Synopsys Receives P&I’s 2018 Excellence and Innovation Award

Attracting and retaining talent is key to a business’s success. To stand out, it’s important to be open to trying new things and thinking outside the box. For Synopsys, a client we support on an ongoing basis, it was their interest in experimenting with new media formats that drove a successful award-winning communications campaign.

When Synopsys U.S. Benefits Manager Kerstin Aiello and her team noticed that recent acquisitions were shifting the demographics of their workforce, they wanted to ensure that new hires understand the fundamentals of retirement planning. Specifically, they sought to teach employees about the basics of their 401(k) plan. The information was already out there on the company’s website, but the real challenge was to engage employees in a way that didn’t feel like traditional education. This led us to design a brief, 8-question interactive quiz that was centered around the company’s 401(k) plan.

Synopsys knew that its mostly male, engineering-focused audience enjoys challenges that test their knowledge. And they anticipated that adding game design elements, such as earning a score on each correctly answered question, would motivate and trigger participation. The result was a quiz that was rooted in behavioral science—specifically gamification—with the objective of driving higher engagement.

Employees were encouraged to take the quiz within a 3-week period in the fall. Once they did,  they were entered into a raffle for a chance to win several modest prizes. Even without a significant incentive, more than 25% of Synopsys’ U.S. employees participated in the challenge by taking the quiz.

“Twenty-five percent of our employees took the 401(k) Quiz, which was a huge increase over similar campaigns we've done,” Kerstin recounted. “Benz really helped us deliver on this great new way to engage our workforce and connect them to their benefits.”

The results of the campaign were highly successful, driving a 46% increase in plan action, a 173% increase in fund exchanges, and a 190% increase in asset allocation mix changes. Additionally, the Synopsys recordkeeper measured increased activity and behavior change on their platform, as compared to the previous quarter. All in all, this was a huge team effort and an outstanding example of an organization embracing behavioral science and best practices in communication engagement—with exceptional results.

The 2018 Excellence and Innovation Awards, co-sponsored by P&I and the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association, honor efforts by plan executives to enhance the retirement security of participants.

We're proud to work with large employers who recognize the business value of engaging employees in benefits. If you want to learn more, contact us.