Closing the Gap in Employee Benefits Communication
Closing the Gap in Employee Benefits Communication
Employers invest considerable thought and resources into building competitive benefits programs. For brokers and benefits leaders, however, selecting the right resources is only the beginning. The larger challenge for decision makers is helping employees recognize, find, and use those benefits when a need arises.
This challenge is reflected in employer feedback. The 2026 HR Pulse Survey identified low utilization and low awareness among the leading challenges employers face with non-insured benefits. The findings also reinforce that open enrollment plays a role, but ongoing communication is needed to help employees understand and use what is available.
An employee may remember hearing about a resource but forget where to find it months later. Another may know a benefit exists but need guidance on where to begin. Low utilization does not always point to a lack of need. Awareness, access, and timing can also influence whether employees use an available resource.
The opportunity is not simply to communicate benefits. It is to make them easier to act on.
From Awareness to Access
Communication creates awareness. Access turns awareness into action.
A benefits message can remind an employee about a valuable resource, but its impact can fade if the next step involves searching through old emails, navigating multiple sources, or trying to remember where information lives.
Employees need a clear route from “I know this exists” to “I know where to go.”
For employers, this means looking beyond whether information was delivered and considering what happens next.
- Can employees easily reach the resource?
- Can they return to it later?
- Is important benefits information available when a need actually arises?
These questions matter because benefits rarely become relevant at the same moment employees first hear about them.
Keep Benefits Relevant Throughout the Year
An employee may learn about a resource during open enrollment and have no reason to use it at the time. Months later, a change in health, finances, family responsibilities, or everyday life can make the same resource much more relevant.
The benefit did not change. The employee’s circumstances did.
Ongoing employee benefits communication helps bridge this timing gap. It gives employers opportunities to bring existing resources back into view when employees may have a stronger reason to pay attention.
This does not mean promoting every benefit constantly. Communication becomes more effective when it is timely, relevant, and connected to a clear next step.
The goal is not more communication. It is communication with a reason to matter.
From Engagement to Business Value
When employees can more easily find and use their benefits, employers have a better opportunity to improve utilization, reinforce the value of their investment, and identify where communication or access may be limiting results.
The connection is straightforward:
Awareness → Access → Action
Communication keeps available resources visible. Easier access removes unnecessary friction. Ongoing engagement gives employees another opportunity to act when a need emerges.
Now, a more useful question for employers is:
Are employees able to connect with the benefits already in place?
Answering this question can help leaders distinguish between a resource with limited relevance and a valuable resource facing an engagement gap. It can also reveal where communication or access may need greater attention.
A Bigger Conversation for Brokers
For brokers, the engagement gap creates a broader advisory opportunity. The benefits conversation should not end once an employer decides what to offer. Brokers can also help clients evaluate how employees discover, access, and use those resources after implementation.
- Which resources may need greater visibility?
- Where do employees go when benefits questions arise?
- Is engagement concentrated around open enrollment?
- Can employees move easily from receiving a message to accessing a resource?
These questions expand the conversation from building the benefits strategy to helping it continue working effectively throughout the year.
Our Midyear Employee Benefits Strategy Check-In explores this broader advisory role. The article discusses how brokers can help employers interpret what may be driving utilization patterns and employee feedback, while also supporting benefits administration, technology guidance, and broader business needs.
For brokers, ongoing engagement creates another opportunity to provide value throughout the year, not only during renewal.
Bring Communication and Access Together
A stronger engagement strategy connects purposeful communication with an easy path to access.
An employee receiving a timely reminder should have a clear route to the resource being promoted. Fewer steps between awareness and access make it easier for employees to move forward when a need arises.
This is where New Benefits can help. Our technology platform brings benefits access, education, and communication into one digital experience, creating a clearer path to the information and resources employees need throughout the year.
The platform can also support ongoing communication through tools such as scheduled push notifications and benefit reminder emails. This gives employers a vehicle for connecting timely messages with a clear place for employees to take the next step.
Technology supports the strategy. Business value comes from making benefits easier to see, access, and act on.
Make Benefits Easier to Act On
Closing the communication gap does not require employers to promote every benefit constantly. It requires timely messages, a clear next step, and an easy way for employees to return when circumstances change.
For brokers, this creates an opportunity to extend the benefits conversation beyond selection and implementation. By helping clients connect communication, access, and ongoing engagement, brokers can strengthen the employee experience and reinforce the value of resources already in place.
See how New Benefits helps brokers connect benefits, communication, and employee access in one streamlined experience. Talk with our team.
