As she hangs up the phone, Human Resources Director Alexis Rayes knows that Riverside Resorts needs to dedicate some renewed efforts to communicating about employee benefits. The second employee this month has called her directly to complain about not being able to change his contributions to his Flexible Savings Account (FSA). All employees should know that these changes can only be made during the open enrollment period. This call has confirmed to her that not all employees read the communication about the FSA benefit. And Alexis is pretty sure that the FSA is only one of several benefits that employees do not fully understand.

Riverside Resorts has grown quickly since the first location opened its doors more than 10 years ago. Four more resort locations were added after the company's first year, and Alexis was hired at that point to establish human resource management practices including a generous employee benefits package. Two years ago, the company doubled in size when they bought out a competitor. Now with more than 1,500 employees in two states, each of the company's 10 resort locations has more than 100 full-time employees working in roles such as front-desk operations, dining room services, and hotel maintenance.

Like many companies in the hospitality industry, Riverside has a relatively high employee turnover rate, and Alexis knows that a good understanding of the generous employee benefits package offered by the company should positively impact employee retention. However, the company's most recent benefits utilization report highlights the fact that employees are not taking advantage of all of the benefits offered. There are several optional benefits such as the company 401(k) plan that are not utilized by all employees. Her suspicion is that employees may not know about all of the benefits or if they do know, they may not have a full understanding of benefit options.

When the company was smaller with only five resort locations, Alexis visited each location during the annual benefits enrollment period and held information sessions to go over the benefits options and answer questions. But as the organization grew, she found she did not have time to visit all of the locations. Instead, she set up a website portal with enrollment forms and details about the company's benefits offerings. Prior to the open enrollment period, she sends all employees a message with a reminder to visit the portal.

Alexis also believes it would be valuable to provide employees an opportunity to share with others across the company their experiences with different benefits options. For example, last year, they rolled out a new Health Savings Account (HSA) option, but only a couple of the resort locations have a high number of employees who enrolled in the program. She has heard from General Managers that some employees at low-enrollment locations don't understand if the HSA option would be good for them, and so they stay with the plan they already have. Alexis is convinced if there was a way for employees to ask each other questions, then enrollment might increase in this attractive new option.

The annual benefits enrollment period is just a few months away. Alexis has decided that she needs to discuss the communication plan with her team. She is fortunate to have several employees in the human resource department who have previously worked in resort locations. She is sure they will provide her with some helpful insights on how to improve the company's benefits communication plan.

 

Questions - Please do not use AI to answer these questions. 

 

1. Why is it important for Riverside Resorts to improve their employee benefits communication?

2. What should Alexis do to improve the company's benefits communications?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Importance of Improving Employee Benefits Communication Employee benefits are a significant part of the overall compensation package and contribute ... View the full answer