benefit integration, there is a single knowledge point where employees can access information on all of their benefits. Instead of communicating detailed information on each benefit, integration enables HR to provide an overview of available benefits and then simply communicate the knowledge point. In this case, employees do not have to retain information on all benefits, instead they only have to remember how to access the single knowledge point and then all of their benefit information is at their fingertips.
Integration is a better way of connecting employees to their benefit package and provides HR with an additional tool to communicate benefits. With integration, HR will not have to spend all their time communicating benefits; they can instead focus on managing human capital. Integration also allows for a more focused and productive on-boarding process for new hires. Instead of taking a full day to orient employees to their benefit package, time is better spent ensuring the employee understands the values and culture of the organization, their role within the organization and has the tools to successfully execute their job.
