Committed to Growth: How to Ensure Employees (Actually) Take Advantage of Your Benefits 

Employee benefits have never been more competitive. From customizable perk packages to real wellness efforts, it’s easy for employees to feel valued by their employers. Yet, a recent study by Harvard Business Review, in partnership with League, revealed some startling statistics: 58% of employees are unaware of the benefits they’re eligible for, and 63% are unsure how to enroll in the perks they do know about.

This gap in benefits literacy is a major problem for employers. After all, you work hard to craft a benefits package you’re proud of, and you pay a considerable amount for it. So how can you close the benefits knowledge gap and ensure your employees are maximizing their benefits?

At BEON.tech, we faced this same challenge. Our culture and communications team approached it in a data-informed way. They created the “Committed to Grow” campaign, which boosted our software engineers’ engagement through tailored e-learning benefits.

In this post, I’ll share how we did it and what you and your team can learn from this approach.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Tracking and Analyzing Usage

We started by gathering data on how employees were interacting with our benefits. To do this, we ran quick pulse surveys through Polly and more in-depth forms to understand satisfaction and usage rates across different offerings. This helped us identify which benefits were underutilized and where to focus our efforts.

Step 2: Crafting the “Committed to Grow” Campaign

One benefit that stood out as particularly underused was our training courses and development offering, including unlimited access to Udemy, O’Reilly, and Pluralsight and Certification Sponsorship for courses on other platforms that align with our employees’ career goals. In response, we launched the “Committed to Grow” campaign. The goal? To make our employees more aware of the valuable learning opportunities and drive up usage.

But hold up—why prioritize this benefit over others? Well, let’s face it: In the fast-paced world of IT, standing still is basically moving backward. Software engineers constantly seek to upskill and refine their knowledge to remain competitive and lead in their fields. At BEON.tech, we’re committed to being the hub where top talent not only thrives but excels. That’s why we focused on promoting our training benefits—empowering our team to grow, learn, and become the best in the industry.

Let’s see how.

Stage One: Tailored Course Recommendations

We began by curating a list of courses with our top-tier talent BEONers tailored to the technologies our software engineers work with daily. For example, an engineer specializing in front-end development might receive a course recommendation on the latest JavaScript frameworks. 

From there, we created targeted email campaigns that delivered these course recommendations directly to the engineers who needed them most. But we didn’t stop at email. We also used Slack’s interactive features, like Canvases, to share these recommendations in a more engaging, gamified way.

Stage Two: Personalized Learning Paths

In the next stage, we teamed up with our exceptional Talent Experience Managers (TEMs) to create even more personalized campaigns. After each performance review, our TEMs identified opportunities for engineers to strengthen their technical skills. We then built Slack workflows to automate the process, sending customized course recommendations through a bot aligned with the engineers’ goals from the reviews. This also reminded them that they could access these courses with our fantastic e-learning benefits.

Results: Exponential Growth in Engagement

The results were astounding. After the first stage of the “Committed to Grow” campaign, we saw a 212% increase in the usage of our training benefit by the third quarter. Engineers were actively requesting more courses, and engagement with this benefit surged.

How Can You Create a “Committed to Grow” Campaign?

Do you face similar challenges with benefit adoption? Here’s your simple playbook to follow:

1. Measure the gap – Start by measuring which benefits aren’t being used.
2. Is it a business or employee non-starter? – Is the underutilized benefit important to your business or employees? If not, consider cutting or modifying the benefit. Focus on benefits that drive adoption and support your business goals.
3. Rethink your approach – Rethink how you’re communicating your benefits. Are you targeting the right audience and using the right channels?
4. Maximize your channels – Leverage your existing communication channels to promote your benefits. We had huge success with Slack’s unique features like Workflows and Canvases. What hidden gems are you missing?
5. Make it personal – Personalize your campaigns to your unique employees. Targeted recommendations can make a huge difference in adoption.

In our crazy-busy environment, helping your employees know about and make the most of your benefits can be a game-changer. By following these simple steps, you can create a more engaged workforce that feels nourished by your company—just like we did with “Committed to Grow.”