Healthcare: communication helps retain top workers.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: BusinessBRIEFS

How well a company communicates the value of its health benefits can do more to retain top-performing employees than the actual richness of the benefits themselves, according to a new analysis by Watson Wyatt, the human capital consulting firm. Additionally, companies that cannot hold their healthcare budgets down as a share of total compensation have higher turnover rates for top performers.

In its analysis, Watson Wyatt found that, among employers that offer rich benefits but have poor communication strategies, the average turnover rate of top-performers is 17 percent. Among employers that offer less costly benefits but have effective communication strategies, the average turnover rate falls to 12 percent for top performers. Supplementing rich benefit programs with effective communication practices yields employers an even lower average turnover rate of only 8 percent.

These findings correspond with the results of Watson Wyatt's WorkUSA[R] 2004 study. Only 22 percent of surveyed employees at organizations that poorly communicate the value of their rich benefit programs are satisfied with their benefit package. Conversely, 76 percent of employees at organizations that effectively communicate the value of less rich benefit packages are satisfied. The effectiveness of...