To paraphrase HR guru Puff Daddy, it's all about the bennies, or employee benefits, to keep your workers happy and loyal. And while most employees like to stay posted about every little perk they get, let's face it: Nothing makes people's eyes glaze over like doling out unabashed information about this year's health insurance plan and how it differs from last years. I've had jobs where, literally, the HR rep would dispense a script we were to read off to doctors and nurses and pharmacists. That's not exactly the best way to get that intel across, and HR blog TLNT has some handy insights into how you, as the HR person of a company, can get through and help encourage your employees respond.
For example, you shouldn't "make assumptions about preferences according to age or life stage… you can find people of all ages on sites like Facebook and Twitter." And the problem with intranets and Facebook and Twitter is you can't necessarily know for a fact that its intended recipients have seen the latest updates or even absorbed it. That's why TLNT suggests using a variety of communication channels (like the social media ones mentioned in this paragraph) and styles like visual, auditory, kinesthetic and whatever else you can cook up.
Another good tip -- there are four here, total -- is to personalize your communication. Essentially, it means you should make your emails "more impactful with real data and adding personalized cover letters to print materials." As Inc. Well contributor Melissa Flynn explored as recently as last week, if you really want to assure people read and respond your emails, the personal touch is usually best. Kick those mass one-size-fits-all emails to everyone aside. If you're gonna write a Dear John letter, that should only apply if that person's name is actually John. And it should be a friendly letter -- don't let someone go via email. That's just tacky.
Read the rest of the tips over at TLNT.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
