Communicating information to employees is always an issue for organizations. But when that information is total rewards, it’s a bigger issue.
“Compensation and other rewards represent a significant investment for organizations,” said Sharon Vanderwerff, a principal with Mercer, speaking Wednesday at the firm’s Compensation Planning breakfast seminar. But a big challenge, she continued, is getting employees to understand and appreciate the true value of these rewards.
The problem is fighting for employees’ understanding and appreciation in a “noisy world,” Vanderwerff said. “Organizations face aggressive competition for employees’ attention. Emerging technology, social media and the Internet create noise. And it’s only going to get louder. Adults have short attention spans. If we want people to pay attention, we really have to show them numbers in a way that matters and is engaging.”
People even access information differently now (i.e., through smartphones, laptops and tablets). This means HR has to set up total rewards communication in a way that is both important and accessible to employees, said Vanderwerff. “How can we make total rewards one of those icons on people’s smartphones?”
Responsive design
Although HR has traditionally has used the static online rewards website, it’s more content-driven versus numbers-focused, said Vanderwerff. “It’s not built from the employee’s point of view.”
“Responsive design,” on the other hand, can alleviate the single-device (i.e., computer) issue. For example, a mini portal can resize depending on the device (e.g., tablet, smartphone) the employee is using.
Although not new in the technology world, responsive design is new to HR, Vanderwerff said. And it makes sense for disseminating HR information. According to a Google survey earlier this year, 56% of Canadians use a smartphone, and 55% use a mobile device—whether phone or tablet—to access the Internet. And a report by Media Technology Monitor indicates that 26% of Canadians had a tablet as of last fall, more than double the number from the year before. On the business side, 30% of North American companies are already giving employees a tablet, and three-quarters are working to support tablet use by employees.
Current trending shows that by 2015, more than 50% of data will be accessed by Canadians using smartphones and tablets, she said. “Web design has to keep pace with this shift.”
The next version of design, called mobile first, creates the view for the smartphone rather than the laptop, said Vanderwerff. Designing with mobile first keeps stacking information and allows for more interactivity—more scrolling and touch screens, more clicking and dragging modelling tools. “You focus on what people really want to see, which is the numbers. Everything you want is right there, and you get a deeper dive into content and interactivity.”
Organizations need to tell their stories and deliver them in ways that are personal, meaningful and accessible to employees across all generations, said Vanderwerff. “This next generation of online total rewards allows us to tell that dynamic and integrated story, to personalize the view and to have the flexibility to deliver that story on a device-agnostic basis.”
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