Press

Jennifer Benz is featured in the Employee Benefit News article “Looping them in” in the March 2009 print edition.

Benz discusses the importance of targeting communication to spouses and families who make up a large portion of health care costs. She also shares tips for making communication effective.

From the article:
“Benefit programs are really about how people manage their lives, and they impact very personal things like the health and finances of employees and their families,” concludes Benz, “so if you can help the families take better care of themselves, and that might just be simple ways to make the programs easier for them to use, they’re going to really appreciate that, and that’s going to translate into more trust and loyalty for the organization.”

“Looping them in”

Best Practices in Compensation and Benefits’ March 2009 print issue includes Jen’s article “Why You Should Maintain Your Investment in Benefits Communications During a Down Time.” The article is available now on Compensation.BLR.com and is part of February’s Compensation Ezine.

“Why You Should Maintain Your Investment in Benefits Communications During a Down Time”

Workforce’s December article “Social media begins forcing the totally transparent layoff” discusses how the “once-private process of giving pink slips is becoming increasingly public, whether a firm likes it or not.”

Benz is quoted about social media’s role in this shift:

The combination of social media technology such as Twitter—where people post updates about themselves online at Twitter.com—and a cultural shift toward greater personal disclosure means more and more employees will document details of their dismissal, said Jennifer Benz, a communications consultant based in San Francisco.

“It’s really forcing companies to be increasingly transparent with what they do,” she said. “There’s no ability for a company to control the message like they used to.”

“Social media begins forcing the totally transparent layoff”

Employee Benefit News recently published their November edition, including the feature article “Are you talking to me?” The article contains best practices for benefits communication, reminding employers that how you communicate is just as important as what you say.

Two trends that are emerging as effective tools to reach your audience are consumer marketing strategies and social media, according to the article. Jennifer Benz is quoted and was a resource for the information on social media and its advantages to employers.

The new technology tools available for social media allow employers to reach a large number of employees with relatively little effort. Employees can communicate with leadership or other employees to find answers to questions and know where to find specific information. Benz notes one thing to watch out for, however, is the need for the overall tone and message to remain professional.

While these new trends have their place, print materials are still an effective way to reach a target audience as well. Benz Communications’ work with Intuit on a wirebound book for employees containing investment information is cited by Employee Benefit News as one such example.

To read the complete article, visit Employee Benefit News .

“Are you talking to me?”