By Canoe Benefits
You offer a strong benefits package. You’ve invested in coverage, considered what employees need, and put real thought into what you provide. But when you look at utilization rates, something doesn’t add up. Employees aren’t using what’s available to them.
This isn’t uncommon. Across industries, benefits utilization sits lower than it should. Employees leave money on the table, skip preventive care, and don’t tap into resources that could genuinely help them. The problem isn’t that they don’t care. The problem is that they don’t understand.
The Gap Between Offering and Understanding
Employee benefits communication often assumes people know more than they do. Open enrollment emails get buried. Plan documents are dense and hard to navigate. Employees hear terms like “coinsurance,” “deductible,” and “out-of-pocket maximum” and tune out because it feels overwhelming.
When benefits aren’t clear, employees make assumptions. They assume coverage is worse than it is. They assume using their benefits will be complicated or expensive. They assume they’ll figure it out later, and then they don’t.
This gap shows up in a few predictable ways:
- Employees don’t know what’s covered or how to access it
- They avoid using benefits because they’re unsure what it will cost
- They don’t understand the difference between their options during open enrollment
- They miss deadlines or forget to enroll altogether
Common Communication Mistakes
Most organizations aren’t trying to confuse their employees. But a few patterns make employee benefits harder to understand than they need to be.
Talking once a year. Open enrollment is important, but it’s not enough. Employees need reminders throughout the year about what’s available, especially when life changes happen. A new baby, a health diagnosis, a spouse’s job loss. If benefits only come up once a year, they’re easy to forget.
Using industry language. Benefits professionals are fluent in terms that mean nothing to most employees. If your communication assumes everyone knows what a Health Spending Account or an Employee Assistance Program is, you’re losing people before they even start reading.
Overloading information. Sending a 20-page benefits guide doesn’t help if no one reads it. Employees need the essentials first. What’s covered, how to use it, and where to go if they have questions. Everything else is secondary.
Not making it personal. A generic benefits overview doesn’t resonate the way a real scenario does. Employees want to know what benefits mean for them. How does this help if I need therapy? What happens if my kid breaks their arm? How do I use my coverage if I’m traveling? Real examples make benefits easier to understand.
What Better Benefits Communication Looks Like
Improving how you talk about employee benefits doesn’t require a complete overhaul. It requires clarity, consistency, and a shift in how you think about what employees actually need to know.
1. Start with the basics.
Before you explain plan tiers or coverage details, make sure employees know the fundamentals. What’s included in their package, how to access it, and who to contact if they have questions. This sounds simple, but it’s often missed.
2. Use plain language.
If you wouldn’t say it in a conversation, don’t put it in a benefits email. Translate industry terms into everyday language. Instead of “utilization,” say “using your benefits.” Instead of “eligible dependents,” say “who in your family is covered.”
3. Communicate year-round.
Benefits communication shouldn’t disappear after open enrollment. Send reminders when it makes sense. Before the end of the year, when people might have unused Health Spending Account funds. At the start of summer, when families are thinking about vacations and travel coverage. When flu season starts and employees are wondering where to get vaccinated.
4. Make it easy to find.
Employees shouldn’t have to dig through old emails or hunt down documents to figure out their coverage. Centralize information somewhere accessible. A benefits portal, an intranet page, or a simple PDF they can save and reference. The easier it is to find, the more likely they are to use it.
5. Show them what it looks like in practice.
Scenarios help. Walk employees through what using their benefits actually looks like. If you offer an Employee Assistance Program, explain what calling that number involves. If you cover mental health services, break down how to find a provider and what employees can expect to pay. Real examples make abstract coverage feel usable.
Why This Matters
When employees don’t use their benefits, it’s not just a waste of what you’re offering. It affects their health, their financial security, and their perception of what you provide as an employer. It also affects retention. Employees who don’t understand or value their benefits are more likely to leave for what looks like a better offer somewhere else, even if what they already have is competitive.
Better benefits communication doesn’t just improve utilization. It builds trust, reduces confusion, and makes sure the investment you’re making in employee benefits actually supports the people you’re trying to help.
If your benefits aren’t being used the way they should be, the answer isn’t always to add more. Sometimes it’s about making what you already offer easier to understand.
Need help improving how you communicate benefits to your team? Connect with a Canoe Advisor to talk through what’s working and where there’s room to improve.