October 31, 2023

Addressing health and well-being benefits literacy, implementing tailored communication approaches and ensuring that employees feel seen and represented in their benefits promotes engagement and can have a significantly positive impact on inclusion.

1 | Enable employees and their family members to find, understand and engage in benefits that support their health and well-being.

• Health and benefits literacy: Foster health and benefits literacy at an organizational and individual level. To enable employees to make well-informed decisions, follow leading practices for health literacy, such as:
• Using conversational, plain people-first language and an active voice;
• Sharing the most important piece of information first;
• Communicating actionable next steps; and
• Ensuring that communication channels are selected based on the audience.

Employers are also uniquely positioned to promote benefits literacy by providing educational resources and tools that explain benefits basics, such as the meaning of terms like deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum in the U.S. Globally, modifying communication to meet local terminology (e.g., health cover) and cultural norms is a critical component to effective efforts.

To learn more about health literacy, visit HHS’ Health Literacy website and/or listen to Business Group on Health’s podcast episode: Why the Message and Messenger Matter.

2 | Use trusted communication sources and context appropriate for people experiencing inequities.

• Trusted messengers: Partner with internal and external leaders who are trusted sources for various employee populations to share important health and benefits information. Generally, individuals prefer hearing information from people who look like them, share their lived experiences and speak their language. This approach can be particularly effective for global organizations seeking to engage employees across multiple countries and cultures.
• Testimonials: Integrate lived experiences into communications and events to amplify the voices of marginalized individuals and engage communities.
• Culturally relevant communications: Tailor resources and outreach to specific populations to ensure that employees facing disparities receive the information they need in an inclusive manner. Consider using omnichannel communications (where different communications channels, such as email, chat, intranet pages and engagement platforms, integrate to provide a seamless employee experience) and evaluate which types of communication are preferred by different employee groups. Also, collect feedback on communication preferences using surveys and focus groups to demonstrate company commitment to engaging employees sincerely and authentically. Lastly, when health and wellbeing vendors/partners send employee communications, employers can request metrics on target audience engagement and outcomes achieved to evaluate effectiveness.
• Well-being champions: Take steps to ensure well-being champions represent the diversity of their workforce, are trained in DEIB and promote health equity priorities.

3 | Partner with ERGs to improve benefits and engagement.

• Employee feedback: Solicit feedback from ERGs through surveys, focus groups and/or regular meetings to better understand the needs and experiences of various employee populations. Employers may also consider utilizing ERGs as a means for pilot testing new health equity-focused interventions/ programs to obtain buy in and ensure the intended outcomes are met before rolling out across the organization.
• Communications reviews: Invite ERG leaders to review resources, tools and messages before disseminating them to ensure that the language and communication channels used are accessible and meaningful to the intended audience. Establishing regular feedback loops to improve the language until it meets the DEIB standards can provide a reliable mechanism to promote inclusive communication.
• Co-hosted events: Collaborate with ERGs to co-host events that elevate health topics and how they uniquely impact various populations. ERGs often represent specific cultural, ethnic, or identity-based communities within the organization, so employers can consider collaborating with ERGs to plan cultural celebration events, such as heritage months, festivals or awareness days, to showcase the richness of diverse backgrounds.

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Resource Health Equity