How often does someone in HR hear: “I didn’t know we had that”?
The benefit may have been available for months, perhaps even years. It might be sitting on the benefits platform, included in onboarding information and mentioned in an occasional email. But none of that necessarily means an employee has understood when it might actually be useful to them.
Sometimes the issue is simply the way we talk about benefits.
A scheme name tells someone what their employer offers, but framing the benefit around a real-life need helps employees see what it could actually do for them, particularly when it becomes relevant to their circumstances.
So how can you make that shift in practice?
Most HR and reward teams naturally think in benefit categories: pensions, health and wellbeing, salary sacrifice, discounts, financial protection and lifestyle benefits.
Employees are more likely to be thinking about what’s going on in their day-to-day lives. Their train fare has gone up again. The school holidays are approaching. Household costs are mounting. They are worried about their health or finances. They would love a little more time away from work.
Those moments give you a much more relatable starting point for benefits communications.
Even a small change in wording can make the benefit feel more relevant. For example:
Instead of: “Our Cycle to Work scheme is now open.”
Try: “Could you make your commute cheaper and more active?”
Instead of: “Don’t forget about holiday trading.”
Try: “Would a few extra days off make this year easier?”
Instead of: “Explore our employee discount scheme.”
Try: “Could you cut the cost of your weekly shop or next family day out?”
Instead of: “Find out more about our financial wellbeing benefits.”
Try: “Looking for ways to make your money stretch further?”
None of these change the benefit itself. They simply give the employee a reason to stop and think: that could actually be useful to me.
The next step is to look beyond the mechanics of the scheme.
Employees will still need to know eligibility rules, contribution levels, deadlines and terms. But those details make more sense once someone understands why the benefit could matter.
Holiday trading, for example, lets employees buy or sell annual leave. In practical terms, that could mean more time with children during the school holidays, an extended trip or simply some extra breathing space during a busy year.
Cycle to Work offers a tax-efficient way to access a bike and equipment. For the employee, the attraction might be reducing commuting costs, becoming more active or avoiding an unreliable journey by car or public transport.
The same principle applies across a benefits package. Translate the scheme into the outcome or experience it could support.
Relevance changes. Someone who scrolls straight past a message about holiday trading in January may be very interested once they start thinking about summer childcare. Financial education may suddenly matter when mortgage costs change. A health benefit that once felt unnecessary might become important after a change in circumstances.
That is why benefits communication needs more than a launch campaign.
Think about the natural points throughout the year when different benefits could become useful, and give employees opportunities to rediscover what is already available.
This doesn't mean bombarding everyone with every message. This is where technology can play a useful role, giving HR and reward teams more control over who sees what.
FlexGenius, for example, includes built-in employee communications tools that allow organisations to target messages by team, location, role or demographic, and publish them through the same platform employees use to access their benefits. Engagement reporting can then help HR teams understand what is landing well and where communications may need adjusting.
Relevance will only get you so far if an employee then has to search through an old email, hunt around an intranet or work out which provider runs the scheme.
Benefits communication works best when the message and the route into the benefit sit close together. It also helps if employees do not have to jump between different places to understand and access their benefits. FlexGenius brings benefits, communications and supporting information together in one platform, so employees can see what is available, understand their options and take the next step from the same place.
That accessibility can be particularly important for employees who are not sitting in front of a company laptop every day.
At building materials manufacturer Knauf, Rachel Chester, Reward and Benefits Manager, says: “FlexGenius has completely transformed how we manage and communicate our employee benefits. The fully branded, intuitive platform made it easy for our diverse workforce to access and understand their options, even for plant-based employees using personal devices.”
For many employers, the answer is not necessarily adding more benefits. It is helping people recognise more of the value in the package they already have.
That starts with communication that feels connected to real life.
Before sending your next benefits message, ask yourself one simple question: if I were the employee reading this, would I immediately understand when or why this could be useful to me?
If the answer is no, go back to the benefit and translate it.
Start with the moment in someone’s life. Explain what the benefit could help them do. Then make it as easy as possible for them to find out more and act.
When people can see more clearly what a benefit could mean for them, they are far more likely to recognise the value already sitting within their benefits package and engage with what’s available.
FlexGenius gives HR and people teams a suite of employee communication tools built inside your benefits portal. From targeted announcements and rich content to surveys and pulse checks, everything sits in one place, so your messages reach the right people at the right time.